You know about the concept of the Russian nesting doll, or matryoshka doll, right? The Wikipedia explanation can help you out:

“A Russian nesting doll… is a set of dolls of decreasing sizes placed one inside the other. The word matryoshka… [literally means] ‘dear (or little) mother.’”

Up until now, has a videogame ever used the concept of a Russian nesting doll?

I don’t know, but with the announcement of Double Fine Production’s downloadable title, ‘Stacking,’ for Xbox LIVE Arcade and the PlayStation Store, those little ornaments are finally going to be represented in a virtual world!

In Stacking, you take on the role of one Charlie Blackmore, a young chimney sweep who’s currently on an adventure to reunite his family after an evil 1930s industrialist has forced them into indentured labour.

And because Charlie is a Russian nesting doll, he has a super special ability: He can ‘stack’ inside another Russian nesting doll (as long as it’s bigger than Charlie, and it doesn’t notice), and then once inside, he can take advantage of whatever special ability that doll may have.

For example, you might need a key for a gate that a guard is in possession of, so by secretly stacking inside of that guard, you’ll get access to the key, and the ability to open up a new progression path.

A post on the Double Fine Action News page further fills us in on the background and origins of Stacking:

“Created by Brütal Legend’s art director, Lee Petty, plus his awesome team, Stacking has all the great story, characters, and setting of old-school adventure games, but also has a completely new way to interact with all those things I just said.

”I’m just glad we got out there first, because by this time next year, all games are going to star Russian nesting dolls. Mark my words.”

Stacking is scheduled to release on the PS3’s PlayStation Network and Xbox 360’s Xbox LIVE Marketplace during the middle of 2011.

You can watch the fantastic debut trailer for Stacking below, as well as a new interview with Double Fine creative director, Tim Schafer:

Stacking – Debut Trailer

Start getting excited!

Tim Schafer Interview