A little quirkiness in a video game is often a good thing. After all, the repetition of wiping out hundreds of clone-like enemies or exploring levels that are eerily similar to ones you've just wandered through can wear down even the most dedicated of players.

But sometimes, developers charge happily into the land of absolute insanity, letting their freak flags fly as they stretch their creative muscles to keep us on our toes. In an even more surprising reality, sometimes those gigantic leaps of faith are actually a heck of a lot of fun -- though sometimes, of course, they stink.

From grumpy, sentient fish to communist alien invaders, gaming's past is littered with weird games. Here are 10 that are certainly make the short list.

Gamers have proven their generosity countless times, but it's rare they can help a charity by simply doing what they love most: playing video games.

Starting at 8:00 am on Saturday, October 20, nearly 15,000 people will do just that for Extra Life, a gaming marathon that supports the Children's Miracle Network Hospitals.

The idea's fairly straightforward, if a little tiring. Gamers fire up their consoles (or pull out their board games) and play for 24 hours, encouraging their friends and family to support them, with all proceeds going toward the CMN Hospital in their area.

The much-ballyhooed 'Scanned' trailer for Halo 4 is here, and it turns out all that ballyhooing was justified.

The two-and-a-half minute trailer, which was produced by Hollywood heavyweight David Fincher ("Fight Club," "The Social Network" ) and directed by visual artist Tim Miller ("Scott Pilgrim vs. the World"), debuted Thursday on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. It offers a glimpse into the creation of Halo's iconic hero, Master Chief, and it's very, very cool:

By Paul Foy, Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY - The developer of video games including "Alvin and the Chipmunks" and "Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005" is serving a yearlong jail sentence in Utah for failing to pay more than 100 employees.

David M. Rushton (AP/Utah Attorney General’s Office)David M. Rushton, 57, owes $1.2 million in a rare criminal case for nonpayment of wages, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff said Thursday.

Rushton did business in a Salt Lake City suburb as Sensory Sweep Studio, which focused on selling games adapted from movies for Nintendo, PlayStation and Xbox game consoles and hand-held devices.

"We had occasional paychecks that trickled in. Some people were favoured more than others," said Adam Hunter, a 29-year-old game designer now working for another Utah studio. Hunter said he was owed $12,000 after quitting in 2009.

Can't sleep? It could be all that Call of Duty.

New research from Flinders University finds that prolonged gaming sessions before bed resulted in restless nights for teenage boys, regardless of whether or not they went to bed at their normal time.

The study, conducted at the Australian school's Sleep Laboratory, put participants into two trials -- one that played recently released, fast-paced action games for 50 minutes, the other for 150 minutes -- then monitored their sleep disruption that night.

By Mike Krumboltz, Yahoo! Buzzlog

The upcoming James Bond film "Skyfall" is getting strong early buzz. If only the same could be said for 007 Legends, a multi-platform video game hitting stores this week. Early reviews are in, and according to the experts, this Bond is more zero than hero.

IGN gives 007 Legends a score of 4.5 out of 10 and calls it a "poor man's Call of Duty." One of the game's big problems, according to reviewer Tristan Ogilvie, is its tendency to modernize classic Bond moments.

(Credit: Getty Images)Ubisoft is laying a legal Boom Boom Pow on their highest profile musical partner.

The publisher has filed a breach of contract suit against The Black Eyed Peas, saying the band failed to approve an iOS version of their console game, The Black Eyed Peas Experience. Ubisoft is seeking over $1 million in damages from BEP Music, the company that holds the trademark for the band, according to Courthouse News Service.

It was just last June, though, that the two parties couldn't get enough of each other when announcing the game with an epic concert in Paris.

You know that trend where high-octane action games are promoted with thoughtful, slow-motion trailers set to the strains of emotional ballads?

It's on pause.

Activision and Treyarch just released the launch trailer for Call of Duty: Black Ops II, which is filled with soldiers blasting each other with all sorts of near-future weapons as AC/DC's "Back in Black" blares in the background. It's nothing if not motivational: