The strange protagonist of the 32-bit era was slated to make his come-back this year with Rayman Origins, an XBLA title that explores the Rayman roots, and how his friendship with Globox started. Sadly, this will not be happening until next year. More after the jump.

This title was to be the first to use Ubisoft’s new animation engine, UbiArt-Framework, an engine that allows designers to achieve breath taking 2D artwork in relatively short time. Another recent revealing is that Rayman Origins will be an episodic title, ala: Sonic the Hedgehog 4, Sam and Max, Dead Rising 2 Case 0/Case West, etc, and episode 1 releasing in 2011.

Ubisoft has made no official statement, nor changed the Rayman Origins homepage to reflect the delay, but company representatives have confirmed that the title will not be out in the 8 days left of this year. The delay is not entirely bad news however, for it means more time to polish (so we don’t end up with a Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode 1), and it is coming at the same time as Beyond Good and Evil’s HD upgrade. Rayman Origins trailer below, and stay tuned for more info on Rayman’s possible resurgence (and end to those blasted Rabbids!)