White, Maclean, and a bit of Pool Paradise

Pool Paradise, the latest stick and ball action from respected stick and ball master of baize videogame-dom Archer Maclean has recently released on PC, PS2 and GameCube. It's a title that has seen Maclean link arms once again with long-term pal and famous snooker chap Jimmy White, who acted as advisor on the title; no doubt it's a partnership that has seen as many beers sunk as snooker balls.

Interesting is the lack of Pool Paradise on Xbox, and something that's had us poking the cueball with curiosity. But, we can now reveal that well-placed sources have recently informed us that we can expect an Xbox-related Pool Paradise announcement soon. So, looks like the game cometh to Microsoft's console after all. If so, we assume that this version of the game will come fully Live pumped for online potting play.

Anyway... See below for what people's champ Jimmy White and development legend Archer Maclean have to say on the Pool Paradise project, including talk of killer pool, concrete snooker tables and er...lavatories on the moon (!). Plus, also there's a PSP title confirmed too.

So how did you two first get together?

White: Archer came to me with the first game which was Whirlwind Snooker, back in 1991. I'd been approached by a few games before but I was blown away by this one. It sounds like I'm just saying that because I'm earning money from it, but every game [in the series], without a doubt, has done the business and has just got better and better.

I get kids coming up to me - even their fathers now because it's been so long - and they ask me when the new one's out, and we've just come up with Pool Paradise. I'm proud to be associated with it. They're brilliant games.

Do you think Pool Paradise is the pinnacle of the series?

Maclean: Well, there may well be future stuff but the trouble with Pool Paradise is that it's visually the best-looking and strongest pool and snooker game we've ever seen. We really don't know where we can go right at the moment because the technology has got to the point where we're using all of it. So what do we next? It's looking great as it is. So, it's a bit tricky.

You must have some ideas up your sleeves...?

Maclean: Yeah one or two. It's a secret. We can't tell you. (Laughs)

White: I'm just starting to win a couple of competitions, so if I win the World Championships next year...who knows? At the moment, as Archer says, they're just unbelievable. I don't know how he keeps finding them - they're brilliant.

So Jimmy, what does your role as advisor actually entail?

White: It's more a case of using my name, but I do help out with a few shots. Archer first picked me after watching me play Steve Davis in the World Final, which was where he got attracted to my style of game - obviously I attack the balls like O'Sullivan does now.

So that was the connection. But I've done a few bits in the first games - I did masse shots. But basically, I've just put my name to it because it is the best game.

How does it compare to the real thing?

Maclean: It is the real thing. It does exactly what the real world situation does.

White: You can change from all the different games as well and that's the fascinating thing. You can play a bit of pool and snooker, and then have a rest, and then go and play darts and all sorts.

Maclean: There's about half a dozen mini-games that are nothing to do with snooker. But in terms of the ball games - I think there's about 11 sets of rules in there. And that's not just UK 9-ball or US 9-ball and all that stuff. There's 6-ball, 10-ball, 9-ball, stretch ball, killer ball...I mean how many do you want? (Laughs)

It sounds more like a virtual holiday experience...

Maclean: I think that's emphasised because when you play the game there's all this chill-out music going on in the background and it's strangely addictive.

White: It's like a virtual paradise as well. It's set in Tahiti isn't it? I've been to some islands off Thailand - we go there and play a lot of snooker. They take us out on these boat trips and it's amazing - wherever we go, you go to a beach on an island and into a bar, and there's always a pool table.

John Virgo and I have recently completed a tour of Cambodia - which we thought would be a bit scary because it's a bit of a dodgy place - where we worked for the British government by doing exhibitions.

As we went through the side-streets, going to kid's places, everywhere we went there was a pool table. You know, it's the most beautiful game in the world. It's bigger than any other game in the world, in fact.

Maclean: I'd say the same because I went up the Maldives which was far too many years ago to remember. But actually on the beach, under a tree - another inspiration for Pool Paradise - was a knackered pool table.

The baize had been ripped up and stuck down, and there were bits of slate showing through. Yet people were still playing it.

White: In Thailand, they use a concrete slab, which they just re-cloth and as you hit the ball it doesn't stop rolling. It's amazing.

So who's the best at the game out of you two?

White: Well Archer's better than me on the computer, obviously. But all my kids play it, all the professionals play it...

Maclean: Ronnie O'Sullivan's been playing hasn't he?

White: They all are. It's just a chill-out. You know, you're stuck in a hotel room and these days with your laptop, you can just get it out and do it.

Maclean: So if Ronnie wins on Sunday [in the World Championship final, which he did of course], you'll know why...

I hear you have some crazy 'Cueball' painting in your house?

Maclean: Everyone talks about this. I don't know where it comes from 'cos I never talk about it. (Laughs). [To Jimmy] You know that bloody great mural on my wall?

White: Yeah, it's fantastic - myself, you and Richard [Branson]. Well, that's where it all started off, wasn't it - all the first people involved, painted in a great mural by the swimming pool.

Maclean: Well, obviously the first game was very successful. It sold millions - I think about 3.5 million copies. Ridiculous. And eventually when I had time to move house, I discovered this amazing place which was rundown and which I rennovated.

There was this huge hole in the ground which was supposed to be a swimming pool. By it was this wall, which stood about 30-foot high. We painted this mural which took about seven months and tells the story of Cueball 1 and 2. It's got everything on there, him, myself... It's really quite strange!

We've read that Pool Paradise is to the be grand finale, but we get the impression you plan to carry on... ?

White: I wouldn't just put my name to a game to make a load of cash. It's got to be good as well. If Archer doesn't come up with the business - he wouldn't want to put his name to a game that wasn't good anyway. And every game he's ever done has always been number one whether they're snooker or whatever.

Maclean: What a lot of people don't know is that Pool Paradise exists in two versions and there's another one coming out in six months time. It's an update and there's an extra level on the moon. The pool table has a force-field round it and the gravity's a bit different. But don't expect there to be a loo on the moon 'cos it's a bit expensive to get there. (Laughs)

And of course, there is rumours of a PSP version in the works too?

Maclean: Ah, not of Pool Paradise, mind, but we are doing something completely revolutionary. Nothing to do with pool or snooker, but strangely enough we're using the technology from Pool Paradise. And the game concept - I can't tell you what it is - is definitely related to Cueball World...

Any idea when we can expect to see that?

Maclean: Sometime early next year.

CVG Staff