Ron Burke is the Director, creator, and owner of Gaming Trend.  Hailing from Phoenix Arizona, Ron is the Manager of Internet Operations for a nationwide Internet Service Provider.  With a Bachelors Degree in Computer Science and a minor in International Business, Ron has focused his professional life on Network Engineering, and more recently management.

Ron is what you’d call a hardcore old-school gamer.  He’s owned every major console since the Colecovision, as well as a Commodore 16, a VIC 20, a Commodore 64, an Amiga 500, and so on.  Ron is a RPG player, enjoying most Japanese and Western RPGs.  The RPG that started him on this path was Ultima.  Joining the Prodigy Internet Service entirely so he could join the Ultima Dragons (Knightshade Dragon -=UDIC=-), Ron is an avid collector of all things Ultima.  Working with Origin, he was the first Counselor in Ultima Online, and then later the first Seer.  As a reviewer, Ron has authored over 1000 previews and reviews, as well as interviewing some of the luminaries of this industry including Richard Garriott, Hironobu Sakaguchi, Mike Laidlaw, Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk, Peter Molyneux, and many more.  Building Gaming Trend into what you see today has been a labor of love shouldered by many people.   Their contributions are too numerous to even begin to catalog.

In his hobbies beyond gaming, Ron practices Martial Arts.   Ron has a 3rd Dan in Moo Duk Kwan Tang Soo Do, a 3rd Dan in Matsumura Seito Shorin Ryu, a 1st Dan in Taegeuk Taekwondo, a 1st Dan in American Taekwondo, a brown belt in Kempo and Jiujitsu, and has just recently begun to dabble in Wing Chung Kung Fu.  He also enjoys drumming and is an avid fan of Rock Band where he plays on his modified ION Rocker.  In addition, Ron occasional composes music though he’s not prone to sharing his work.

Ron Burke is married to Laura Burke.  They’ve recently celebrated their 15th wedding anniversary.  Laura contributes to Gaming Trend by reviewing some of kids games that we receive.   Ron is also a 6 year Veteran of the United States Air Force where he served as a Combat Controller under the 819th and 823rd RED HORSE Squadron.   After being injured in the line of duty, Ron began work in the Communications Squadron until his honorable discharge in 1999.

Mike Dunn, Executive Producer and Managing Editor

Michael Dunn, a User Experience Designer that lives and works in Austin, TX, has been a part of several high-profile online initiatives in several capacities for clients such as HP, Waste Management, Reliant Energy, HBO, Sony Pictures, and Mattel. A little over ten years ago, Mike gave up on his dreams of being a moderately unsuccessful comic artist and animator slash waiter and decided to help build the internet instead; a decision that has led him through the trenches of web design and programming to a passion for user experience and common sense methodologies for interactive media. Having previously worked with a variety of Houston-based agencies, including Six Foot Studios and FKM, he is currently a senior member of the user interface team at HomeAway, Inc, the world’s largest online network of vacation rental websites.

Mike’s gaming experience extends back to the coin-op/atari 2600 days, but his first real ‘console’ was a Commodore 64. His wife, Aimi, and three children- Griffin, Oriana, and Zephyr- graciously put up with this obsession of his. Of course, without Gaming Trend, Mike might never have a proper excuse to play video games for extended periods of time…

David Roberts, Senior Lead Editor

David has been gaming since his dad made the bad decision of bringing home an NES to a four year old kid. Ever since, he’s had his face glued to one TV screen or another, mashing away at buttons on a keyboard, gamepad or handheld. Never one to turn down a new experience, he loves all sorts of games and genres, and will play just about anything as long as it tries something different. His favorite games challenge conventions, and he loves that he can still be surprised after playing games for almost twenty-five years. Playing everything from the latest AAA blockbuster, to the smallest indie game, to even casual free-to-play iOS games — and everything in between — he believes that excellent gameplay can come from even the unlikeliest of subjects. There’s a story behind every game, and he wants to find them.

When he’s not frantically typing emails, he’s studying English at ASU. He also enjoys watching films, listening to music, and DJing in his spare time. He currently resides in Phoenix, AZ with his girlfriend and daughter, but his heart lives in Seattle.

Keith Schleicher, Managing Editor for TableTopThrowdown.com (coming soon!)

While not working as a Database Administrator, Keith Schleicher has been associate with Gaming Trend since 2003. While his love of video games started with the Telestar Alpha (a pong console with four different games), he started playing games on the ill-fated TI-99/4A. While the Speech Synthesizer seemed to be the height of gaming, eventually a 286 AT computer running at 8 and 12 Hz with a CGA monitor would be his outlet for a while. Eventally he’d graduate to 386, 486, Pentium, and Athlon systems, even doing some hardware reviews and attending Comdex. With the release of the Dreamcast and being able to play Dead or Alive 3 on the original Xbox before release, that started his conversion to the console world. Since the Dreamcast he has acquired an NES, SNES, PS2, PS3, PSP, GBA-SP, DS, Xbox, Xbox 360, Gamecube, and Wii. While not playing video games he enjoys bowling, reading, playing board games, listening to music, hanging out with friends, and watching movies and TV. He originally hails from Wisconsin but is now living in Illinois.