Ever imagine your Xbox 360 and DS joining forces to bring you hours of gaming fun? Well, Rare, the company behind Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise, managed to pull it off: interaction between the Xbox 360 and DS is actually possible. The problem is this feature won't go public. Learn more about it after the jump!

The much-awaited Nintendo DS incarnation of Viva Piñata, Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise, is finally given a release window, targeted sometime within Fall. And it's a paradise intended for the pocket indeed, since the game enables garden builders to build their own patch of heaven in a matter of minutes. More details in the full article!

If you're a lover of living pinatas who make babies with one another, then you're in luck! It seems the BBFC given some preliminary ratings for Viva Pinata for the DS, and have even named the new version for us. Ladies and gents, learn more about Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise after the jump!

Thanks to jimmcq for the tip!

 

The handheld gaming scene was shaken to its core when Microsoft suddenly announced an upcoming iteration of Viva Pinata for the Nintendo DS - and here to shake you up more are two new screenshots of the game in action. With a quirky garden-creation mechanic involving cute, colorful creatures called Pinatas, Viva Pinata for the Nintendo DS definitely looks like a must-buy, and we see just how the developers are handling its portable version in the images above this article.

Looking at the screenshots, it seems Rare Ltd. is doing a pretty good job of delivering the Viva Pinata joy over to the Nintendo DS, with the graphics looking reassuringly bright and chunky. The creature models also look very solid, although not quite as colorful as their console companions. Still, this could just be the fact that Viva Pinata for the Nintendo DS is still under development, and we'll be seeing a more spruced-up version in the future.

Enjoy these two screenshots that we have here for you.

Game designer Justin Cook and software engineer James Thomas expressed their thoughts about Rare and the Viva Piñata franchise in a recent interview. According to them, they wanted to blaze a new trail on the Xbox 360, and Viva Piñata was the fruit of that desire. Despite the risk of the game being overshadowed by Gears of War, Rare went ahead and did the best job they could, and it shows.

Thomas and Cook also mentioned that a DS version of Viva Piñata is due for release sometime in the future. Both men were particularly pleased with the DS version, and they mentioned that the modified game menu systems fit well with the stylus and the touch screen system. The result? Added accuracy and flexibility to an already wonderful game.

A sequel entitled Viva Piñata: Party Animals is also scheduled for release on October 30, 2007. Rare has passed the development torch to Krome for this installment, as the former is busy with a new hush-hush project. There appears to be a good working relationship between the two developers; Cook and Thomas said that both Rare and Krome are pretty much on the same team. In fact, Krome has been sending courtesy test versions of the sequel to Rare as a professional courtesy, and from what they've seen, both Cook and Thomas think that Krome has done a pretty good job so far.

One question that's probably on everyone's minds is: Can and will Rare revisit old favorites like Killer Instinct, in spite of the fact that Rare is now Microsoft-owned? That is certainly a possibility, as Rare Ltd. is still on good terms with Nintendo. While Nintendo has the option of releasing certain old titles for their Wii's Virtual Console, Cook and Thomas stated that certain titles remain entirely theirs (Banjo-Kazooie, for instance). In fact, Nintendo has actually asked them to do ports of games for Nintendo's format, a testament to the quality of Rare's titles.

To read up on the rest of the Rare interview, feel free to visit the read link below.

In a recent post answering fan questions on the Rare Ltd. site, the development team dropped some hints as to what may be in store for the Nintendo Wii Virtual Console as far as games and development are concerned.

Teases on a possible release of the Nintendo 64 hit Banjo Kazooie and quite possibly Viva Pinata were made, with rare saying that at this point "there's always a chance."

The developers, however, made it clear that Nintendo will always have the last say on what gets released in Virtual Console and said that, "beyond the Donkey Kong Country games we don't have anything in the pipeline at the moment, but that doesn't mean it won't happen in future."

Banjo Kazooie for the Nintendo DS was revealed to have been worked on but was dropped in favor of the Xbox 360 version. Rare devs said that they favored the new approach but did not waive the possibility of the project coming to life in the future.

Rare also said that the Viva Pinata project for the Nintendo DS is coming along fairly well. The devs commented that "we can bring across properties other than those owned by Nintendo, so we'll leave you to wonder what's coming after Viva Pinata DS."

A day ago, fellow blogger Sally B. broke the news that Microsoft was making plans to create a DS version of Rare Limited's Viva Pinata game, originally on the Xbox 360. The news was announced over at the the recently concluded Comic-Con 2007 event over in San Francisco.

Now, in case you're wondering how the exact announcement looked, we've managed to pick up a video covering this said event. This vid should uncover a few more details on how the game is expected to look when it makes its jump to the handheld. Just be sure to watch it with a decent set of earphones - the sound is a tad fuzzy. That's all for the moment. Check back when we pick up for info in this game, which looks to become Animal Crossing's contender