Here’s a bit of news that’s light on details, but big on promise. Today, Jagex and Hasbro announced a partnership that will culminate in the release of a Transformers MMO. The game is scheduled to be released sometime in 2012. What’s even better is that this game is going to release in North America, Europe, New Zealand, Latin America and Australia.

The renewed popularity of the Transformers brand is not going unnoticed. Typically whenever a videogame is created to release alongside a move, the results are disastrous. But with Transformers: War for Cybertron, we saw that even games with a bad history can be made fun if developers aren’t racing against the clock. The latest Transformers videogame project is a MMO, but it won’t be coming out in the Western world.

Kmart will be unleashing some killer deals next week starting on July 11, 2010. These deals are for some pretty recent games too. These offers are will be available in the store as well as online. At these prices some of the more popular games are almost certain not to be in stock for very long.

Warner Bros. has joined forces with Bandai to resurrect (like Mumm-Ra) the Thundercats franchise.

Don’t lie, you know you’ve been waiting almost two decades for this.

Game store employees may be bewildered by a sudden surge of sales and rentals for the Xbox 360 version of the unspectacular Transformers:Revenge of the Fallen video game. That’s because Transformers star and certified Hollywood sex symbol Megan Fox will play on Xbox Live August 29, 2009, as part of Microsoft’s “Game With Fame” campaign.

The gaming sessions allow Xbox Live Gold members to play with the rich and famous from all walks of life. Baseball star Justin Morneau and Linkin Park frontman Mike Shinoda are among the celebs who have participated. But Megan Fox is probably the hottest star (I’m speaking strictly in terms of current Hollywood popularity, of course) to participate in the program so far.

Paramount Pictures has decided to go exclusively with HD DVD dealing what could be an important blow to Sony’s Blu-ray format. Blockbusters such as Transformers and Shrek the Third will now only be available in HD DVD.

Sony seemed to have the upper hand with 2 to 1 ratios in sales, thanks to their PS3 console, and exclusive deals with Blockbuster and Wal-Mart but maybe again Sony’s decision to go with a proprietary format will backfire. Betamax anyone?

Blu-ray players are more expensive than HD DVD players so…

Our favorite Japanese import site, J-List (J-Box), recently listed a pretty cool set of headphones. Called “Frenzy & Rumble,” these Transformers-themed headphones will set you back $45 but, boy, do they look cool.

From the pictures on the site it appears the arms and legs fold in, creating solid white disks that will likely look more like ear muffs than headphones. not that’s a clever disguise… I think? Check out the video of this guy opening hand showing off his headphones…

If you thought the Xbox and Wii Target gift cards were cool around Christmas (2006), then you’ll really dig the new Transformers gift cards. Obviously a cooperative marketing effort, the gift card transforms to create Optimus Prime.

A small transformers logo in the card’s center (on the front) is a button that pops out Optimus’ head. The arms and legs can be manually pulled from the sides, extending a bit longer with hands that swivel sideways and feat that swivel out so he can stand. Once fully extended, he’ll stand about 5 1.2 in. tall which is pretty big considering it started at 2 3/8 in wide and 4 in. tall.

The funniest part of the packaging, it actually says, “Giftcard In Disguise” and points to the folded Optimus card.

Although Free Comic Book Day is all about comic books, there was plenty of videogame tie-in material scattered throughout. Sure, it was last month but I finally had time to read through all the freebie goodness I picked up and scan a bunch of pages.

Free Comic Book Day is held the first Saturday in May each year. Participating comic book stores across the US provide free comics to anyone who walks in. Some places let you take a bunch, some only let you take a couple. The purpose is to help stimulate the comic book industry as well as promote various products. A few stores will also clean out some of their excess stock on these days, setting sales comics out for the taking as well.

Some even set out the leftovers for anyone to grab – so head to your local comic book specialty shop now!

Click through to get a summary of some of the gaming tidbits I found along with plenty of cover art…

Here’s another gaming item from J-List, Peter Payne’s site that specializes in all thing Japanese (aka J-Box for those under 18).

Think of the Variable 3-button 2.4 GHz Wireless Optical Mouse as the second stage in Transformers taking over computers.

At $85, this mouse by Elecom is not just a novelty purchase but a luxury item that bends to your will and to better fit your hand. It rotates into two positions, flat and angled, making for a