Surreal stages, events, or gameplay that somehow just don't fit have always been present, and even expected. Their crazy graphics, weird aesthetics and ideas make sure that we have absolutely no idea what's going on. But they have their charm, they are funny, or they're simply part of the experience—and so we love…

That's it. No mahine guns today. No more giant robots, no post-apocalyptic landscapes, no bloodthirsty aliens. Today, we're looking at video game concept art that's so damn bright and cheerful it'll put more peps in your step than you'll know what to do with.

It's very, very difficult not to dance to the "Lum King" music that plays at certain points in Rayman Origins. Those saxophones! That guiro!

From the guys who brought you "Mario Party Down", the excellent Mario Party drinking game (with some bonus Party Down references) comes "Rayman OriGin and Tonics."

I speak a little bit of French. Just enough, in fact, to get the gist of what Rayman creator Michel Ancel is saying in this interview. The Ubisoft developer confirms work continues on the long-awaited sequel to cult favorite Beyond Good & Evil, but also says that it'll need better tech than is currently available.

Ubisoft's critically acclaimed platformer Rayman Origins is going to get a sequel; it's pretty much inevitable. What form that sequel will take might be hinted at in these screens taken from a marketing survey by one of our readers, hinting at a world filled with dragons, ghosts and Greek gods.

Rayman Origins had great gameplay, great reviews, great visuals, great tech and great sound. It was, in a word, great. So, news that it's coming to PlayStation is great, too.

The best 2D console platformer of 2011 becomes the one of the best 2D PC platformers of 2012 on March 29, when Ubisoft releases the PC version of Rayman Origins.

2011 saw its share of disappointments, but it was also a year that contained a good number of nice surprises. Some were games we just didn't see coming—they snuck up on us and grabbed us with their excellence. Others were games that we thought were going to be terrible or at best so-so, but which would up being…

Listen: the first thing you need to know about the music in the newest Rayman game is that it's got some kickass virtuoso kazoo playing.

In a lengthy interview published today on Gamasutra, Rayman and Beyond Good & Evil creator Michel Ancel confesses that although he likes The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, he doesn't care for playing Miyamoto's Super Mario games. From the interview:

Apparently, the powers-that-be at Ubisoft know that the visual splendor of their latest gorgeously rendered platformer can be straight-up confusing. That's the only raison d'etre I can figure behind the video above.

This week, Sony brings its usual raft of new and tweaked content to the PlayStation Store. Notable additions to their selections include Dead Space 2 as a downloadable for $29.99, with a free full game trial for PS+ subscribers.

This latest trailer for Ubisoft's upcoming Rayman Origins gives a great sense of the game—charming, chaotic, and full of slapping. So much slapping. In the video, we meet the cast of characters and get a quick tour of the many weird locales that the game will take us to.

Who else is coming to New York Comic-Con? Ubisoft, that's who. The French publisher's bringing Ezio's last hurrah, the latest Just Dance game and more to the Jacob Javits Convention Center this weekend.

With Rayman: Origins, Rayman is coming to a whole host of platforms this November—including home consoles. Next March, however, it will be released on the PS Vita.

Ubisoft is coming to PAX this week with nearly a dozen games and a slew of freebies. They say it will be their biggest line up for the annual show to date.

Rayman Origins features a battle of good versus evil, as well as some colorful platforming and puzzle solving. The game will be out this November on the Xbox 360, PS3, Wii and 3DS. Next year, it will be released on the PS Vita.

"You don't want to play as Rayman?" the Ubisoft demonstrator asked. "Most people go right for him." I explained that I identified more with his shambling, big-mouthed galoot of a partner, Globox.

After countless attempts to bring limbless platforming wonder into the 3D world, creator Michel Ancel returns to knock Rayman down a plane and craft one stunner of a 2D platformer in Rayman Origins.