Ubi shows Rayman Origins, Project Dust

During its packed E3 conference overnight, Ubisoft revealed that old mascot Rayman is making a comeback.

What's more, Another World designer Eric Chahi is working on a game called Project Dust.

Both are digital distribution titles by the looks of it. Rayman Origins has no release date but is looking very pretty in its trailer below.

According to Ubisoft bossman Yves Gullemot, a team of just five people have been working on the game, which has hand-drawn, cel-shaded 2D visuals and classic platforming gameplay.

Rayman hasn't really been seen much since the Raving Rabbids took over his franchise and then dispensed with him. Poor old Rayman.

Project Dust, meanwhile, is due out in spring 2011, and you can check out its announcement trailer - all tribespeople and a sandy, shifting landscape - below.

Chahi himself explained what we're seeing in a Q&A released after the conference:

"Project Dust is based on a technological breakthrough which allows us to have a world that's entirely dynamic," he said. "You've probably noticed the ground crumbling down in the video we presented at E3 Ubisoft's conference; well that's in the game.

"Players will be able to manipulate ground, water, vegetation, lava as if playing sandcastles on the beach. Breaching a lake open, digging craters, flooding valleys... And all this is simulation, not just graphics visualisation.

"The technology behind the game is at the top of what can be done on today's computer architecture. The team did some impressive work, way beyond my expectations when I conceived the design."

He went on to call the game "the spiritual heir to Populous".

"The game is set in an extreme version of Planet Earth where nature unleashes her power in a much more violent way than what we are used to. Tsunamis, earthquakes, floods, wildfires, volcanic eruptions are what the days are made of for the people of Dust.

"In this kind of God game, users will play with powers to manipulate the world around them. Ground, water, lava, fire, plants and trees -model the world like a child playing sand castles on the beach. With such powers, players will help their people resist, expand and migrate so they can accomplish their quest to find a safe place."