Experience

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  Morning Canyon

  • Earth

  • Shogun

    • Nov 2006 - Present
    • Earth

    Morning Canyon is a small fiefdom (nine acres) in the lower Sierra Nevada mountains somewhere south of Placerville, California. It is forested with cedars, ponderosas, oaks and sweet gum trees, which are not good for your teeth, by the way. Ken’s office is on the lower floor of a small two-story castle (some would call it a cabin) resting securely on a piece of granite the size of a small moon of Jupiter, overlooking a lovely, clear mountain river some two hundred feet below. He is mostly ignored by the populace, a plethora of wild things that roam the land and stare at him with indifference as he rules. Ken shares ruling with his Shoguness, Eiko. Their fiefdom was a reward for his bravery in the many battles that he fought during the long campaigns in the Valley of Silicon, for which he has many scars, some of which you cannot see. It is a happy little kingdom. He is happy. She is happy. His subjects are happy. And, they all lived happily ever after. Hopefully.

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  Star Trux Partners, LLC

  • Somewhere in the wilds of the Sierra Nevada range.

  • Partner

    • Sep 2012 - Sep 2014
    • Somewhere in the wilds of the Sierra Nevada range.

    Star Trux Partners, LLC, are designers and developers of an arcade action game for iPhone and iPad - Star Trux LX. . More details can be found at:http://www.startruxgame.comhttp://www.facebook.com/startruxgamehttp://www.twitter.com/startruxgame

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  Balthaser Online, Inc.

  • President

    • Apr 2011 - May 2011

    Management consulting to high-tech firms with an emphasis on software product development especially in the areas of internet and wireless apps and consumer software products.

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  Balthaser Studios

  • Emeryville, CA

  • Chief Operating Officer

    • Sep 1998 - Apr 2011
    • Emeryville, CA

    B3 Studios designed and developed custom applications for online and wireless devices, including iOS, Android, AIR and other popular operating systems. The company had a development studio proficient in C++, Cocoa, Java, Javascript, PHP, SQL, HTML5 and other languages. Clients included: Barnes & Noble, Charles Schwab, Bechtel, Restoration Hardware, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and Zinio among others. With studios in Europe and the U.S., Balthaser Studios was a premier provider of online rich media technology and applications.In 2012 Balthaser Online released ver 1.0 of its B3 Publishing Platform, a design system for the publishing industry enabling the easy creation of interactive e-magazines, e-books and other rich content apps. With B3, publishers create once and publish everywhere.

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  MicroProse

  • Senior Vice President of Studios

    • Sep 1995 - Sep 1998

    Managed 5 game development studios: Alameda, Austin, Chapel Hill, Hunt Valley and Bath, England. It was another wild ride in the interactive game business.

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  Alexandria, Inc.

  • San Luis Obispo, California

  • President of Studios

    • 1992 - 1995
    • San Luis Obispo, California

    Founded this startup video game development studio with Neil Balthaser. Alexandria designed and developed video games for the Sega Genesis, Nintendo and other hardware game consoles. Best game: Sylvester & Tweety!

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  SEGA

  • Redwood City, CA

  • Vice President of Product Development

    • 1989 - 1992
    • Redwood City, CA

    Created first real-time 3D game on Sega Genesis - Abrams Battle Tank. Created first multi-media sports title on any video game machine - Joe Montana Sports Talk Football. Made some money, gave a lot of people a start in the video game business, was at the peak of my career at Sega's zenith and then went nuts, quit and started my own business with my son and never looked back.

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  Epyx Computer Games

  • Director of International SW Development

    • Dec 1987 - Oct 1989

    Spent a lot of time in airplanes going to Europe. I remember these companies when they were just starting out: U.S. Gold, Infogrames (Atari), UbiSoft, Bullfrog, Eidos, Gray Matter, Psygnosis, Rare and many others.

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  Mindset Computers

  • Director of Product Development

    • Aug 1983 - Nov 1986

    A really swell idea and a real boss PC but it just wasn't 100% Microsoft compatible. Oops. It was real fun while it lasted. I helped turn out the lights in 1986.

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  Atari Home Computer Division

  • Manager of SW Development

    • Oct 1980 - Aug 1983

    A lesson in greed. But, boy, what a wild ride!!

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  The Authorship Resource

  • Columbus, Ohio Area

  • Designer, programmer

    • Mar 1977 - May 1980
    • Columbus, Ohio Area

    The Authorship Resource designed and developed software applications for the world's first truly "home" computer, the CyberVision 2000, marketed and sold by Montgomery Ward. It was truly revolutionary at the time, being the first multi-media device for games, educational and productivity apps with music and narration soundtracks synchronized with the software. The small team of designers and programmers went on to work at and influence such diverse companies as Atari, Activision, Apple, Convergent Technologies, The Learning Company, Sega, Adobe, MicroProse, Sun Microsystems and LeapFrog.

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  The Marion Broadcasting Company (WMRN AM & FM)

  • Marion, OH

  • Program Director, on-air talent

    • 1965 - 1975
    • Marion, OH

    Managed the programming of this Central Ohio AM/FM broadcasting station and its talent pool. Hosted a live call-in radio talk show, hosted the morning program slot, did live color commentary for regional sports. Represented the station at regional events as a host or speaker. Active in regional community affairs.

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  U.S. Air Force

  • U.S., Japan, Pakistan

  • Airman

    • 1957 - 1965
    • U.S., Japan, Pakistan

    Russian language translator for the D.O.D. Security Service.On-air talent for the Armed Forces Radio & Television Service.Served a 15-month tour of duty in Pakistan & Served 3 year tour of duty in Japan.