Welcome to the Pre-Game Show, where we show you trailers for upcoming videogames before they’re released. For our first installment, we have two mysterious titles from two new studios.

matter (XBLA)

‘matter’ is the first title from Blink Wink Games, the recently-formed gaming studio from Gore Verbinski’s Blind Wink Productions, known for the film ‘Rango‘. The trailer for ‘matter’ is the first product that we’ve seen from the multi-project deal struck between Blind Wink and Microsoft. While details on the game are slight, we know that it will be exclusive to the Xbox Live Arcade, and has been produced with Kinect in mind.

Apart from the very slick trailer, it seems that ‘matter’ is built with the Unreal engine, with Maya used for the art pipeline, and with a certain emphasis on abstract design. For only a year to pass between forming a studio and releasing a AAA-quality game is a bit concerning, but using Unreal 3 for the game’s engine could be a difference maker. The trailer is impressive, but pre-rendered. While ‘Rango’ was of course pre-rendered, a game like ‘matter’ will have to work well in real time, especially if Kinect-dependent animations are present.

PaPo & Yo (PSN)

‘PaPo & Yo’ is the first project from minority, a studio composed of grizzled industry veterans now aligned to make something a world away from popular, gritty shooters. I could swear that this game has already changed considerably since I first started following it. First, the boy, Quico, had the ability to shift the environment around. Then Quico had a little robot bubby, Lula, that could help him get around by increasing his vertical. Now Quico has a new best friend, Monster, who acts like a dangerous pet. Oddly enough, Quico’s non-best friend, the diminutive Lula, is suspicious of Monster, especially Monster’s frequent tendency to ingest poisonous frogs that then propel Monster into a state of murderous rage.

All I know is that the more the game changes, and the more that we get to see of it, the more that I want to play it. The studio has been very open about how these characters and the setting of the game amidst a favela are designed to relay a personal and emotional experience. Hopefully, the finished game can prove them right.