James Poole
Encyclopedia
James Poole has been involved in the development of computer games since the mid 1980s. He has worked at companies such as Ariolasoft
, Grandslam Entertainment
, Domark
and Eidos Interactive
. He is the grandnephew of Grace Marguerite Hay Drummond-Hay
, his father's aunt.
and Atari 8 bits
he moved into a role of producer whilst with Ariolasoft. At Ariolasoft he worked with Tony Crowther, Ben Daglish
, Jeff Minter
and Chris Sawyer
. He also worked at Bulletin 1000 as a video editor, a company who produced nearly all the Point-of-Sale videos for the games industry as well as showreels for computer game shows. It was at Eidos that he became involved with more widely known titles and was the producer or executive producer on titles such as Thief 2
, Deus Ex
, Daikatana
, Anachronox
and Timeline
. With Thief 2 and Daikatana being released in the same year, it is interesting to note that he was the executive producer on what various magazines awarded Game of the Year and Worst Game of the Year respectively.
states:
He left Eidos in 1996 claiming frustration with being responsible for development that he had no real control over. In a posting to John Romero
's forum, James stated:
Poole returned to the UK in 2004 to establish the UK office of WMS Gaming
Inc.
He is an active member of The Filthy Truth.
Ariolasoft
Ariolasoft GmbH, later known as United Software, was a German computer game developer, publisher and distributor. It started as the software subsidiary of Ariola Records...
, Grandslam Entertainment
Grandslam Entertainment
Grandslam Entertainment was a computer and video games software house based in Britain. It was formed in late 1987 from the ashes of Argus Press Software by former Argus Managing Director, Stephen Hall. Grandslam developed and published many games for home computers during the 1980s and 1990s...
, Domark
Domark
Domark Software was a video games software house based in the United Kingdom. The name was derived from the given names of its founders, Dominic Wheatley and Mark Strachan...
and Eidos Interactive
Eidos Interactive
Eidos Interactive Ltd. is a British video game publisher and is a label of Square Enix Europe. As an independent company Eidos plc was headquartered in the Wimbledon Bridge House in Wimbledon, London Borough of Merton....
. He is the grandnephew of Grace Marguerite Hay Drummond-Hay
Grace Marguerite Hay Drummond-Hay
Grace Marguerite, Lady Hay Drummond-Hay was a British journalist who was the first woman to travel around the world by air, in a Zeppelin...
, his father's aunt.
Notable Games
Although starting as a programmer on the Commodore 64Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
and Atari 8 bits
Atari 8-bit family
The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers manufactured from 1979 to 1992. All are based on the MOS Technology 6502 CPU and were the first home computers designed with custom coprocessor chips...
he moved into a role of producer whilst with Ariolasoft. At Ariolasoft he worked with Tony Crowther, Ben Daglish
Ben Daglish
Ben Daglish is a composer and musician. His parents moved to Sheffield when Daglish was aged one year old. He is known for creating many soundtracks during the 1980s for home computer games, including Commodore 64 hits as The Last Ninja, Trap, and Deflektor...
, Jeff Minter
Jeff Minter
Jeff 'Yak' Minter is a British computer/video game designer and programmer. He is the founder of software house Llamasoft and his recent works include Neon , a non-game music visualization program that has been built into the Xbox 360 console, and the video games Space Giraffe , and Space Invaders...
and Chris Sawyer
Chris Sawyer
Chris Sawyer is a Scottish computer game developer who is best known for designing and programming Transport Tycoon and the RollerCoaster Tycoon series.-Career:...
. He also worked at Bulletin 1000 as a video editor, a company who produced nearly all the Point-of-Sale videos for the games industry as well as showreels for computer game shows. It was at Eidos that he became involved with more widely known titles and was the producer or executive producer on titles such as Thief 2
Thief II: The Metal Age
Thief II: The Metal Age is a 2000 first-person stealth game developed by Looking Glass Studios and published by Eidos Interactive. The sequel to Thief: The Dark Project, the game's plot follows Garrett, a master thief, as he attempts to uncover a conspiracy in a medieval, steampunk city...
, Deus Ex
Deus Ex
Deus Ex is an action role-playing game developed by Ion Storm Inc. and published by Eidos Interactive in 2000, which combines gameplay elements of first-person shooters with those of role-playing video games...
, Daikatana
Daikatana
John Romero's Daikatana, or simply Daikatana, is a first-person shooter computer game developed by Ion Storm and published by Eidos Interactive. Released on May 23, 2000 for Windows, it was led by John Romero. The game is known as one of the major commercial failures of the computer game industry....
, Anachronox
Anachronox
Anachronox is a 2001 third-person computer role-playing game produced by Tom Hall and the Dallas Ion Storm games studio. It offers gameplay in the style of console RPGs, such as Chrono Trigger and the Final Fantasy series...
and Timeline
Timeline (novel)
Timeline is a science fiction novel by Michael Crichton that was published in November 1999. It tells the story of a group of history students who travel to 14th Century France to rescue their professor...
. With Thief 2 and Daikatana being released in the same year, it is interesting to note that he was the executive producer on what various magazines awarded Game of the Year and Worst Game of the Year respectively.
Media
An article in the now defunct Daily RadarDaily Radar
Daily Radar was a news aggregator and portal site for Future US's male-oriented content, including sports, film and television, and video games....
states:
"The external producer is at the publisher and maintains a strong relationship with the developer on the project. James Poole is a veteran producer who has been in the computer entertainment field since the Commodore 64 days and is currently a producer at Eidos. Although he agrees that there are two different types of producers, it's still a vague term. "I was the 'producer' for Thief 2. That term paints a very misleading picture of my role on that project as quite clearly the game was 'produced' at Looking Glass. I see this role as both representing the publisher to the developer but also the developer to the publisher. It's important not to be seen as the 'guy from the publisher coming to butt in,' but more of someone who will do whatever is in their power to help with the development."
He left Eidos in 1996 claiming frustration with being responsible for development that he had no real control over. In a posting to John Romero
John Romero
Alfonso John Romero is a game designer, programmer, and developer in the video game industry. He is best known as a co-founder of id Software and was a designer for many of their games, including Wolfenstein 3D, Dangerous Dave, Doom and Quake...
's forum, James stated:
"This is my opinion...
You need to step back and look at the larger picture of the hows and whys of why Ion Storm came to be. It was no big secret that the Eidos board wanted to eventually sell the company. It's also no big secret that the investment community has very little knowledge of the games industry. In my opinion, Eidos' main reason for the deal was to increase the perception of Eidos as a major player, further achieved by the signing of the deal with Michael Crichton (The Timeline game made Daikatana look like fantastic by comparison)
You also need to remember that without JR's drive, there would have been no ID, it was JR who persuaded JC to go for it. He thought he could do it again. Surrounded by friends and people who he thought were friends Ion Storm started the search for a publisher. John would be the first to admit that some of those who he thought were friends turned out to be just in for quick buck. I am still baffled as how one of the key players ever managed to be part of it. When JR's fame and Eidos' desire to be in the headlines met, the deal was achieved. An absurd amount of money was thrown at them, with no controls at all. Again, just my opinion, but if the board were thinking of a quick sale, why would they care if the house of cards collapsed later, they would be long gone. Staff were needed fast, and JR made some poor decisions on who to hire, friends and fan boys. I have seen the complete and original design document for Daikatana, had that game been written, it would have been one of the best games around. On all my trips to Dallas I always had one response, Design = great, Art = good enough, Coders = totally out of their depth. The management's response fell into 2 camps, bury their heads in the sand, or make sure their own pockets were to be as full as possible....again, all just my opinions.
When the Ion 8 left, there were only about 2 people I was sorry to see go. The new team assembled was not much better than the first, a team put together from the Dominion and Doppelganger teams, were hardly likely to turn things around. I don't think they ever had a coder with any AI experience. I suggested on countless occasions to put the sidekicks on virtual rails, no one would have noticed. One keen observation was "Quake 3 is what happens when JC makes a game without JR, and Daikatana is what happens when JR makes a game without JC". Sadly, we won't know what Daikatana would have looked like had it been written by ID, but seeing as it had more plot than a porn movie, it was never going to happen.
It as only when it was clear to the board that no one was going to buy the company, that they sat up and took any notice and sent a Domark/Eidos veteran to run the studio. He did an excellent job and managed to have the teams finish both Daikatana and Anachronox.
The casualties in this whole episode are not the game players who hoped for a better game, it was the artists, designers and some of the coders in Dallas. They worked in crunch mode for years, and had to endure the childish drivel spewing from the internet and press. They had to work in an environment where all those who were meant to be managers failed. They were victims in a bigger game of which they had no knowledge or control.
JR is a long way from blameless in this episode. There are many sides to management weakness. Firstly, the inability to ask for help and secondly the inability to act on the need for someone needing help. This was the perfect storm of those two events. The smartest people are those who not only know what they are good at, but those that know where they are not good at. I hope JR has either learned how to recruit and run a company or found someone that does. What I do know, is that if was still living in the Bay Area I be calling up JR as a friend and seeing what I could do to help.
JR...good luck...and listen" Original article
Currently
Since leaving Eidos Interactive he worked as consultant for a couple of years, including working with his erstwhile Domark colleagues, John Kavanagh and Dominic Wheatley at Bright Things.Poole returned to the UK in 2004 to establish the UK office of WMS Gaming
WMS Gaming
WMS Gaming is a manufacturer of slot machines, video lottery terminals and software to help casinos manage their gaming operations. The company is based in Waukegan, Illinois.- History :...
Inc.
He is an active member of The Filthy Truth.