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Blackley in February 2006 | |
| Born | 1967/1968 (age 52–53)[1] |
|---|---|
| Alma mater | Tufts University |
| Occupation | Video game designer, agent |
| Years active | 1990–present |
| Known for | Flight Unlimited, Xbox |
Jonathan 'Seamus' Blackley[2][3] (born 1968)[1][3] is an American video game designer and former agent with Creative Artists Agency representing video game creators. He is best known for creating and designing the Original Xbox in 2001.
Career[edit]
After entering Tufts University to study electrical engineering, Blackley switched to study physics and graduated in 1990,[3]Summa cum Honore en Tesis. As a sophomore, he published his first paper in the Journal of Magnetic Resonance. After college, he studied High Energy Physics at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, until the Superconducting Supercollider project was cancelled in 1993.
Verbatim external hard drive not detected. Blackley then went to work at Blue Sky Productions, later called Looking Glass Studios. In addition to his work on Ultima Underworld and System Shock, Blackley helped to create the sophisticated physics system in Flight Unlimited. He is mentioned in the Flight Unlimited manual as follows:
As far back as 1992, we started looking for new ways to fly on the PC. Seamus Blackley, a physics expert and experienced pilot, had just been hired on at Looking Glass Technologies, and he was well placed to see where the current simulators fell short of what they could be.[4]
Following the completion of Flight Unlimited in 1995, Blackley planned to use that game's computational fluid dynamics (CFDs) code to create a combat flight simulator called Flight Combat.[5][6][7] However, a new manager at Looking Glass Studios demanded that Blackley instead design a direct sequel to Flight Unlimited as to directly compete with Microsoft Flight Simulator. Blackley refused and was fired, leaving the company in late 1995.[6][8][9]
After Looking Glass, Blackley worked at DreamWorks Interactive as executive producer of Jurassic Park: Trespasser, a video game sequel to the film The Lost World: Jurassic Park. Trespasser was designed to use a physics-rich game engine for much of the animation for the game. The game was to have been shipped by late 1997 as part of a deal that Dreamworks had made with a computer chip manufacturer, but the game was only partially completed; the chip deal fell through, and the budget for the game was significantly cut. Though the title was eventually published in 1998, its failure became renowned, and Blackley took full responsibly for its faults.[9]
During press events for Trespasser, Blackley had met Bill Gates, then the CEO of Microsoft. Gates had been impressed with the technical achievements of Trespasser, and he helped Blackley to secure a job at Microsoft in February 1999 as Program Manager for Entertainment Graphics, initially working on DirectX.[10] During 1999, Sony introduced the PlayStation 2, which they marketed as a platform for the living room that would outdo Microsoft Windows and Linux. Blackley said that this announcement raised concerns within Microsoft of how they could challenge Sony.[10] Blackley had already recognized that part of Microsoft's problems for gaming support was the vast number of possible configurations they had to deal with, and their attempts with technologies like DirectX to standardize these. While on a flight from Boston back to Seattle after visiting his girlfriend, Blackley came up with the idea of having Microsoft design its own console, with standardized hardware, and able to tap into a larger pool of hardware resources due to the company's influence as to beat Sony at its own game.[10] This led to the initial Xbox proposal, which Gates eventually approved, and helped assemble the team that designed and built the device. He then promoted the Xbox to game developers around the world.[11]
Blackley left Microsoft in 2002 to co-found Capital Entertainment Group with former Microsoft co-worker Kevin Bachus after his time developing the Xbox.[12] CEG aimed to reform the financing models available in the game industry, following the Hollywood studio model, to provide more flexibility and creative control to game makers, and loosen the grip publishers had on control of the game industry. CEG was unable to complete a game before folding in 2003.[13] In 2007, Blackley received the P.T. Barnum Award from Tufts University for his exceptional work in the field of media and entertainment.[3]
From 2003 through May 2011, Blackley represented video game developers at the Creative Artists Agency, evolving the position of video games within the entertainment industry.[14] In February 2012, Blackley founded Innovative Leisure with Van Burnham. The company recruited game programmers from the Golden age of arcade video games to write mobile games.[15] In 2017 Blackley took a post running the research and development team for the augmented reality startup Daqri to explore methods of producing more powerful holograms and in 2018 became the CEO of tech startup Pacific Light and Hologram.[16][17]
In 2019 Blackley appeared as himself on the 172nd episode of the webseries Angry Video Game Nerd, answering questions regarding the video game Trespasser.[18]
References[edit]
- ^ ab'Major Architect of Microsoft's Xbox Resigns to Start a Game Company'. The Wall Street Journal. April 23, 2002.
Seamus Blackley, 34 years old
- ^Takahashi, Dean (April 11, 2002). 'Captain Xbox: The inside story of how Seamus Blackley and a team of renegades persuaded Microsoft to build a video game console'. Red Herring. Archived from the original on August 3, 2002.
- ^ abcdFlaherty, Julie (Summer 2007). 'The Auteur Theory of Video Games'. Tufts Magazine. Tufts University.
Blackley, 39 … 'Seamus' is something of a stage name he earned at Looking Glass. Seamus née (sic) Jonathan …
- ^'Seamus Blackley'. in.com. Archived from the original on February 14, 2017. Retrieved May 6, 2016.
- ^Yee, Bernie (March 1995). 'Through the Looking Glass'. PC Gamer US. 2 (3): 62, 63, 65, 67, 69.
- ^ abTakahashi, Dean (April 23, 2002). Opening the Xbox: Inside Microsoft's Plan to Unleash an Entertainment Revolution. Prima Lifestyle. ISBN0-7615-3708-2.
- ^Staff (June 7, 1995). 'Looking Glass Technologies Ships Flight Unlimited Worldwide'. PR Newswire.
- ^Laprad, David (September 8, 1998). 'The Evolution of the Prehistoric Beast: An Interview with Trespasser Project Leader Seamus Blackley'. Adrenaline Vault. Archived from the original on December 5, 1998.
- ^ abKnoop, Joseph (May 14, 2018). 'How a Failed Jurassic Park Game Led to the Creation of the Xbox – IGN Unfiltered'. IGN. Retrieved May 14, 2018.
- ^ abcKnoop, Joseph (May 16, 2018). 'How The Xbox Was Born At 35,000 Feet'. IGN. Retrieved May 16, 2018.
- ^David S. Heineman (3 August 2015). Thinking about Video Games: Interviews with the Experts. ISBN9780253017185. Retrieved May 6, 2016.
- ^Ackerman, Kyle (May 11, 2003). 'Interview with Seamus Blackley, Capital Entertainment Group'. Frictionless Insight.
- ^Takahashi, Dean (November 11, 2003). 'Gaming middleman throws in the towel'. Mercury News. Archived from the original on February 17, 2004.
- ^Graser, Marc (May 26, 2011). 'Seamus Blackley exits CAA'. Variety.
- ^Takahashi, Dean (February 2, 2012). 'Xbox co-creator Seamus Blackley launches mobile-game startup with Atari arcade veterans'. VentureBeat.
- ^Dean Takahashi, 'Xbox cofounder Seamus Blackley takes R&D post at augmented reality firm Daqri', Venture Beat, March 15, 2017
- ^LinkedIn, 'Seamus Blackley, Experience', accessed October 8, 2018
- ^Rolfe, James. 'Jurassic Park: Trespasser (PC) - Angry Video Game Nerd (AVGN)'. YouTube. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
External links[edit]
| Wikimedia Commons has media related to Seamus Blackley. |
- Video Interview with Seamus Blackley at Association for Computing Machinery
Every game console has to start somewhere.
As part of Polygon's cover story on the history of developer Looking Glass, we're looking at various projects and companies that spawned in Looking Glass' wake. Here, we explore the roots of Microsoft's Xbox.
Today's world of video game consoles exists largely because of one small group of people. After sales ceased for the Sega Dreamcast, only two contenders remained: Sony's PlayStation 2 and Nintendo's GameCube. The playing field remained the same, but the players grew enormously.
But then came the Xbox and the small group of people who were crazy enough to think it might work. And one of their leaders, like so many other developers of his time, got his start at Looking Glass Studios before the company died.
It was May 5, 1999, and dozens of people gathered in a conference room on Microsoft's Redmond campus. They were pitching the idea for a new home console to Bill Gates, the man who would have final say on the project's future. This was the only chance they would get.
As Seamus Blackley watched Gates that day, he felt the pressure mounting.
One year before that, Blackley was working on Jurassic Park: Trespasser, a project with extensive funding and a host of promises. Steven Spielberg was attached, and the public was expectant. After exceeding the budget and cutting numerous features to release on time with the 'The Lost World: Jurassic Park' film, DreamWorks Interactive released Trespasser. It sold only 50,000 copies and was a critical failure.
And now, Blackley was staring Microsoft's co-founder in the eye, telling him to trust a team of young designers who might easily screw things up.
'Anybody who likes their Xbox should be happy that meeting went well,' Blackley says. 'If Looking Glass hadn't existed, and Trespasser had succeeded, and I hadn't freaked out at Bill Gates and said he needed a video game console, it would be a Sony console world.'
Inside Microsoft, the Xbox project was often scorned. It revolved around a plan to sacrifice hardware sales in favor of long-term software profits, and many thought it would crash and burn. By that assumption, anybody who joined Blackley's team must be crazy.
But the team pressed on. They traveled, setting up meetings with developers around the world, trying to convince them of the Xbox's staying power. Some were skeptical. Others laughed. But as the months dragged on, and the console gained supporters, it became clear that the band of outcasts might have an ace up their sleeve.
'Xbox was me driving home, crying, throwing things at other cars because I just worked and worked and worked,' Blackley says. 'And Xbox succeeded because I found a Looking Glass-like group of people.'
It all started on Harvard University's physics board.
Blackley saw the ad for Blue Sky Productions, a nearby development company looking for people to help with simulation. Blackley knew simulation from working on high energy physics. So, he joined Blue Sky, working on music for Ultima Underworld, and did his fair share of programming with the likes of Doug Church and Dan Schmidt.
Best casino games in vegas. For Blackley, someone whose pursuits range from particle physics to jazz piano, the idea of 3-D video games was more than novel — it was intoxicating.
'It was like practical magic,' he says. 'It really was. Being able to see real-time 3-D for the first time — it was like the first time you see the Star Destroyer flying overhead, and you hear John Williams' music playing.
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'It pummeled you.'
Today, in November, 2014, Blackley has a collection of 500 old arcade games. Some date back to the bronze age of video games, when code and logic chips had yet to enter the equation. These old machines function on wiring and mechanics alone, built when programming, as it's known today, was barely a concept.
Looking Glass came from a foundation of prolific programmers. And none of them really had a clear end goal in mind. There was no precedent, and they had no examples and no textbooks for making 3-D video games.
Xbox One Smartglass App
'It's like a musician sitting in front of the piano. Until you create something and play the music, is there really anything there?'
Blackley's skills in simulation carried over into another side of Looking Glass — the side that eschewed RPGs and immersive worlds in favor of realistic flight sims. Flight Unlimited and its two sequels garnered critical acclaim throughout the studio's lifespan and helped delay the debt that would later sink the studio.
'It's like a musician sitting in front of the piano,' Blackley says. 'Until you create something and play the music, is there really anything there?'
Blackley, who played a major hand in creating the original Flight Unlimited, had another idea. He developed the concept for an aerial combat sim, and would call it Flight Combat. As was his habit — and still is — he wanted to pave new ground, not retread prior successes.
But Flight Unlimited was a commercial success. And Looking Glass had recently brought in management staff to oversee financial planning. One manager didn't like Blackley's proposal and told him to instead focus on a Flight Unlimited sequel, which would undoubtedly increase profit margins.
Blackley disagreed. Paint sur windows 10.
'He took me out to lunch to get me to stay, but he was arrogant,' Blackley says. 'He was saying he could find a million ‘me's.
Winrar 64 bits windows 10 full 2019. 'When you have a kid, you look back on what your parents did with either respect or disrespect. And I look back on what this guy did, and he was a moron. A fucking moron. Jackasses like that flushed Looking Glass down the toilet.'
So Blackley left the studio and began work at DreamWorks Interactive, where Jurassic Park: Trespasser would later flop. Blackley left that studio for Microsoft where he worked in relative obscurity until a new idea came to him. And 16 years later, Microsoft's Xbox One console sold 10 million units to retailers during its first year on the market. All because of an idea that no one thought would work.
Seamus BlackleyToday, remembering Looking Glass, Blackley laughs. His bridges remained intact after leaving the studio — except for those with some management staff — and he remembers the time fondly, working alongside Church, Schmidt, Lerner and Neurath.
On certain days, Blackley and co-workers needed comic relief. They installed a bug on computers that would revert any colors back to those of the original Apple II. Mission control plus 1 13 torrent. And every time Neurath reported the bug, the programmers would leave it in. The file's name was 4_Paul.
'To this day, I don't think Paul knew it was us doing that,' Blackley says. 'He'll probably read this and laugh. The guy was a saint. He put the company on his shoulders and carried it, even in the end, when people above him were making terrible decisions.'
Blackley left Looking Glass, but not before he gained invaluable experience. He pushed boundaries at DreamWorks, and at Microsoft, always looking for the risk when others were focused on guarantees.
Xbox One Looking Glass
And he'll always be surrounded by the people everyone calls crazy.
'It's rare that you get that, with programmers and engineers used to competing at Harvard and whatnot,' he says. 'And that's the incredible thing about Looking Glass. We were there for each other. And I miss that.
Looking Glass Test Xbox
'I think we were all a victim of our own ambition. But sooner or later, that ambition pays off.'
