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At least that's what Cockroach Inc, a Swedish development studio, is trying to tell us with The Dream Machine. Yes, they are creating a classical point-and-click adventure game using claymation (picture!). Remember The Neverhood? This time it will make sense from the beginning. You can play the demo already in the official website, and I mean exactly that. As with Samorost and Machinima, this game uses Flash, so it's actually possible to play directly on the browser.

Also, they're running the Beta test for the first chapter. If you sign up you may be able to play it as well! I'm already looking forward to the release.

OK, this isn't really new. The trailer came out in August 2009, but I'm pretty sure the game hasn't been released yet. I'm also quite sure most of you haven't heard about it, and what is even worse, if I tell you it was made by Dean Dodrill, you're all probably going to look at each other and then back to me saying "who?". The guy who animated Jazz Jackrabbit 2 and 3, God damn it! You know, that Sonic the Hedgehog clone that actually was fun and entertaining!

So, what's Dust, then? Apparently just another sidescrolling beat'em up. What makes it special? That we're in 2010, and even though there are already thousands of great sidescrolling beat'em ups, 99% of them were released in the previous century. But this isn't an 8bit approach, or a Unreal Engine 3.5 powered 2.5D game. It actually features some of the most beautiful 2D graphics you're going to find in the next 10 minutes!

As the official webpage is broken right now (bandwidth exceeded, gah!), there's not much I can tell you about the game further than what you can see in the following video (that I stepped on just half an hour ago and somehow forced me to write this post). Enjoy!

Remember those models I posted here back in the days? They were from an actual game. Now I'm doomed.

Sorry, but I ran out of words.

In case you're not still aware of it, Sleep is Death, by Jason Rohrer (Passage), may be the next big thing. This two-player (and only two-player) storytelling game follows a very original formula. While one player plays the main character, the other one is in charge of -the rest- of the game. Everything! You may be thinking of something like the DM client for Neverwinter Nights or Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption, and I guess you'd be correct to a certain point. The possibilities, however, are a bit wider here. Plus, the more you play (and, especially, the more you play with different people) the more stuff you'll be able to do. Why? Because all the stuff created for one game is carried with you to the next one. A bit like Animal Crossing, when your character appears in someone else's console.The game is already available for pre-order for just $9. If you're interested, just check Sleep is Death's official webpage!