James Poole
From Wikipedia, the free 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. Although starting as a programmer on the Commodore 64 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.
An article in the now defunct Daily Radar 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'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" [1]
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.
James returned to the UK in 2004 to establish the UK office of WMS Gaming Inc. He is an active member of The Filthy Truth.
