Simon Cooke
Encyclopedia
Simon Cooke is a British
video games developer, currently resident in Seattle, Washington
.
on a scholarship, followed by studying Physics with Electronic Engineering at UMIST
.
Works for Microsoft in their Advanced Technology Group, and is an expert on Kinect and other Microsoft
games technologies, and speaks at game developer conferences about them.
He was Director of Engineering for X-Ray Kid Studios
, a cross-media entertainment company, and previously worked for Surreal Software
, a subsidiary of Midway Games
, as Principal Technology Engineer and Lead Gameplay Engineer on This is Vegas
, and as Lead Tools Programmer on The Suffering: Ties That Bind
.
He worked as an internationally published professional freelance journalist for five years, starting out writing for Your Sinclair
magazine as a regular contributor (writing the Spec Tec Jr technical help column), and later worked as a freelance writer for Internet Today, Internet and Comms Today, .net, How To Get Online, Online World and arcane.
In 1994 his definition of the Internet
The Net is possibly the largest store of information on this planet. Everybody can be part of it; it is one of the few places where race, creed, colour, gender, sexual preference do not prejudice people against others. All this through the magic of modern technology. Communication is the key. People talking to people. The Net isn't computers. That's just the way we access it. The Net is people helping each other in a worldwide community, was selected by the BBC
in a UK competition, and was used for several years by the British Government's National Council for Education in Technology.
After his article, Love Over The Wires, was published in .net magazine in 1994, he appeared on a BBC Open University
radio program, Mathematics of Love, recorded in a singles bar in the south end of London. Further coverage on his article also appeared in The Daily Mail a year later in an article best described as woefully factually inaccurate.
His article Rumour Control in Internet Todays issue 8, regarding the Communications Decency Act
of 1996 was used to help shape Internet policy in the British House of Commons (as part of the Labor Government's Internet Task Force), and also was sent to several congressmen in the United States Government.
Several of his articles on the early rise of the Internet as a medium outside of academia (i.e. after the Eternal September
when it became available to the masses) have been used as course materials by sociology courses in several universities, including Queen's University Belfast. Tutorials he wrote for .NET magazine were handed out to first year college students at Queen's University, Australia.
In 2001, he co-founded Popcorn Films with former co-workers at Sierra Online, and has so far been involved in the production of two short films, The Good Samaritan and Finn's Last Dance.
His unproduced screenplay Unsealed was the highest-rated short screenplay for February 2008 on Francis Ford Coppola's Zoetrope.com writing website.
He is most well known for his work on the SAM Coupé
home computer He also wrote most of the code for Scaleform
's Unreal Engine integration.
Note: This list is incomplete
data structure used in Google's Android OS.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
video games developer, currently resident in Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
.
Biography
He went to Secondary School at St. Ambrose CollegeSt. Ambrose College
St. Ambrose College is a leading state Voluntary Aided, Christian Brothers' Roman Catholic boys' grammar school located in Hale Barns, Altrincham, Greater Manchester, England. It was founded in 1946. In 2005, St Ambrose College became a mathematics and computing college and the school is today...
on a scholarship, followed by studying Physics with Electronic Engineering at UMIST
UMIST
The University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology was a university based in the centre of the city of Manchester in England. It specialised in technical and scientific subjects and was a major centre for research...
.
Works for Microsoft in their Advanced Technology Group, and is an expert on Kinect and other Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
games technologies, and speaks at game developer conferences about them.
He was Director of Engineering for X-Ray Kid Studios
X-Ray Kid Studios
X-Ray Kid Studios is a privately held entertainment company specializing in Video Game Development, Comic Books, Television Production and Film based in Newport Beach, California and Seattle, Washington, U.S.A....
, a cross-media entertainment company, and previously worked for Surreal Software
Surreal Software
Surreal Software is a video game developer based in Kirkland, Washington, USA, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. Surreal Software, best known for The Suffering and Drakan series, employed over 130 designers, artists and programmers. Surreal was acquired by Warner Bros....
, a subsidiary of Midway Games
Midway Games
Midway Games, Inc. is an American company that was formerly a major video game publisher. Following a bankruptcy filing in 2009, it is no longer active and is in the process of liquidating all of its assets. Midway's titles included Mortal Kombat, Ms.Pac-Man, Spy Hunter, Tron, Rampage, the...
, as Principal Technology Engineer and Lead Gameplay Engineer on This is Vegas
This is Vegas
This is Vegas is a video game which was developed by Surreal Software and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and was intended for release on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows.-Development:...
, and as Lead Tools Programmer on The Suffering: Ties That Bind
The Suffering: Ties That Bind
The Suffering: Ties That Bind is a video game developed by Surreal Software and published by Midway Games, released in 2005 for the Xbox and PlayStation 2 game consoles as well as the PC. The Xbox version of the game is not supported by the Xbox 360's backwards compatibility feature.It is the...
.
He worked as an internationally published professional freelance journalist for five years, starting out writing for Your Sinclair
Your Sinclair
Your Sinclair or YS as it was commonly abbreviated, was a British computer magazine for the Sinclair range of computers, mainly the ZX Spectrum.-History:...
magazine as a regular contributor (writing the Spec Tec Jr technical help column), and later worked as a freelance writer for Internet Today, Internet and Comms Today, .net, How To Get Online, Online World and arcane.
In 1994 his definition of the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
The Net is possibly the largest store of information on this planet. Everybody can be part of it; it is one of the few places where race, creed, colour, gender, sexual preference do not prejudice people against others. All this through the magic of modern technology. Communication is the key. People talking to people. The Net isn't computers. That's just the way we access it. The Net is people helping each other in a worldwide community, was selected by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
in a UK competition, and was used for several years by the British Government's National Council for Education in Technology.
After his article, Love Over The Wires, was published in .net magazine in 1994, he appeared on a BBC Open University
Open University
The Open University is a distance learning and research university founded by Royal Charter in the United Kingdom...
radio program, Mathematics of Love, recorded in a singles bar in the south end of London. Further coverage on his article also appeared in The Daily Mail a year later in an article best described as woefully factually inaccurate.
His article Rumour Control in Internet Todays issue 8, regarding the Communications Decency Act
Communications Decency Act
The Communications Decency Act of 1996 was the first notable attempt by the United States Congress to regulate pornographic material on the Internet. In 1997, in the landmark cyberlaw case of Reno v. ACLU, the United States Supreme Court struck the anti-indecency provisions of the Act.The Act was...
of 1996 was used to help shape Internet policy in the British House of Commons (as part of the Labor Government's Internet Task Force), and also was sent to several congressmen in the United States Government.
Several of his articles on the early rise of the Internet as a medium outside of academia (i.e. after the Eternal September
Eternal September
Eternal September is a Usenet slang expression, coined by Dave Fischer, for the period beginning September 1993...
when it became available to the masses) have been used as course materials by sociology courses in several universities, including Queen's University Belfast. Tutorials he wrote for .NET magazine were handed out to first year college students at Queen's University, Australia.
In 2001, he co-founded Popcorn Films with former co-workers at Sierra Online, and has so far been involved in the production of two short films, The Good Samaritan and Finn's Last Dance.
His unproduced screenplay Unsealed was the highest-rated short screenplay for February 2008 on Francis Ford Coppola's Zoetrope.com writing website.
He is most well known for his work on the SAM Coupé
SAM Coupé
The SAM Coupé is an 8-bit British home computer that was first released in late 1989. It is commonly considered a clone of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum computer, since it features a compatible screen mode and emulated compatibility, and it was marketed as a logical upgrade from the Spectrum...
home computer He also wrote most of the code for Scaleform
Scaleform
Scaleform Corporation is a developer providing middleware for use in the video game industry. Their most recent software, Scaleform GFx, is a vector graphics rendering engine used to display Adobe Flash-based user interfaces, HUDs, and animated textures for games for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X,...
's Unreal Engine integration.
Magazine Articles
- Spec Tec Jr (column) (Your Sinclair, 1992–1993)
- Love Over the Wires (.net Magazine, Issue 3, 1995)
- Enforcing the Net (Internet Today #6)
- Rumour Control (Internet Today #8)
- Who's that Girl? (Internet Today #9)
- Fakemail (Internet Today #10)
- Talker Culture (Internet Today #11)
- Books On-Line... (Internet Today #12)
- Open Minds (Internet Today #13)
- DeathNET (Internet Today #15)
- The Student Survival Kit (Net User #5)
- I Was A Live Action Roleplaying Virgin (arcane #7, 1996)
Note: This list is incomplete
Filmography
- The Good Samaritan (2004) (Producer, Editor, Assistant Camera, Digital Compositing, Cameo)
- Finn's Last Dance (2005)(Sound Engineer, Production Assistant, Grip)
Video games
- Prince Of Persia (SAM Coupé, 1991)
- Parallax (SAM Coupé, 1992)
- Exodus (SAM Coupé, 1992)
- Prince Of Persia (Sinclair Spectrum, 1993)
- Lemmings (SAM Coupé, 1993)
- The Suffering: Ties That BindThe Suffering: Ties That BindThe Suffering: Ties That Bind is a video game developed by Surreal Software and published by Midway Games, released in 2005 for the Xbox and PlayStation 2 game consoles as well as the PC. The Xbox version of the game is not supported by the Xbox 360's backwards compatibility feature.It is the...
(Surreal Software/Midway Games, 2005) - This is VegasThis is VegasThis is Vegas is a video game which was developed by Surreal Software and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and was intended for release on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows.-Development:...
(Surreal Software/Midway Games, 2008)
Consumer Software
- Generations Family Tree (Sierra Home, 1999–2002)
- Sierra Photo Lab (Sierra Home, 2001)
- .NET Framework (Microsoft, 1999)
Inventions
Inventor of the Bip Buffer Circular bufferCircular buffer
A circular buffer, cyclic buffer or ring buffer is a data structure that uses a single, fixed-size buffer as if it were connected end-to-end.This structure lends itself easily to buffering data streams.-Uses:...
data structure used in Google's Android OS.
External links
- Accidental Scientist - blog of Simon Cooke
- Home Page of Simon Cooke (one of the oldest home pages on the web, consistently online since 1994. Reviewed in issue 3 of Net User magazine.
- Popcorn Films - Official Website
- Surreal Software - Official Website
- World Of SAM - Community Driven SAM Coupé Website