Le’Shanah Tovah to the Jews of gaming!

Welcome to the year 5773! We celebrate with apples, honey, this list of the greatest Jewish videogame characters ever, and a shoutout, Adam Sandler-style, to three very special Jews who have made enormous contributions to our gaming lives.

1. Ralph Baer. The “Father of Videogames” escaped Nazi Germany with his parents, and in the late 1960s developed the “Brown Box” – the first video game system. Renamed the Odyssey by Magnavox, Baer’s system went on sale to the public in 1972. Baer turned 90 this year!

2. Warren Spector. This righteous bro produced the original System Shock, and then as an encore created the Deus Ex series. He’s turned his attention to Disney, now, and the Epic Mickey games, the second of which comes out in November. Happy New Year, Warren!

3. Ken Levine. The System Shock series passed from awesome Jew to awesome Jew, as Levine designed the sequel to Spector’s game. Then he said screw it, I’m going to make the biggest game ever, and in 2007 his baby, BioShock, became probably the most talked-about game of the past ten years. His followup, BioShock Infinite, drops in Feburary of next year.