"We don't have any plans for DLC. As far as the team is concerned we are taking a break from VP for a while to make something new. But things change quickly in the software industry so next week it may be a completely different story"

But what could this new game be? I spoke to Rare's Community Manager George Kelion, who said that the team were keen on a fresh challenge after spending so long cooped up with just sentient Piñatas for company.

"With VP2 out the door and Banjo in its vinegar strokes, we're focusing on getting the Avatars all finished and done for the New Xbox Experience," said Kelion, "After that, it'll most likely be a mix of new projects and hopefully a Banjo sequel.. maybe? Fingers crossed, anyway!"

Chatting in Paradise [Mondo Rare]

"On the seventh day, we ran out of candy..."

Rare continue their series of Halo 3 'tribute' virals with this nod towards the 'Museum' ad.

For my money, it doesn't work quite as well as 'Believe' - mainly because the sombre woman in a Piñata mask they have got to play Leafos seems to be on the verge of turning the proceedings into a Bat For Lashes video.

As we covered back in May, Viva Piñata: Trouble In Paradise for the Xbox 360 can be used with the Xbox Live Vision Camera and a selection of special cards. Players can wave the cards in front of the camera to invoke certain game effects.

Players will be able to download free cards, which can then be printed out — or just displayed on a PDA or mobile phone screen held in front of the camera. Players can also create their own cards for online trading.

It looks like it will work a bit like the PS3 game Eye Of Judgement although Rare say that the game will be fully playable without the card/camera combo.

"The Vision Camera just adds a new dimension to Piñata and how you can interact with the game. Vision cards are really versatile, by showing one of the cards to the Vision Camera you can affect the weather, the time, garden items, piñatas, you can do just about anything" - Ryan Stevenson, Rare

The first Piñata Vision Card goes online! [MundoRare]

When will we find out? According to Burton, "soon enough." If that means Leipzig Games Convention, we'll be surprised, and expect that we'll hear real details after the release of Rare's already in development Xbox 360 titles.

Rare: Half the studio working on secret projects [Videogamer]

[Thanks for all of the tips]

Anyway, Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise adds 30 new piñata species, more co-op and gameplay modes, and the official announcement promises that Piñata Island has gotten even bigger. Crecente had a look at it recently and found that it seems to tone up what could've been seen as problem zones in the original.

Full details after the jump!

Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise Release Date and New Details Revealed
Green thumbs and animal-loving gamers rejoice with the return of their favourite candy-filled creatures, hits shelves on 5th September
LONDON – 3rd July 2008 - Roarios and Tigermisus and Fizzlybears, OH MY! Microsoft today announced that “Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise” will be released and on store shelves by 5th September.

With more than 30 additional new piñata species, expanded co-op options and multiple gameplay modes, “Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise” offers limitless fun for every animal-lover in the family.

Piñata Island has gotten bigger too! Now players can explore wild areas outside of the garden where they will need to bait and retrieve exotic piñata species who won’t venture into the garden on their own.

Put on your mittens and snow shoes as you brave the cold of the Pinartic where you’ll find piñatas that prefer cooler temperatures and the occasional blizzard, like Pengums and Polollybears. Or you can shed the layers and head to the sands of the Dessert Desert, where Camellos and Jameleons bask in the arid sun.

All of these new exotic piñatas will not venture into your garden willingly, so you’ll need to bait and retrieve them yourself. But you can make them feel at home right away by adding patches of snow or sand to your garden, similar to how you add grass and water.

Available exclusively on Xbox 360, “Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise” reinvigorates a colourful and engaging gaming experience. Now with full cooperative gameplay modes and various approachable difficulty settings, the “Viva Piñata” franchise opens its doors even wider with a new game that provides hours of fun for gamers of all ages, fans of the animated series and animal lovers alike.

-Ends-

They put the Viva Piñata franchise on TV to reach a broad audience, they put it on PC to reach a different broad audience, and they're doing the same thing with the DS. They're trying to widen the audience of the franchise, basically... They see DS as a very viable platform.

Honestly, if Microsoft wants better odds at cracking the Japanese market, it really should release its exclusives on the DS. We hear the DS is popular in Japan. Xbox 360, not so much so.

MS sees DS [Eurogamer] [Pic]

Judging by what I saw, THQ's aiming to take what fans of the original Viva Pinata liked best and put it front-and-center, while also making it portable and by tying it in to the TV series in the hopes of opening frilly neon pinata guts and raining candy down on a whole new audience of fans.

So how's it look?

Really exciting, actually. The rep who demoed it for me explained that the real-time strategy-esque elements of the original VP were not so much at home on the console - she'd been a fan of the game, but found herself wishing she could point-and-click to manage things more efficiently.

The stylus controls, she said, provide a more direct access to the interface, and you can zoom in on individual pinatas with just a tap and view various stat screens on them with the buttons. Providing tutorials on all the controls are Fergie, Paulie, Franklin and Hudson from the TV series, and there are full-motion video clips pulled straight from the show (which I confess to occasionally viewing on Saturday mornings. Okay, I almost always watch it. Shut up.)

The game has two modes, also - the traditional mode plus a free-play, sandbox-style mode where money's no object, if you just want to mess around. The thing I found most interesting is that you can ship your pinatas and items even among your own saved games, of which you can have up to three. So if a Sour enters your garden, the rep said, you can box it up and ship it to a different garden of yours. You can also trade among your friends, and some of the pinatas to collect can only be unlocked through trades (think Pokemon).

So it looks like all of the necessities are there for traditional Viva Pinata fans, and new ones may be attracted to the series for the first time by the DS's huge install base, the relationship to the TV show, and the different modes for more accessible play.

I don't actually ever, y'know, go into nature or anything like that, but I'm imagining this is exactly what it looks like.

Update: Apparently, this is what they call B-roll footage, not an officially sanctioned trailer for the game and not intended to be shown in its entirety. We think it's just a spectacular selection of gameplay, but please note this is "raw" unedited video.

Originally announced at the New York Comic Con, the DS version will share themes with the original Viva Piñata, tasking players with nursing a neglected garden into a piñata paradise. Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise will also introduce seven new piñata species, in addition to tutorial full motion videos from the Fox 4Kids TV series.

Full release follows the jump.

Wildly Popular Franchise Scheduled to Debut on Nintendo DS™ This Fall with THQ's Viva Piñata®: Pocket Paradise™

Players Can Garden On-The-Go with an Intuitive Control Scheme Designed Specifically for Nintendo DS

AGOURA HILLS, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—THQ Inc. (NASDAQ: THQI) today announced that Viva Piñata®: Pocket Paradise™ is scheduled for release this fall for Nintendo DS™. The game is based on Microsoft Game Studios' highly-rated original Viva Piñata game for Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft. Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise features an array of content exclusive to Nintendo DS and an intuitive control scheme designed to take full advantage of the DS touch screen and stylus, making it a breeze to navigate through the garden.

"Nintendo DS is the perfect platform for the Viva Piñata franchise because players can have direct interaction with the environment and their piñatas using the stylus," said Bob Aniello, senior vice president of worldwide marketing, THQ. "We are thrilled to introduce Microsoft's critically-acclaimed Viva Piñata series to an entirely new segment of the gaming community."

In Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise, players will inherit a neglected garden on Piñata Island and turn it into a piñata paradise by tending to all aspects of cleaning the garden, growing and maintaining vegetation, caring for and breeding piñatas, as well as attracting new piñata species. The game features seven all-new piñata species, each with new requirements, houses and unique cut scenes. Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise also includes twelve full motion video clips that serve as tutorial levels within the game. The videos feature the stars of the Fox 4Kids Viva Piñata TV series, including Hudson Horstashio™, Fergy Fudgehog™ and Paulie Pretztail™. The brand-new Playground mode allows players to create a lush garden full of exciting and exotic piñatas in a very short amount of time. In addition, certain rare piñatas can only be acquired by using the Nintendo DS local wireless connection, where players can transfer items from their garden to a friend's garden.

Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise is developed by Rare Ltd., one of the world's leading video game developers and masterminds behind some of the most popular video games in history, including multi-million-dollar sellers "GoldenEye", "Perfect Dark", "Banjo-Kazooie" and the "Donkey Kong Country" Series. From 2005 to 2006, Rare released "Perfect Dark Zero", "Kameo: Elements of Power" and "Viva Piñata" for Xbox 360. Rare continues to entertain the world with the release of "Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts" and "Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise" later this year. For more information on this game, as well as additional THQ titles, please visit www.thq.com.

Another interesting item? A "Piñata Vision" feature that lets players use Xbox Live's vision camera and printed cards to put extra content into the game.

In Trouble in Paradise, evil Professor Pester and his ruffians have deleted Piñata Central's computer records, threatening piñata parties and tasking the player with rebuilding everything by sending piñatas around the world. This is the part where I refuse to admit that I watch the TV show religiously and know exactly what this means.

Oops. Fact sheet after the jump.

"Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise" Fact Sheet May 2008 Title: "Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise"

Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios

Developer: Rare Ltd.

Format: DVD for the Xbox 360 video game system

ESRB Rating: Rating pending (all ages)

Availability: September 2008

Product
Overview: The original Rare Ltd. team behind "Viva Piñata" has reunited to bring gamers "Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise," the newest piñata adventure that invites gamers to return to magical Piñata Island. Unfortunately, not all is well on the island, as Professor Pester along with his gang of Ruffians have wiped out Piñata Central's computer records, which poses a threat to parties everywhere. To help Piñata Central, players must gradually rebuild the computer database by sending piñatas at full candiosity to parties all around the world. While thwarting Professor Pester's evil plot, players still build and maintain piñata gardens — using their creativity and imagination to attract, trap, protect, train and manage more than 100 different piñata species.

Available exclusively on Xbox 360, "Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise" reinvigorates a colorful and engaging gaming experience on the Xbox 360 platform. Now with full cooperative and online gameplay modes, the "Viva Piñata" franchise opens its doors even wider with a new game that provides hours of fun for gamers of all ages, fans of the animated series and animal lovers alike.

Features: Top game features include the following:
• Social. The world of Piñata Island is an inviting and rewarding place to be. Family members and friend now can share in the joy of creating a garden by simply plugging in an extra controller. The second player has access to all tools, actions and activities, but he or she also can collect magic by helping. Player two can spend magic by tinkering items, healing a sick piñata or filling a piñata candiosity meter. It's a new way to play.
• Customizable. "Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise" allows players' imaginations to run wild by providing them with expansive freedom and choice.
o Your garden. "Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise" also offers a vast level of customization within your main garden. Now, along with planting grass, trees and flowers, and digging ponds and lakes, players can place sand and snow in their garden to make exotic species of piñata feel more at home. Players also can choose to enhance their garden with themed object packs — make your garden into a space center, a pirate cove or a haunted graveyard. Buy objects to change the weather, or new toys for your piñata to play with. You have total freedom to create any kind of paradise you want!
o Your piñatas. Thirty-two new species of piñata can run, crawl, fly and swim into your garden in "Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise." Large, small, fierce and cute, the new piñatas will join all your favorites for thriving activity throughout your garden. Among these new species are sour piñatas that will infiltrate and wreak havoc in the garden. In "Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise," players can choose to either tame sours, or feed them candy to keep them sweet.
o Piñata Vision. A never-before-seen feature called Piñata Vision allows players to plug in an Xbox LIVE Vision camera and interact with the game through the use of printed cards that feature a unique barcode. With Piñata Vision, gamers can simply flash a piñata card up to the Vision camera, and the content will drop directly into the game.*
• Accessible. "Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise" reinvigorates the franchise with additional game modes and features that make it even more accessible to players of all ages and skill levels.
o Just for Fun Mode. Designed for beginner players, kids and those just looking to explore Piñata Island, this mode allows players to jump into the garden and interact with the unique piñata world. In this mode the difficulty has been turned down and the fun has been turned up. Sour piñatas stay away, resident piñatas remain healthy, weeds don't plague your garden and you have an infinite chocolate coin bank account, allowing you to turn your garden into a veritable utopia of colorful creatures.
o Standard Mode. Presenting a challenge for experienced piñata gardeners and dedicated gamers, the Standard gameplay mode provides a more tricky option, where players must keep a watchful eye on their garden. Sour piñatas, feuding species, weeds, illness and limited money call for you to exercise problem solving and creativity to build and maintain an environment where piñatas can flourish and grow.
o Player Guide System. Replacing the traditional tutorial, the optional Player Guide System directs players through a series of loose goals to help them master the fundamental aspects of "Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise."
o Show Off. Using the new photo mode in "Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise," you can snap, print and upload pictures of your unique garden or customized piñatas showing them off to your friends. You also can photograph your piñata and turn it into a piñata card, share it with your friends so they scan it and put it into their own garden using the Xbox LIVE Vision camera.
o Piñata and character interaction. All your residents are now capable of performing dazzling tricks, which you can teach them using the new trick stick tool. Watch as piñatas play together, perch on each other and interact in new ways to make them more appealing.
• Spontaneous. "Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise" is a constantly changing world where anything can and does happen. Rivalries, injuries, illness and fights — if you turn your back, who knows what your piñatas will do?
o It's happening outside. Pester knows where your garden is, and he's got a few nasty tricks up his sleeve to make piñata life difficult. Foil his plans by sending your piñata around the world to save parties everywhere. Also, you must deal with new, untamed sour piñatas with bad attitudes and more troublesome Ruffians who will try to spoil your creation.
o It's happening inside. Pester will try to block piñatas from ever reaching your garden, but you can break the blockades and teach him who is in charge on Piñata Island. However, don't underestimate Pester — he's likely to make some personal appearances to attempt to put you in your place.

Developer
Information: Founded in 1985 and based in the United Kingdom, Rare Ltd. is one of the world's leading video game developers and has masterminded some of the most popular video games in history, including multi-million-dollar sellers "GoldenEye", "Perfect Dark", "Banjo-Kazooie" and the "Donkey Kong Country" Series. From 2005 to 2006, Rare released "Perfect Dark Zero", "Kameo: Elements of Power" and "Viva Piñata" for Xbox 360. Rare continues to entertain the world with the release of "Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts" and "Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise" later this year. For further information visit www.rare.co.uk."

[via Talking About Games, thanks J & zeromystic!]

Blueberry Garden (sneak peek trailer) [Blip]

Want to get digital copies for yourself? They're available for download at the official Into The Pixel web site.

Are Rare hard at work on a third combo-filled fighting game? Not according to them, at least, as of this summer, when Rare responded via its Scribes letters page "Purely out of contractual obligation, no, we're not working on KI3." Despite that dismissal, I'm pretty sure I can make out Cinder in the fire there. Of course, I'm just teasing (as I'm fairly sure Rare is, too).

New Banjo-Kazooie pic for Christmas [CVG]

Not fully happy with his pastel creations, concept artist Ryan took a step back and began drawing inspiration from many places. He looked at ancient cave paintings with their simplified shapes, Aboriginal patterns and the art found in Aztec culture.

He then progressed to looking at the Mexican Day of the Dead festival with all the associated costumes and bright colors. At this point memories of childhood were sparked, and visions of piñatas gave him an idea.

I'm feeling inspired to check in with my piñatas - I spent a solid, jet lagged week after moving back to the US up with VP. I still hate flying from Asia to the US and vice versa, but cute piñatas were an excellent way to get over a twelve hour time difference.

Rare's Viva Pinata: Giving The World Buzzlegums And Fudgehogs [Gamasutra]

With a Nintendo DS version of Rare's Viva Pinata in the works, it would seem that Microsoft might also see an opportunity for cross promotion, courtesy of the DS's massive userbase. That's something clearly not needed for, say, Halo.

Spencer points to software for the Nintendo DS representing what "state of the art game design might be in future" and hints at nurturing further development on the platform. Let's just hope that doesn't somehow mutate into a flood of brain training games arriving on Xbox Live.

Spencer: DS development can aid our design skills [Develop]

The best part is that each piñata comes packed with a surprise inside, one that doesn't require you to smash the thing to bits to recover. Surprises inside include dreidels, kazoos, yo-yos and puzzles. Head on over to the Burger King site or troll the Rare forums to learn more.

Burger King! It's a wonderful restaurant!

Viva Piñata [Burger King - thanks, Jim!]

To a few of my friends on here, you know i just bought a 360 and VP for the soul reason of getting my Girl addicted to VP and on her own system.

Well, i decided to propose to her this evening, so i sent the only diamond my digger has ever found, with a note attached asking her to marry me. When she got it (Across the room on the other TV) she giggled and said i was silly. Then i pulled out the real deal, got on a knee and started getting cried upon. She said yes, so next spring we are getting married!

We aren't doing any downloadable content for Viva Piñata because we are much too busy doing something else.

One can only assume that this "awareness gap" is due to the large number of dedicated Viva Pinata machines.

Magid: Almost a Third of 360 Owners Don't Know Xbox Live Arcade Exists [GameDaily BIZ]

The core idea of it was that I wanted the player to use the controller in a new way, and hitting two random buttons as quickly as possible was just the ticket.

PinataIsland.info interview with Cameron Davis [pinataisland]

The other big nominees include the European developers behind Motorstorm, Viva Pinata, DEFCON and Formula One Championship Edition. The full list of nominees for each award are listed at Gamasutra. Michael McWhertor

Crackdown Tops Develop Award Finalists [Gamasutra]

Not sure how limited the demo version is, but I suspect you'll at least be able to create your own army of hideously inbred whirlms, and that's pretty much what Viva Pi ata is all about. Michael Fahey

Demo: Viva Pi ata Playable Demo Major Nelson's Blog

Exclusive Rare Developer Interview [GameTrailers]

Game Stooge, baby brother of established game blog 2old2play is the newest in an ever expanding world of game sites on the web. Currently, it's updated rather infrequently, but they do have a pretty funny article up right now listing the top 10 Xbox 360 achievements that we'll never see. It's a great list and I got quite a few chuckles out of it, so I thought I would share some of my favorites.

• Viva Pi ata: No Incest Unlock this achievement by breeding worms that are not related as brother and sister or as mom and dad. Worth: 20G
• Frogger: Childhood Reborn
  Unlock this achievement by purchasing this game thinking it will help you regrasp your inner child to find out it's really just...Frogger. Worth: 200G
• Dead or Alive 4: Got Skillz?
  Defeat an opponent without mashing buttons. Worth: 10G

There are a few more good ones on the list, but I'll let you go to Game Stooge and see them for yourself. Which ones are your favorites? Flynn De Marco

Top Ten Achievements That Will Never Be [Game Stooge]
[image courtesy lovegreen.dk]

A Kameo or a Viva Pinata on a DS makes a lot of sense in a lot of ways from a franchise perspective.

Kim added to that statement, saying that Viva Pi ata represents "the beginning of an IP that will be a pillar for Microsoft Game Studios for a long time." Keep in mind that Kim did, however, mention a DS title as a possibility alongside a proper sequel and further merchandising. But also, don't forget that Rare has a history of working on the Game Boy Advance and DS, tapping properties like Banjo and Diddy Kong while under Microsoft's watch. If you ask me, VP on the DS is a perfect fit. Michael McWhertor

Microsoft: 'Viva Pinata on the DS Makes Sense' [1UP]

Microsoft is playing Cupid this year for lonely gamers who have no one to spend Valentine's Day with. Who does MS think your perfect match is? Why, The Xbox 360, of course! Xbox Live is offering some exciting Valentine's activities for the single gamer including last night's "Lost Planet All Nighter" and Wednesday's thrilling Viva Pinata trade off. The Xbox crew also have advice for the lovelorn in the form of some top ten lists and suggestions of some games that will take your mind off your lonely, miserable life and perhaps most disturbing, how to get your Pinatas to get biz-ay.

For those of you who actually have mates to spend the day with, there are nuggets of wisdom from the "GamerchiX Valentine's Survival Guide" and advice on how to get your girl to game. I am bit concerned, though, about TriXie, the Xbox.community editor who claims to have a crush on Dead Rising's Frank Ward. If you're going to have the hots for the main character a game that's an exclusive to your company's console, you might want to learn his name. Nothing turns a man off more than when you shout out another guy's name during a hot session of zombie extermination. Flynn De Marco

Let's Play on Valentine's Day [Xbox.com]

The entire list of playable games on the DICE "show floor" were: Crysis, Supreme Commander, Company of Heroes, Viva Pinata, Gears of War, Motorstorm (the PlayStation Store demo), Hellgate London, Sam & Max, and Robotron. The Age of Conan MMO was present, but would error out every time I tried to fire up the executable. Such a tease!

I did take one more spin through the Crysis demo, previously playable at CES. Unfortunately, the machines were a little less beefy and led to some noticeable slowdown.

Alright, so maybe there were a handful of unreleased titles on the show floor. What can I say? I'm spoiled and love to bitch! Michael McWhertor

Aw, Bill. Why'd you have to go and further emasculate the tens of thousands of male teens and twenty-somethings who own Viva Pi ata? I knew there was a reason I didn't buy this game. I'm neither young nor female nor do I garden. Michael McWhertor

The two will be succeeded by current Rare employees who will hopefully do a better job justifying the dev house's $375 million price tag. My suggestion to the company responsible for Grabbed By The Ghoulies and Kameo? More blood splattering, muscle bound Killer Instincts, fewer soft and fluffy, Skittles-colored, E-rated adventures. Your fanbase will greatly appreciate it! Michael McWhertor

Rare Founders Leave to 'Pursue Other Opportunities' [1UP]

Word is that Viva Piñata is pretty darn great. So great that it deserves the world's biggest paper mache animal. Over at the Six Flags in Mexico, they did just that and created a 14.6 meter piñata that just screams smash me por favor. Brian Ashcraft

Biggest Pinata [Ulitmate Vida, Thanks Grow!]