Simon Cooke

Simon Cooke (born 10th of August 1975 in Manchester to Linda Marie Foley and George Michael Cooke) is a British video games programmer living in Seattle, Washington.

Biography

He went to Secondary School at St. Ambrose College on a scholarship, followed by studying Physics with Electronic Engineering at UMIST.

He is Director of Engineering [ [http://www.x-raykid.com/?/company X-Ray Kid Studios Employee list] ] 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 .

He worked as a professional freelance journalist for five years [ [http://home.earthlink.net/~simoncooke/otherhistory.htm Journalism History ] ] , starting out writing for "Your Sinclair" [ [http://www.ysrnry.co.uk/jugglers/index.htm Joystick Jugglers ] ] 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" [ [http://home.earthlink.net/~simoncooke/magazines/arcane.htm I Was A Live Action Roleplaying Virgin ] ] .

In 1994 his definition of the Internet [ [http://lwebs.camosun.bc.ca/lwebs/future.htm Learning Webs: A Look to the Future - Some Terms and Concepts ] ] - "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 world-wide community." - was chosen 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 on the "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" [ [http://home.earthlink.net/~simoncooke/magazines/rumour.html Rumour Control - Internet and Comms Today Issue 8 ] ] in Internet Today 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, 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 [http://www.zoetrope.com Zoetrope.com] writing website. [ [http://www.accidentalscientist.com/2008/04/update-unsealed-on-zoetropecom.html] ]

He is most well known for his work on the "SAM Coupé" home computer [ [http://www.micromart.co.uk/features/article/default.aspx?id=22695 Article ] ]

Cousin of football player Stephen Cooke.

Bibliography

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) [ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBXLQdRmx8Y YouTube - The Good Samaritan ] ] (Producer, Editor, Assistant Camera, Digital Compositing, Cameo)
* "Finn's Last Dance" (2005) [ [http://www.bigbangfilmfestival.com/selected.php?film=2136 Big Bang Film Festival - Philadelphia 2007 - Action, Adventure, Suspense and Asian Action Cinema Film Festival ] ] (Sound Engineer, Production Assistant, Grip)

oftography

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)
* "" (Surreal Software/Midway Games, 2005)
* "This is Vegas" (Surreal Software/Midway Games, 2008)

Consumer Software

* "Generations Family Tree" (Sierra Home, 1999-2002)
* "Sierra Photo Lab" (Sierra Home, 2001)
* ".NET Framework" (Microsoft, 1999)

References

External links

* [http://www.popcornfilms.com/accidentalscientist "Accidental Scientist" - blog of Simon Cooke]
* [http://home.earthlink.net/~simoncooke "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.
* [http://www.popcornfilms.com/ "Popcorn Films" - Official Website]
* [http://www.surreal.com/ "Surreal Software" - Official Website]
* [http://www.worldofsam.org/ "World Of SAM" - Community Driven SAM Coupé Website]