Seamus Blackley

Blackley published his first paper in the Journal of Magnetic Resonance as a Sophomore at Tufts University, and graduated Summa cum Honore en Tesis. He went on to study High Energy Physics at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory outside Chicago, Ill, while simultaneously teaching classes back in Cambridge.

As a programmer at Looking Glass Technologies (then Blue Sky Technologies), Blackley wrote music for, programmed or produced several hit titles including, Ultima Underworld, System Shock, and Flight Unlimited. He went on to Dreamworks SKG, where he acted as executive producer and eventually met Bill Gates, who sent an email to Mr. Blackley’s boss commenting that: “Microsoft should hire someone like that.” ‘While his boss took it as a compliment, Blackley took it as a career directive, and started at Microsoft in February, 1999.

One month after arriving in Redmond, he wrote a memo suggesting that Microsoft make a game console, and along with three friends, sold Xbox up the chain back to Bill Gates.

In addition to his high-powered CEG gig, Blackley finds time to contribute a much-admired monthly column to Develop magazine. Blackley typically contributes it ten minutes before the magazine goes to press, and has already been implicated in at least one editorial heart scare.

Software Highlights from Credited Titles

Seamus Blackley's first video game work that SPOnG is aware of is the 1997 title, "Trespasser: Jurassic Park" (PC) as Project Leader/Producer.

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