Edward Lerner, or Ned Lerner, is a

video game programmer A game programmer is a software engineer, programmer, or computer scientist who primarily develops codebases for video games or related software, such as game development tools. Game programming has many specialized disciplines, all of which fall ...

and technology project leader in the

video game industry The video game industry is the tertiary industry, tertiary and quaternary industry, quaternary sectors of the entertainment industry that specialize in the video game development, development, marketing, distribution (marketing), distribution, ...

Career

In 1983 he founded Lerner Research (a 3D simulation development company) which was responsible for ''

Chuck Yeager's Advanced Flight Trainer ''Chuck Yeager's Advanced Flight Trainer'' is a flight simulation video game published by Electronic Arts in 1987. It was originally released as ''Chuck Yeager's Advanced Flight Simulator''. Due to a legal dispute with Microsoft over the term "F ...

'', ''Deep Space'', ''

Ultima Underworld ''Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss'' is a 1992 action role-playing game developed by Blue Sky Productions (later Looking Glass Studios) and published by Origin Systems. Set in the fantasy world of the ''Ultima'' series the story takes pla ...

'', ''

F-22 Interceptor ''F-22 Interceptor'' is a 1991 combat flight simulator created by Ned Lerner and Gene Kusmiak. It was released by Electronic Arts for the Sega Genesis. The player controls one aircraft, the F-22 Raptor, throughout the game. At that time, the pr ...

'', and also created the first 3D system licensed by

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by former Apple Inc., Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry ...

. He later co-founded

Blue Sky Productions Looking Glass Studios, Inc. (formerly Blue Sky Productions and LookingGlass Technologies, Inc.) was an American video game developer based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The company was founded by Paul Neurath with Ned Lerner as Blue Sky Product ...

(later

Looking Glass Studios Looking Glass Studios, Inc. (formerly Blue Sky Productions and LookingGlass Technologies, Inc.) was an American video game developer based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The company was founded by Paul Neurath with Ned Lerner as Blue Sky Produ ...

), filling the roles of

Chairman of the Board The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a Board of directors, board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by ...

Chief Operating Officer A chief operating officer (COO), also called chief operations officer, is an executive in charge of the daily operations of an organization (i.e. personnel, resources, and logistics). COOs are usually second-in-command immediately after the C ...

, and VP Product Development. During this time, he led the development of more 3D simulation and entertainment software, such as '' Flight Unlimited'', ''

System Shock ''System Shock'' is a 1994 first-person action-adventure game, action-adventure video game developed by LookingGlass Technologies and published by Origin Systems. It was directed by Doug Church with Warren Spector serving as producer. The game ...

'', '' Links Pro'', ''

John Madden Football '93 ''John Madden Football '93'' is a 1992 sports video game published by Electronic Arts Sports Network. Based on the sport of American football, the player controls a football team in modes such as tournament play and sudden death. Officially en ...

'', and '' Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds''. In 1997, he co-founded Multitude, an Internet gaming

multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

startup that created ''

FireTeam A fireteam or fire team is a small modern warfare, modern military sub-subunit, subordinated element of infantry designed to optimize "Non-commissioned officer, NCO initiative", "combined arms", "bounding overwatch" and "fire and movement" mi ...

'', the first real-time internet team game with full voice conferencing. The full voice functionality was spun off into a standalone product called FireTalk. Ned later went on to work at Venture FireFighters, and Electronic Arts (as Chief Technology Officer). Ned previously worked for

Sony Computer Entertainment America Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC (SIE) is an American video game and digital entertainment company that is a major subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It primarily operates the PlayStation brand of video game console ...

, Director of Tools & Technology. In this role he was involved in the development of games for the

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). It is the successor to the PlayStation 2, and both are part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. The PS3 was first released on ...

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013, in ...

, and

PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PA ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lerner, Ned 20th-century births Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Chief technology officers Video game designers Video game programmers