"Father of the Video Game" Ralph Baer escaped Jewish persecution in Nazi Germany as a teen and served in the U.S. Army in WWII. After coming of age in tough times, he felt driven to bring "more fun and whimsy" into the world. Ralph Baer's childhood was stolen by the Nazis. The German-born Jew gained a semblance of revenge overseas, imagining a new way for children of all ages to play. Ralph Baer invented video games.

Netflix held a virtual event called DROP 01 to celebrate its forthcoming slate of animated projects. The showcase was an absolute cornucopia of trailers and announcements for animation fans, particularly those who enjoy video game adaptations (all of us.) It started with a global livestream of Castlevania: Nocturne's first three episodes ahead of the official premiere later today. After that, the hits kept on coming. We knew there was a Devil May Cry anime being produced, adapting the popular game series, and now we have a trailer.

If your owner decides to play I Expect You to Die 3, you are in grave danger. This game is bound to induce bouts of gamer rage in VR players, so be prepared to have your guts splattered across the living room floor as you get thrown into a wall. Jokes aside, dear reader, I Expect You to Die 3 is the third installment of one of the most underrated VR series ever – a game that lets you step into a quirky, unserious spy institution out to stop megalomaniacal schemes from vainglorious villains that may end the world as you know it. It's up to you to play hero and save the world, so IEYTD3 drops you into precarious situations where it forces you to use your noggin to figure out how to progress to the next level. Every IEYTD game kicks off with a moody ballad – à la Billie Eilish's No Time to Die.

FedEx unveiled a two-armed robot called DexR this week that's designed to automate one of the trickiest tasks facing the company's human employees--loading a van with packages. The new robot aims to use artificial intelligence to stack rows of differently sized boxes inside a delivery van as efficiently as possible, attempting to maximize how many will fit. That task is far from easy for a machine. "Packages come in different sizes, shapes, weights, and packaging materials, and they come randomized," says Rebecca Yeung, vice president of operations and advanced technology at FedEx. The robot uses cameras and lidar sensors to perceive the packages and must then plan how to configure the available boxes to make a neat wall, place them snugly without crushing anything, and react appropriately if any packages slip.

In need of a quiet getaway after completing my fourth novel, last week I booked a hotel on the seafront in Paignton, Devon and planned to spend three days wandering about and reading in cafes. As soon as I arrived, however, I saw that there were several arcades on the main street and on the pier. Obviously, I had to visit them all. As a child living in Cheshire in the 1980s, I spent many happy summer days in the arcades along the Golden Mile in Blackpool. These vast cathedrals of leisure, their exterior walls covered in flashing multicoloured light bulbs, were crammed with the video games of the era.

In September 1998, Google was created in a garage by two Stanford University students – a humble beginning to say the least. Who would have thought a quarter of century later it would be the world's most used search engine with unprecedented access to our personal data? To mark its 25 birthday, Google has packed its site with Easter Eggs, including a new Google Doodle – a temporary alteration of its logo – with '25' in place of where the two Os would normally be. Meanwhile, if you enter'Google 25th birthday' into the search bar, colourful confetti will rain down over your results. The tech giant has also brought back its'birthday surprise spinner', which lets you play interactive games from its archives, including Pac-man, Snake and Tic-tac-toe.

When Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone in 2007, it marked a monumental shift in how we interact with our tech devices, making us reliant on them for more parts of our lives than ever before. A decade and a half later, NVIDIA's RTX GPUs are sparking a new frontier of technological revolution by making it easier for the average person and professionals to reap the benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) in their daily lives, using ray tracing and AI technologies. There's no denying that AI-powered apps represent a profound paradigm shift in technology use, and NVIDIA RTX and GeForce RTX GPUs are currently powering over 100 million Windows PCs. Whether you're a developer, creator, gamer, or want to see what's next, upgrading to RTX GPUs empowers you to take full advantage of next-gen AI technology. These days, anyone looking to build their own brand on social media is expected to churn out fresh and engaging content regularly.

Some of these have been crowd-pleasing surprises, the kind of thing that sets social media ablaze during a reveal in a Nintendo Direct. Others come bearing a near overwhelming amount of fan expectation. Series like Resident Evil and even Pokémon have consistently cycled through remaking their classic catalog. Now the question isn't so much "Will we get this as a remake?", but rather "What will the remake of this be like? And how will it compare to the game I already know?"

SAG-AFTRA members have voted in favor of a strike authorization for performers working in video games, including those who do voice work, motion capture and stunts for the industry. Of the 34,687 members who cast their ballot, 98.32 percent voted "yes." It doesn't automatically mean that the performers are going on strike, only that they could after September 26. The guild explained that it's been negotiating for a new contract with video game companies since 2022, but that they "have refused to agree to critical terms [its] members need." For its next bargaining sessions on September 26, 27 and 28, it believes the strike authorization gives it the added leverage needed to get the companies to agree to its terms.

Save up to $60: As of September 21, you can save up to 70% off on fan-favorite Call of Duty titles at Xbox, for this game franchise's 20th anniversary. The video game franchise Call of Duty has legendary status at this point. In fact, this year marks the game series' 20th anniversary, and Xbox is here to help you celebrate. At its site, for a limited time only, you can find markdowns on all the titles you know, love, and need to get your hands on. Run, don't walk, to experience the thrill of these bestselling Xbox hits.