Celebrity endorsements are one of the oldest tricks in the marketing handbook. Whether it's George Forman lucrative grills, Sly Stallone's low-cal pudding, or Katy Perry's lousy potato chips, famous faces on everyday products are a shortcut to consumer trust, confidence, and subsequent massive sales success.

That's the idea, anyhow. Too often it's just a way to paper over a product that nobody would buy if it wasn't for a celeb grinning on the box -- and video games are no exception. A veritable galaxy of stars have lent their names to games over the years, and to absolutely nobody's surprise, most of them have been terrible.  Check out ten of the worst.

There weren't a lot of surprises at Apple's press event Tuesday. The rumor mill was pretty much spot-on when it came to the iPhone 5, taking a little of the wind out of the company's sails.

But that doesn't make the iPhone 5 -- and the slew of new iPod Touch devices that the company also debuted -- any less important to gaming. In fact, Apple might be further cementing its presence as a major player in the video game industry.

If you've spent a lot of time in Azeroth -- and chances are pretty good that you have -- you've likely snapped a screenshot or two chronicling your exploits. And you've probably posted those screens somewhere on the web, too.

What you might not know, however, is that along with those pretty pictures comes a batch of your user data.

Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel (Credit: EA)Not only can playing video games with a friend make the experience more fun, it could make you a more giving person.

A pair of studies from Ohio State University finds that playing games like Halo, Call of Duty and Unreal Tournament with a teammate can reduce the negative behavioral effects that are associated with those games.

"Most of the studies finding links between violent games and aggression were done with people playing alone. The social aspect of today's video games can change things quite a bit," says David Ewoldsen, who co-authored the studies.

We're about month out from the release of Skylanders Giants, and Activision is doing a nice job getting us amped up to blow all our holiday cash on the game's collection of new toys. We've gotten the scoop on two new characters already -- Swarm and Chill -- but this latest Giant crushes them both.

Because that's just what he does.

By Alistair Barr, Reuters

(Credit: Reuters/Robert Galbraith)(Reuters) - Zynga Inc's chief marketing officer resigned on Monday, becoming the latest senior executive to depart the struggling social games company behind popular Facebook Inc games such as Farmville.

Jeff Karp joins chief operating officer John Schappert and chief creative officer Mike Verdu among the top executives who have quit since August.

The world's largest social games maker, which has shed almost three-quarters its market value since a much-heralded debut in December, did not cite a reason for Karp's departure in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday.

(Credit: KHOU-TV)Kids these days, with their video games. And their stolen cars. And state-crossing joyrides. Okay, so this one's actually a bit out of the ordinary.

Houston's KHOU-TV tells the story of Beth Robinson, a 13-year-old girl who lives in Houston and enjoys playing games on her Xbox 360. Beth befriended 12 year-old Dylan, a fellow gamer from Hodgenville, Kentucky. The two would spend hours playing games and hanging out together over the system's Xbox Live online service.

But what started off as a harmless teenage crush turned into a three-day nightmare for the Robinson family.

In 2000, Lindy Ruble suffered a stroke. She survived, but was left unable to recognize text, which made using a PC keyboard -- and most Internet-based forms of communications -- impossible.

But a clever tech hack by her son has allowed her to start sending emails once again.