Rare's garden-life sim holds a special place in my heart

Last week, I got to thinking about Viva Piñata after seeing its name pop up on a list of games that use Xbox One's new FastStart feature to let you download and start playing up to twice as fast as before. "I never want to not be playing Viva Piñata," I said. "Let's get ano??ther o??ne of those already."

It's been a full week now. I'm still t?hinking about Ra??re's slightly chaotic creature-collecting garden sim.

If you asked me to name one game I'd like to see Microsoft announce on-stage at E3 above all others, without hesitation, I'd say Viva Piñata 3. Rare has been and will continue to be busy maintaining Sea of Thieves. Clearly, it's not on the cards a??nytime soon. But you can't fault a guy for daydreaming.

It's easy to imagine what a follow-up might look like, which i??s to say Rare could streamline the menus, give us bigger gardens, and add more animal types and biomes -- that'd be plenty for me.

Viva Piñata's foundation still holds up well to this day. (Side note: backward compatibility is just the best.) I mean sure, it's annoying?? to finally attract a fickle Eaglair that's been eying your l?and only for the candy-filled creature to meet its untimely demise when Professor Pester and his gang roll up. They're a nuisance. It also sucks when hungry piñatas wreak havoc on your perfectly-curated garden ecosystem.

But then again, it's all part of the cycle. If nature never pushed back in Viva Piñata, the game would grow stale. Trouble in Paradise released almost a decade ago, and I'm still not r?emotely bored of it.

The series is hands-off enough to let me chill out, but also interactive enough to keep me engaged and goal-oriented. Rare nailed that balance. I want all of my nice piñata critters to get ?along, happily coexisting, yet I'm not that frustrated when those plans are dismantled by a Pretztail looking for a late-night snack. That's life. I'm just happy to exert some small influence in this charming ??world.

Along with revisiting Viva Piñata this week, I've also taken a second look at some of the behind-the-scenes materials Rare put out for Rare Replay. They're wonderful. In particular, game designer Justin Cook shared a heartwarming origin story that gives me a whole new appreciation for Viva Piñata.

"It was a six-page document that Tim Stamper had written," he recall??ed. "The story I always remember is he talked about a hummingbird hawk-moth that he found in his garden. And he'd just seen it one day when he was out. It was lovely and sunny, shining on a flower, and this really strange creature was hovering above one of the flowers and he identified it, and then he looked about what sorts of things he wo??uld need to make more of these appear in his garden. And that was the idea for the whole game."

This anecdote helps put your purpose in Viva Piñata into perspective. It's a god game, but you aren't all-powerful -- you're simply here to design a garden that eye-catching creatures will want to call home. Things don't need to be any more complicated than that; it's a beautiful concept for a video game.

_{[Image credit: Yusuf Akgul]}

Elsewhere in the behind-the-scenes document??ary, the devel?opers spoke about elements that didn't end up making the cut -- namely fish, sharks, and other aquatic piñata species.

"The complex nature of Piñata meant that it was a technical minefield in a lot of areas when we wer?e starting to develop it," said engineer James Thomas. "My friend Phil, he was entrenched in the AI side of things, and I can remember the horrific nightmares of trying to get animals of all shapes and sizes to work together. Particularly at one point, we were trying to experiment with whether you could have piñatas of different sizes, so you could play some sort of potion or some sort of trading card on them and they would grow and shrink. I think it was the giraffes that eventually made him lose his rag."

"Every time we tried to add something new you then had to make su??re it? could work with the 60-plus animals that were already in there," he said. "Inevitably, one wouldn't work. One wouldn't work in some way, shape, or form. Just trying to debug all this was horrendous, but it was worthwhile in the end."

After production wrapped on the first game, the team "had this big discussion whether we should try to squeeze everything we wanted into six months and create some DLC or shall we try and create some time, give ourselves 18 months, and create a full sequel," recalls Thomas. "We wanted to carry on to make this the best that it can be. I think Piñata 2 was pretty much driven out o??f developer passion."

I sincerely hope it doesn't take much longer for that passion to strike again and an opportunity to present itself. Rare needs to return to Viva Piñata. The series is too special to end here.

The post Viva Piñata 3 should be Rare’s next game appeared first on Destructoid.

New titles from Rare's record collection

Purveyors of vinyl soundtracks iam8bit are to release three new LPs of classic games from British studio Rare. These new releases are next in line after the company's previous records for Perfect Dark and the NES Battletoads title.

First up is a double LP for cheeky Nintendo 64 title Conker's Bad Fur Day, which features recognisable tracks such as "Sloprano" and "Rock Solid", as well as featuring unreleased tunes by composer Robin Beanland and color?ful sleeve art from Joey Spiotto.

Next on the hit-list is the music from the classic SNES brawler Battletoads in Battlemaniacs. Although only a single LP, it is fashioned in painfully 90's starburst colour vinyl, featuring the g??ame's score by David Wise and stylised ?sleeve art by Dima Drjuchin.

Finally, the jovial soundtrack to early Xbox 360 title Viva Pinata is being pressed onto double "Sweet & Sour" coloured vinyl. This relea??se features previously unreleased tracks by composer Grant Kirkhope. The sleeve art, by Ashton Dame, is a little more abstract, showing what appears to be an extreme close-up of the character's crepe paper design.

All three albums include a digital download of their respective contents and become available for pre-order at 00:01 PT tonight. The Viva Pinata and Conker vinyls are priced at $35, with Battlemaniacs coming in at $28. Visit iam8bit's website for further details.

Rare on vinyl pre-orders [iam8bit]

The post The music of Rare including Battletoads, Conker and Viva Pinata is coming to ??vinyl appeared first on Destructoid.

The Jimquisition takes a break from discussing consumer shenanigans to focus a littl??e on the games themselves.

What exactly is the best looking game this generation, and why does it look better than the games you're all thinking of whenever such a discussion usually comes up? As always, the best looking man of this generation ?has the answer (Jim is the best looking man because of his muscles).

The post Jimquisition: The ??best looking game this generation appeared first on Destructoid.

Kinect, as it stands right now, is a "pretty cool" thing. As a supplement to the general operation of an Xbox 360, it's hard for me to imagine living without it now that it's in my home. As an accessory designed for the purpose of playing games, it meets with significantly less success. While there are a few stand-out titles such as Dance Central, Kinect h?a?s failed thus far to move beyond a novelty because there simply isn't enough high-quality software demonstrating how great it could be.

So, in the grand tradition of the unnumbered list, here are five established series that could help show the potential of Kinect as a valuable addition to our gaming lives. Assuming, of course, that the industry has the stones to make the?m.

Viva Piñata

Fans of Rare's inventive life simulation got a pretty raw deal. The original Viva Piñata was just successful enough to warrant exploitation from a Microsoft eager for original properties, leading to a mediocre collection of mini-games and a short-lived animated series the following year. When a genuine follow-up arrived in 2008, Trouble in Paradise streamlined some of the mechanics but didn't add much of s?ignificance. The damage seemed done and we've heard nothing of our papery friends since.

The passage of time and the advent of full-body controls could be just the things the seemingly abandoned franchise needs to return. It's still a catchy hook with a proven gameplay formula and?? broad appeal, just one that needs a kick in the pants. Kinect could offer fantastic ways to interact with gardens and piñatas, and as the brainchild of the creative team likely to have the most experience developing for the motion controller, it c??ould be a perfect opportunity for a revival, provided Microsoft sees the potential. 

Oddworld

I'm not going to lie -- I really just want a new Oddworld game to be made, regardless of whether or not Kinect is a consideration. But I also believe that the series could benefit in tremendous ways by implementing aspects of Kinect functionality. After all, communication is a core element of most Oddworld games??, making it a natural fit for voice commands??.

More importantly, Oddworld has historically shown a knack for creative risk-taking, turning established game styles on their head with the addition of simple concepts. With much of the field of Kinect games still feeling rather limited in scope, it's going to take a few... well, odd things to stir the pot and get? people thinking outside of the box.

Katamari Damacy

Simple foundations are the key to adaptability, and a great example of this is the endlessly strange Katamari Damacy. This basic game of rolling and accumulation has found itself suited to a broad range of input schemes, from the original dual-stick controls found in the PS2 releases to tilt controls o?n iOS devices and touchscreen stroking on the PS Vita.

Kinect could offer some interesting opportunities and challenges for the series. While physically performing the action of pushing a ball larger than you may be a bit tiring for a full 30-??minute rolling of the entire world, the stage-based design should lend itself well to the short bursts of play typical of Kinect games in a general sense. Design of the controls would be key, obviously, but I can easily imagine some methods of controlling a Katamari with gestures which would require little exertion. I'm sure Namco Bandai can do that too.

Command & Conquer 

The real-time strategy genre has always been at a severe disadvantage on consoles, as you can either try to design a complex game and then struggle with conveniently mapping commands to a controller, or you develop a simpler game that might not capture the attention of serious strategy fans. A well-designed input system utilizing the features of Kinect could go a long way towards bridging that divide, and the range of styles found in the Command & Conquer franchise makes it ideal fo??r tha??t kind of experimentation.

But how? If it were up to me, an RTS using Kinect would eschew gestures altogether. You could conceivably use your hands to select units and point a cursor, but accuracy and reaction times would likely be pretty severely hampered this way. Instead, they could take advantage of a combination of controller input and voice commands, ??removing? much of the need to simplify command options to accommodate buttons (or the reverse: complicating them with the advent of multiple button combinations). Easy? Likely not, but I think a strong effort could bring great rewards.

Mirror's Edge 

Certainly the most ambitious suggestion in this list, the idea of a full-body-controlled Mirror's Edge is also probably a very, very bad one from a technological standpo??int. I'm making it anyway because I can't shake the fantasy of the potential. It is, after all, a game which simulates the use of the body to accomplish astounding feats, and its first-person perspective would lend itself well to the heavily marketed "you are the controller" philosophy.

But then there's that sticky mess of technology. In order to make a game like Mirror's Edge playable with Kinect, you'd have to take a lot of the timing precis??ion out of the process. Visuals would almost certainly have to be simplified, and we'd likely just wind up with another watered-down game to complain about. On the Xbox 360, at least. But if Microsoft is truly serious about Kinect being important to their vision of the future in gaming, the next iteration of the Xbox might be plenty capable ?of making this pipe dream a reality.

--

The future of K??inect at this stage seems more than a little bit uncertain. Microsoft expressed no small amount of pleasure at sales of the device, but a lengthy period of lackluster, generic, and simple software is going to do nothing for its long-term prospects. That means some risks need to be taken to expand its value soon or the device could wind up completely dismissed by the people most likely to early-adopt any future revision of the hardware. Microsoft is going to need the core game consumer on board or essentially acknowledge that their forward-looking marketing statements held no genuine intent. Short of bundling it right into the next console (either taking a loss or passing the buck to the consumer), the only way to accomplish this goal is with great software from first and third parties.

For MS, probably the best thing it could possibly do to encourage adoption among the core game consumer would be to soften its stance on controller-free gaming and push developers to consider integrating Kinect into existing and loved franchises. Microsoft needs to remember that Kinect is an accessory to the Xbox 360, not the other way around, and allow it to become the indispensable supplement to our games that it has for the console dashboard.? 

The post Five games we could really Kinect with appeared first on Destructoid.

Behold, 'tis the "exclusive, between-seasons" episode of HAWP that was shown at today's PAX panel. Not so exclusive NOW, is it? Ha. Hah??aha. Muahahah-alright, that's enough.

This paragraph is usually the part that would b??e full of stuff about Anthony filming the episode and how Ashley Davis is sitting next to him, because that's a thing that he says a lot for some reason. But I'm not Anthony and I don't know anything about filming this episode, and no one is sitting next to me except the Chinese lady who followed me home from the massage parlor, and she's more kind of flopped over with her head almost touching the floor and ... oh ?my, that ... wow, that can't be good.

Anyw??ay, here is a new episode of Hey?? Ash Whatcha Playin, which will distract you while I clean this up.

Oh god.

The post Hey Ash, Whatcha Playin: Viva Pinata appeared first on Destructoid.

Rare may have created these for NeoGAF, but they wanted to let the jbsgame.community also know of these rather natty Viva Piñata wallpapers which show the candy-stuffed abominations playing ?dress-up with a variety of pop culture spoofs.

My personal favorite is the Clockwork Orange spoof, although the Dr. Who one is rat?her good too. All of the??m are pretty adorable, so if you're ever in desperate need for a Piñata/Van Helsing crossover that's thoroughly darling, you know where to go. 

I love that Rare does silly nonsense like this.

The post Viva Pinata does Dr. Who appeared first on Destructoid.

Not a studio to fan the flames of gossip or anything, the guys at Rare have taken it upon themselves to create a selection of "Viva Piñata vs. Killer Instinct" Vision Cards for use with Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise.

Found on Rare's official site, this is sure to keep the rumors of a new Killer Instinct alive and well. According to Rare, if you use these cards by showing them to your Xbox Live Vision Camera, a KI Pi&n?tild??e;ata will appear in your garden. The selected cards portray Fulgore, B. Orchid and Tusk.

More unique cards to be printed out and shown to your camera have been promised in the future. Whether you choose to take this as more evidence in the ongoing KI rumors or not, it's still?? ?a really cool idea.

The post Rare keeps Kil??ler Instinct rumors go??ing with new Viva Pinata cards appeared first on Destructoid.

I pretty much hate MTV Multiplayer because they sometimes have really good ideas that I want to steal, and if they were a smaller blog I could probably do it and bully them into submission -- like all good writers. However, they're too big to kick around so instead I have to link-leech like som?e foul and degraded peasant.

Case in point: They are going to start asking developers for a "to-do" list in their videogames, a rundown of things that you should really try before completing the game. I could have done that. Anyway, Rare has complied and written a list of things that Trouble in Paradise players really ought to a??ttempt while tending their gardens:

1) Feed a Parry?bo with Candary candy and watch it swashbuckle like a pirate.

2) Unpack a t??riggered trap thinking it’s a Sweetle only to find a Camelo staring back at you.

?3) Accidentally feed a Doenut the fir tree seed and watch in surprise as h?e morphs into a Moojoo.

4) Ha?ve your bro??ther’s high-level prize piñata soundly thrashed by your humble Whilrm in the P-Factor.

5) Watch a Sparrowmint ride a train around the g??arden?? until he fills up with candy - then send him to a party!

6) Spend the night fending off the Sour Sherbat then breathe a sigh of relief as the sun rises?? over Piñata Central and the little pest flies off for the day.

7) Take some time to watch the Piñata Central blimp fly over the garden while the sprinklin?g you hired keeps all your crops well watered.

8 ) Watch a Custacean with bunny slippers on walk out of his house and down the beach in the morning light, as if t?hey’re off to fetch the morning paper.

That's pretty much the most surreal list I've ever seen. Anyway, Trouble in Paradise is out now and we'll have a review of it soon, on?ce the problems with getting my copy are resolved. You should all go play it though, because it has awesome looking crabs in it.

The post Rare’s ‘to-do’ list for Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise appeared first on Destructoid.

To promote the worldwide release of Viva Piñata 2: Trouble in Paradise, Rare is doing a few things for the community this week which should interest all those obsessed with brightly colored, candy-filled sentient horses. Firstly, the official community Web site is going to launch at midnight tonight, and people will be able to use it to upload and share Viva Piñata Vision Cards along with photos of? their Piñata gardens.

Xbox Live's European community spokesman, Graeme "AceyBongos" Boyd will be helping promote the game by holding a VP treasure hunt on Xbox.com this Fr?iday. The concept is as simple as Downe's Syndrome baby:

1. Users look for the Piñata egg icon hidden around Xbox.com
2. When they mouse over the little Piñata pops out
3. When they click they open up a PDF doc featuring an exclusive Piñata card that they can then print out
4. They use their LIVE vision camera on screen or on their print out to get the Piñata.

Fun times all round. Viva Piñata 2: Trouble in Paradise is out today in Nort??h America and hi?ts Europe on Friday. It has animals in it!

The post Viva Pinata 2 treasure hunt shenanig??ans and Web site launch appeared first on Destructoid.

The lead designer of Viva Piñata Trouble in Paradise, Justin Cook, recen?tly disclosed that Rare is not immediately interested in another sequel to the fam?ily franchise. Cook said “As far as the team is concerned we are taking a break from VP for a while to make something new.”

While VP is certainly no Wii Fit, I think it’s interesting that Microsoft is willing to allow a casual franchise to sit on the backburner for a while. Will this new title be just as casual and friendly as VP? De??spite the initial comment, Cook was quick to append that his immediate team plans aren’t set in stone. He added that “…things change quickly in the software industry, so next week it may be a completely different story.”

Just as long as the next Rare title is as vibrant as their upcoming offerings, I’ll be a happy man. Also, Perfect Dark done correctly, please?

[via CVG]

The post Rare isn’t immediately interested in Viva Pinata 3, new title in the works appeared first on Destructoid.

Thirty of Viva Piñata 2's achievements have recently been made public, and while I normally have no interest in posting achievement/trophy lists, this one is actually interesting. It reveals? that the multicolored Rare sequel will have four player onl??ine co-op.

You unlock the "Full House" achievement by playing a four person co-op session for an hour. If you can rope three of your friends into planting seeds for sixty minutes, then a glorious ten Gamer Points are yours. I bet you can't wait. 

Although it has been said many times that you won't need the Vision Camera to experience VP2, it certainly plays a role in the game's achievement system. Twenty GP are up fo?r grabs if you scan in a piñata from the Internet, or trade one of these "famous" beasts.

If the achievement list is anything to go by, there looks to be far more variety this time around, with references to races, challenges and piñata shows. This will be great news for people who enjoyed the first game, but found tending to the garden wore thin after too many hours watching a blue horse kick the crap out of a yellow donkey. Personally, I was already sold on VP2 at the new crab piñata, but I'd never turn down some extra gameplay ... unless it was Summer Athletics' gameplay.

The post Fou?r player co-op reve?aled in Viva Pinata 2 achievements appeared first on Destructoid.

Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise is a matter of weeks away, and to pave the way for the colorful Xbox 360 sequel, Rare has revealed the first of its Viva Piñata Vision Cards. If you don't quite remember what these little trinkets are??, let designer Ryan Stevenson remind you, because I'm too lazy to explain it myself:

You don’t have to have a Vision Camera to play VP2 and you still get all the same content. 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.

The most interesting part of the Vision Cards gimmick is that (camera aside), it's free. Rare is stating that the cards won't cost us one thin dime, and demonstrated this point by revealing the very first Vision Card, which can be downloaded and scanned using the Vision Camera.&n?bsp;

"The team has had so much fun with the vision cards we’ve created our own team set, so you’ll have to see if?? you can find them all," stated Stevenson. Okay! I'll do do just that!

The post First Viva Pinata Vision Card goes online appeared first on Destructoid.

If you're an overgrown man-child like me, you'll no doubt be looking forward to the rather gorgeous Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise. Microsoft has kindly dated the Rare sequel for us, and fans of candy-stuffed incestuous rabbits can look forward to September 5, unless, of course, any delays rear their loathsome hea??ds.

As well as a date, we now have our grimy claws on some new details as well, including the out-of-garden environments where players are expected to coax and lure Piñata back to their gardens -- kind of like pedophilia, only slightly more colorful. If you want some Pengums or Pollybears, for instance, you need to scour the Piñarctic. Similarly, Dessert Desert? Camellos and Jameleons need to be?? found in warmer climates. ;

I must say though -- Dessert Desert Camellos and Pollybears? They're reaching already, I fear. Methinks it's time Rare seriously entertained my Viva Piñarcotics idea.

The post ?Viva Pinata is in your paradise, troubling it (on S?eptember 5) appeared first on Destructoid.

NeoGAF has four large screens from Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise for you to check out, and if you couldn't tell from the above shot, there's a new animal for your viewing pleasure. Crabs are awesome, and I'm glad to see that Rare is giving them the recognition they deserve ... and I am sure you can guess the likely name that this little ??fellow is going to have.

To me, Viva Piñata is easily one of the most gorgeo??us-looking games to have ever come out of this generation, and it's great that Rare is continuing this tradition in the sequel. The game is vibrant, colorful and lively, far more beautiful than the greys and browns and pass for "realis?m" these days.

Head on over to The GAF and check them out. I'm really starting ??to look forward to this one.

The post New Viva Pinata: Trouble ??in Paradise screens g??ive you crabs appeared first on Destructoid.

Last week, Rare Studios very kindly invited me to their secret headquarters in the rain-soaked Midlands to try my hand at the Nintendo DS version of the critically acclaimed Viva Piñata. Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise takes the cheerful-yet-sinister gardening simulation of the Xbox 360 title and shrinks it down onto N??intendo's handheld for (hopefully) a wider audience to enjoy.

Having spent a whole afternoon tempting Quackberries and feeding Bunnycombs to Pretztails while laughing with glee at my mastery over life and death, I'm happily confident enough in my knowledge of all things feral and candy-filled to provide a Destructoid-flavored preview for your consumption. Hit the jump to see if Viva Piñata trul??y is capable of putting a paradis?e in your pocket. 

The main bulk of Pocket Paradise varies little from its bigger Xbox 360 brother. The aim of the game is simply to cultivate and maintain your very own garden and attract different types of living piñata who might want to make your humble plot of land their home. Different piñata have different requirements and if you want the most exotic creatures, you'll be expected to fulfill a selection o?f objectives before they agree to live with you.

Rare has worked hard to cram the DS cart with as much of the original game as possible, and the work has paid off. Pocket Paradise is as deceptively deep as its predecessor, and is really suited to the handheld f?ormat. Using the more spacious 128 MB cartridge, the game has a selection of FMVs, all-new training episodes and several?? save slots to maintain more than one garden at once.

Pocket Paradise makes good use of the DS' two screens, with an uncluttered touch screen that displays your garden and allows for hands-on control, and a to??p screen that hits you with real-time statistics and pertinent information. Being able to see how much of your garden is made up of water at a mere glance becomes incredibly handy, especially when trying to make certain piñata come to visit. You can also swap the screens around to quickly access more information if needed. The layout is very well designed and makes garden maintenance more efficient than it was on home consoles.

As far as touch screen controls go, it'??s a mixed bag. The game is played primarily with the stylus, which you use for all the tools in the game, and generally, the setup works very well. You can select your shovel, for instance, and just poke anywhere on the screen for it to tap something, smash an object, or dig up a hole to fill with water. Planting grass and other mundane chores has also become far more enjoyable, as simple as drawing the stylus across the screen and watching your garden get greener.

However, I found that the stylus controls weren't always as helpful as they could have been. For instance, selecting certain tools or confirmations can be incredibly difficult at times, as the stylus detection seems a little off. It took me a ridiculous number of attempts to select the "dig a pond" too?l despite very clearly hitting the option with my stylus. Similarly, I sometimes canceled a decision rather than confirmed it because only a very small portion of the confirmation box seems to recognize the stylus, while the part of the touch screen that recognizes a cancellation seems to encroach onto the confirmation box. Once you get used to?? the quirky detection, you can live with it.

It's a shame you have to "live with" anything, however, because otherwise, Pocket Paradise is a lot of fun. Everything to love about the original game is present, and one gets a genuine sense of joy out of finally winning over that hard-to-please piñata. As ever, the demanding maintenance of the garden may turn off those looking for a more laid-back experience, but OCD sufferers will be satiated for hours and the title seems more addictive than ever on Nintendo's portable platform. Everything from romancing your piñata (sans annoying min?igames this time) to building homes and enjoying upgrades is present, and very little has been compromised to fit onto the small screens. 

The downscaled graphics do little to curb the appealing art style that VP brings, and this is a lovely-looking DS game that only suffers from direct comparison to the gorgeous 360 original. Kudos goes to the sound department, though, not so much for what is IN the game but what is OUT -- no annoying in-game voiceovers! Not having to hear the characters' insane gibberish whenever you visit a store or having that patronizing Scottish tart talk nonsense at you is a Godsend. The only time you have to suffer from voice acting is during FMV scenes inspired by the awful cartoon?? show. They are mercifully infrequent.

It's the little things that make Pocket Paradise fun, however, such as feeding Tafflies different colored berries to make them "produce" new types of fertilizer, or getting Cluckolds to sit on eggs so they hatch faster. There is a rudimentary achievement system in?? the form of awards that you can earn for fulfilling certain objectiv?es. For those who don't like pressure, there is also a new "playground" option that lets you play in a free open space without having to worry about leveling up and meeting goals. It's just you and some piñata, hanging out and having fun. The American dream. 

The time I spent with Pocket Paradise was all-too-brief. Although I met with frustration at times, by the time they forced me to put the DS down, I was desperately trying to make a Taffly turn pink at the last second. Once the game gets its hooks in, they are very hard to shake off, and Pocket Paradise is looking like it will be a most worthy addition to?? the Nintendo DS library. Gamers searching for their next ??portable drug might want to keep a close, bloodshot eye on this one.

The post Pew! Pew! Preview!: Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise appeared first on Destructoid.

A new Viva Piñata? Yes, the word has been floating around, but THQ nailed it for us today with an official announcement: the game will be called Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise and will come to the Nintendo DS this fall. Gardening on the go, huh? I would have laughed at that idea a few years ago, but that was before Viva Piñata sank its addictive ??claws into thousands of Xbox 360 owners across the glob?e...

Not surprisingly, the DS touch screen will be heavily implemented, placing the player in charge of reviving neglected Piñata Island and turning it into a garden of paradise. The game will introduce seven new species of piñatas, not to mention the usual chores of keeping the garden and breeding your adorable friends. Yes, Viva fans, it looks like in-?game animal humping will be back. I know you've all been waiting for this.

A new mode called Playground has also been added; ??it allows players to create a blooming garden full of piñatas in a short amount of time. Portable speed mating? I suppose only time will tell. More on this title as soon as the details sprout (horrible, I know, but how could I resist?).

Wildly Popular Franchise Scheduled to Debut on Nintendo? DS(TM) This Fall with THQ's Viva Pinata(R): Pocket Par?adise(TM)

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

AGOURA HILLS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 13, 2008--THQ Inc. (NASDAQ: THQI) today announced that Viva Pinata(R): Pocket Paradise(TM) is sc?heduled for release this fall for Nintendo DS(TM). The game is based on Microsoft Game Studios' highly-rated original Viva Pinata game for Xbox 360(R) video game and entertainment system from Microsoft. Viva Pinata: 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 Pinata f??????????????????????????ranchise because players can have direct interaction with the environment and their pinatas using the stylus," said Bob Aniello, senior vice president of worldwide marketing, THQ. "We are thrilled to introduce Microsoft's critically-acclaimed Viva Pinata series to an entirely new segment of the gaming community."

In Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise, players will inherit a neglected garden on Pinata Island and turn it into a pinata paradise by tending to all aspects of cleaning the garden, growing and maintaining vegetation, caring fo??r and breeding pinatas, as well as attracting new pinata species. The game features seven all-new pinata species, each with new requirements, houses and unique cut scenes. Viva Pinata: 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 Pinata TV series, including Hudson Horstashio(TM), Fergy Fudgehog(TM) and Paulie Pretztail(TM). The brand-new Playground mode allows players to create a lush garden full of exciting and exotic pinatas in a very short amount of time. In addition, certain rare pinatas 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 Pinata: 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 Pinata" for Xbox 360. Rare continues to entertain the world with the release of "Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts" and "Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise" later this year. For more information ?on this game, as well as additional THQ titles, please visit www.thq.com.

The post THQ announces Vi??va Pi?ata: Pocket Paradise for Nin?tendo DS appeared first on Destructoid.

So we know that wedding proposals take place in MMOs all the time, sweet touching moments of deep connection that occur when ?real people start to forget that Azeroth is not a real pla??ce, as their concept of reality becomes ever more distant. Then come ceremonies that are so nerdy you feel embarrassed when your galpal hauls out the wedding video, and would prefer to avoid watching it because the conflagration of geek is visceral enough that just by watching it, it seems you can almost scent the room's odor discoloring, faintly.

Do videogame proposals result in happy marriages? Only time will tell if they bear som??e other fruit besides humiliating, awkward nights in when one person just doesn't feel like wearing the elf ears and tension fills the air -- but?? until then, a good alternative is to propose to your girl in games that are a little bit cuter and mass-appealing.

Such was the idea that a dewy-eyed paramour from Jacksonville, FL had when he decided to take his attempt to convert his lady-love into a gamer to the next logical step -- in Viva Piňata, of all things. Hit the jump to read all about it. 

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 giggle??d and said i was silly. Then i pull??ed out the real deal, got on a knee and started getting cried upon. She said yes, so next spring we are getting married! Just wanted to shared.

AWWWWWWWW~! Rings at the bottom of the chocolate fondue are so over, not to mention messy and potentially tooth-cracking. I dunno if I'd say "yes" to a guy who's made almost 400 posts on the Piňata Island forums, but what the heck. I'm sure he has his "soul reasons." Viva romance!

The post Chewy, ch?ocolate-co??ated gummy proposal: Viva Pinata love appeared first on Destructoid.