GenePool Software Development

Background
GenePool Software Development was a short-lived British video game developer formed by members of Warthog Games after finishing work on and releasing Star Trek: Invasion for the PlayStation in 2000. In mid-2002, it was announced that they were collaborating with Marvel and Activision to develop a game based on the X-Men media franchise for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube and PC. The game in question, X2: Wolverine's Revenge, was released in April 2003 to coincide with 20th Century Fox's X-Men sequel, X2: X-Men United, and received average reviews and underwhelming sales numbers. Due to the game's lack of success, as well as financial troubles, GenePool cancelled their next game, a game based on Iron Man, and several members of staff left the company to be employed by other studios, such as Treyarch, Genuine Games, Traveller's Tales, and SCE Studio Liverpool.

(April 15-October 2003)


Visuals: On a white background, we see a semi-transparent blue cuboid rising up, jiggling like a piece of gelatin in the process. Once fully risen, the cuboid suddenly starts rotating at a very fast pace as we zoom in. After it stops rotating, a carving of what appears to be a stylized aborigine appears on the cuboid and then it turns two-dimensional. After that, the text "GENEPOOL SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT" fades in under the cuboid, with the URL fading in underneath the text afterwards.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A pulsing sound, followed by a synthesised whirring sound, ending with a dramatic orchestral note, composed by Ian Livingstone. Availability: Only seen on X2: Wolverine's Revenge for PlayStation 2, GameCube and Xbox. Also appears on the PC version as well.