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Metareview -- Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise
With Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise having released on September 2nd here in North America (and September 5th in Europe), you've all had some time to play the game. There aren't many reviews out there right now, but the ones that are available seem to generally laud the game's ambitious efforts. After we check in with the critics, toss your two cents in.So let's get to the scores! IGN (85/100) thinks it's quite the game: "Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise takes the original 360 effort as a template, and brings the 'go at your own pace,' free-form design to the Nintendo DS, beautifully. The visuals are crisp and colorful, the audio is a mix of in-game animal sounds and VO taken from the TV show, and its easy to control the world with a quick swipe or tap of a stylus. There are some basic changes to be had, such as the lack of camera control, the removal of the somewhat pesky mini-games for mating, and the general spectacle of watching your Piñatas move around in beautiful HD, but the core gameplay more than survives in its conversion to the pocket platform, and Viva Piñata is left with just as much magic on DS as it has on 360." Eurogamer (80/100) says the game isn't for kids, but good nonetheless: "However, what Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise loses in coming second, and not having a triple-core PowerPC chip to drive its graphics, it makes up with its new, much better stylus-based interface, and Rare's impressive feat of retaining the vast majority of the original game's best features, in roughly the same measures. It's still a bit too complex to work as a kids' game (for that you might be better with the 360 sequel's co-op mode, where you can pick up a second pad and offer a helping hand), but for everybody else it comes highly recommended." Edge Magazine (70/100) said: "If Pocket Paradise makes you want to throw it against something, though, it's only because it succeeds in making gardening compulsive." [Oct 2008, p.96] %Gallery-8991%
Viva Pinata DS coming Sept 2, Rare releases new Halo 3 parody
Rare has announced that the THQ-published Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise for the DS will be proliferating retail shelves with dirty puns on September 2 in North America and September 5 in UK and EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) alongside the Xbox 360 sequel VP: Trouble in Paradise. The DS title will also "begin to filter through to the rest of the world on the 11th, with VP:TIP not far behind."Along with the announcement, Rare also released its second Halo 3 parody, "Museum," based on the sci-fi shooters' Believe ad campaign. We've embedded the video and the previously released (and pretty funny) "Believe Pinata" video after the break. Gallery: Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise
Sweet, delicious release date and teaser for Viva Pinata
One of Rare's overworked carrier pigeons just landed on our windowsill, bringing with it some candy crucial news: Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise will be launching across North America on September 2nd, in Europe on September 5th, and in the rest of the world beginning September 11th. That's exciting enough (and hey: really soon), but that's not where the happy news ends: Rare also took the time to film a second spoof video for its game, again poking fun at the terribly serious Halo 3 teasers from 2007. You can watch the first after the break (and please do watch it if you haven't already).Release dates here"Museum" video hereOur Rare interview here%Gallery-8991%
Rare settles on Viva: Pocket release and a new BelieVe trailer too
Rare just sent word (via express pigeon airmail, no less) that the Nintendo DS edition Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise has been given a release date that should be familiar to all Viva Piñata fans. As it stands, Pocket Paradise will release to the United States on September 2nd and in Europe on September 5th, which is the exact release date for the 360's Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise. Speaking of which, Rare today also announced that Trouble in Paradise has gone gold and is currently being pressed to disc on some manufacturing line in Mexico.Hold on, that's not all. Rare released a second Halo 3 inspired Viva Piñata BelieVe trailer titled "Museum" and we're told it was done by the voice actor for Leafos herself! Oh, how we love these BelieVe trailers ... just watch and have a good belly laugh. Har, har!
E308: Viva Pinata was an Xbox game?
Okay, confession time: I never played Viva Piñata the first time around. The allure of festive animal husbandry was insufficient to entice me into the console purchase required. I've researched the original (by, uh, watching some YouTube videos and such), but I went into my quick demo of Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise without a real preconceived notion of how Viva Piñata is supposed to look or play.How was this ever anything but a DS game? The tasks involved in playing Viva -- watering and planting plants, clearing land, building structures for critters -- make so much sense in the top-down perspective of Pocket Paradise that it's hard to imagine this game in a different perspective on a different system. It would be so much harder, I think, to manage a large-scale garden in a more zoomed-in view. Having a larger, wider look at the goings-on in the garden makes the game seem more natural and easier. %Gallery-8991%
Step into Viva Pinata video paradise
Gamespot has uploaded five new videos from Rare's upcoming DS romp, Viva Pinata Pocket Paradise. The videos focus on what matters most: gameplay. While they are brief in length, the combination of all five make for a nice little diversion in the usual rigmarole of your day. We suggest you take a break and check out the rest of the videos past the break.%Gallery-8991%
Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise gets its own little oasis online
Rare has kept quiet for the most part about Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise, preferring, for the most part, to limit themselves to releasing one screenshot every couple of months and making some joke about the game's progress. Now they've boldly opened a website for the game! Which even has information! And screenshots, which we've added to our gallery. There's an interview with some of the Pocket Paradise team as well, which is mostly jokes!Looks like players who have already broken open the 360 game will have something to look forward to here: new piñatas, which will also appear in the 360 sequel Trouble in Paradise. The DS game will also use a new episodic format in addition to the Playground mode.%Gallery-8991%
Viva Pinata DS / Xbox 360 connectivity figured out, not happening
The clever men and women at Rare actually figured out a way to offer connectivity between Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise on the Xbox 360, and the Viva Piñata game on the Nintendo DS. Unfortunately, they figured it out a bit too late in development, and the unprecedented "Three-Six-DS" (say it out loud) connection will not make it into either game. How would it have worked? Trouble in Paradise on the 360 uses the Live Vision Camera to interpret special codes on Viva Piñata trading cards. The camera's resolution is high enough to even read card codes off of digital screens, like iPods, Zunes (lawl) and portable gaming systems. According to MTV's Stephen Totilo, Rare realized that codes could be placed in the Nintendo DS Piñata game to allow content to be transferred from the portable to the 360 version. Sadly, this realization came too late in the development cycle of the DS game, and reportedly could not be included. It's the thought that counts, right?
Viva Pinata almost had DS/360 connectivity
The new Viva Piñata game on the Xbox 360 uses the Xbox Live Vision camera to read codes found on Viva Piñata cards, unlocking new piñatas. It's an impractical feature (if only there were some other way to enter short text strings into a game ...) but it's a fun gimmick. And it's designed such that the camera can read card images not just from physical cards, but from screens on computers and portable devices, which enhances the possibilities for sharing.The DS has a Viva Piñata game (Pocket Paradise). The DS has screens. Wouldn't it be awesome if you could use the DS game to send stuff to the 360 game? It would be -- and is! Rare had it implemented, according to MTV Multiplayer's interview with Rare's Justin Cook, but too late. "We got it to work, but it was too late in the development cycle," Cook said. "It's one of those things where you just kick yourself." A strange statement coming from Rare. Can't they just delay the game for a couple of years?%Gallery-8991%
Viva Pinata lives, gets subtitle
The BBFC seems to have confirmed two things about Rare's upcoming DS game, Viva Pinata. The first is that THQ will be publishing the software, and the second is that the subtitle for the game (at least in Europe) will be Pocket Paradise. Until we hear something more tangible, though, we'll chalk this one up as a rumor. Gallery: Viva Pinata DS [Thanks, jimmcq!]
Rare talks Viva Pinata DS with the fans
The folks over at Rare on the Viva Piñata DS team have been busy answering questions from their fans about the game. The questions asked pertain to both the Xbox 360 and DS games, as it's revealed that the DS game is more or less just a portable version of the Xbox 360 title. But, the DS game will have some different piñatas in it, as well as an Episode mode. What little we've seen on the game so far has us intrigued. We think the game is the perfect pick-up-and-go title, to tell the truth. [Via Go Nintendo]
Viva Pinata DS as learning experiment for small-scale games
Microsoft Game Studios UK's Phil Spencer spoke to Develop magazine about the lessons the company is taking from Rare's scaling down of Viva Pinata. While it might seem strange to put one of their flagship titles on a competitor's system, the DS is a great platform on which to learn about casual and shorter games, while also making piles of money. Speaking about Rare's previous handheld experience, Spencer said the following: "When we acquired the studio that expertise was there and the team was there. As Microsoft we had a discussion – do we want to build that expertise? We decided yes. Not so much because we need to support Nintendo – their platform will do fine without us – but because it is important for us to build that experience as a publisher and game developer and understand what it means to build lightweight, maybe shorter session experiences, and maintain that design innovation." Where does Microsoft hope to apply the lessons learned from Viva Pinata? Not the DS! As it turns out, Microsoft has their own platform for small-scale games. We don't know exactly how a portable version of a full-size Xbox game translates to Xbox Live Arcade development, but if it drives the company to experiment further, it's a good thing. [Via Next-Gen]
Look! It's another single screenshot for Viva Pinata!
Dear Rare, Listen, guys. We love you. We're always thrilled when you return home to Nintendo fans and put something together for us, and when it's something as genuinely neat as Viva Piñata, we're all in. We're resting comfortably on the hype train. So stringing us along with one screenshot at a time isn't really necessary. We can wait a few weeks and see three or even four at once. Really! We won't forget about you, okay? So don't worry. Love, Us p.s. But we'll keep putting those single screenshots in our gallery here. We'll do this for you, out of love. Hugs and kisses! %Gallery-8991%
New Viva Pinata screens burst out
We're very slowly getting a look at Viva Piñata; Rare is letting screens drip out a bit at a time, just to keep us interested. Normally, that would worry us, but this is Rare, and at least we know how they're handling the port, so we'll let them take their time. Aren't we nice? We wouldn't mind having some idea of a release date, however. Jeux-France theorizes that we'll see the title by the end of the year, but we've yet to see any official word on that. Are we alone in thinking it's much more likely to be sometime next year? But all release date speculation aside, we've compiled the new with the old in a gallery below for your viewing ease. %Gallery-8991%
Rare talks Viva Pinata on the DS
We all know about the whole prerendering thing with the DS version of Viva Piñata, it being the only way the fine folks at Rare could squeeze the title down to cartridge-friendly size. But, we didn't know about some of the other alterations Rare made to the title, such as the stylus-exclusive control scheme, allowing for more accuracy in digging and planting seeds, etc. James Thomas and Justin Cook, software engineers who conducted this interview, also talk about some other DS title they've been playing and drawing inspiration from. These games include Theme Park and SimCity DS, other "god-type" games.
Rare says Viva Prerendering
Were you wondering how Rare would manage to cram the full Viva Piñata experience onto the DS? They've gone deep into their bag of tricks and pulled out a favorite Rare technique: prerendering. Like Killer Instinct and Donkey Kong Country, Viva Piñata uses 2D sprites made from 3D renders of Piñata characters. If it allows them to put the whole game on DS-- including achievements?-- and then add stuff like an "Episodes" mode that ties in to the TV show, then we say "prerender away." If you want to read the news item that accompanies this single screenshot on Rare's website, you'll have to navigate to the "News" section. Annoying, right? [Via Kotaku]
Viva Pinata goes portable on the DS
As had been hinted at earlier this year by Microsoft VP Shane Kim, Rare officially confirmed at the San Diego Comic-Con that its much overlooked fiesta / garden sim Viva Piñata will be smashing its way onto the DS. While all we have currently is a blurry photo taken at the convention of what the game will look like, Rare has confirmed on the popular pinataisland.info forums (well, popular if you played the Xbox 360 version) that Viva Piñata DS will use the same gameplay principles as the original garden-sim title, as opposed to the recently announced party game for the 360. That means all the produce-tending, romance dancing, and savage piñata-on-piñata combat your little portable can handle. Beyond that, all we can tell you at this point is that it's being cultivated by the original Viva Piñata team and according to Rare, "The DS team have done an amazing job at getting most of the features from the original into the DS version." Wi-Fi connectivity and official release date are still unknown, but we wouldn't be surprised to see it sprout up for purchase in time for the holidays. We're expecting an official announcement from Rare any time, but for now, check out that action shot after the break.
Viva Pinata announced for Nintendo DS
During a Viva Piñata panel at Comic-Con, Rare announced a Nintendo DS version of their well-received (but demographically incongruous) Xbox 360 title, Viva Piñata. A Rare developer answered some basic questions on the PinataIsland.info forum, quelling fears that the title would not be developed by Rare – he said, "Very definitely 'yes' on this one. We have a dedicated handheld dev team." – and that the gameplay would be different – he said, "Game play wise, yes. It's the same game ... ." Still no word on whether or not the game will take advantage of the DS' Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. While it's not a huge surprise – Shane Kim intimated as much to 1UP – it's curious to see Microsoft publishing a title on a competitor's platform. If they can get the Pokemon crowd hooked on Viva Piñata via the enormously popular DS, then we're betting some of those kids just may grow up to be 360 owners. [Via ShackNews]
Viva Pinata possibly bursting onto DS
How can Microsoft max out their profits this year? By latching onto the hottest system in the world -- the DS. Suddenly their reason for buying Rare becomes clear! Microsoft's super-powerful seers predicted the rise of the DS, and so they bought a company Nintendo fans adore as a way in. Brilliant! Now that we have our daily fanboy conspiracy theory out of the way, let's get to the news. Viva Pinata may well be headed toward the DS. Microsoft VP Shane Kim told 1UP that "a Kameo or a Viva Pinata on a DS makes a lot of sense in a lot of ways from a franchise perspective." Yeah, also from the perspective of mucho dinero, and we know that's a big deal to Micro$oft. However, if it all ends with more great games on the DS, we're all for it. [Via Joystiq]
