Alberto Riol

The Piñata team prepares another paper maché title

It will be released this very same year on X360

Viva Piñata is one of the most critically acclaimed IPs from Rare and one of their most well-known franchises in this new era. But despite having a port for PC, a sickening party games spin off and its own TV series, the company hasn’t revisited their own license… yet. Well, there is actually a DS title in the pipeline, but with that exasperating lack of promotion is quite obvious that they are still dealing with some publising duties, just as they did in 2003 with THQ for their GBA titles.

This situation is about to change this very same year. Piñatas will not only finally see the light of day on the DS, but they are quite likely preparing a comeback to 360 from Rare’s hand.

As we already knew, the VP team decided to cancel any possible DLC when sales were not as good as they expected. And, instead, they immediatly started working on a new project. But now, thanks to Justin Cook’s comments on the last Scribes, we have known that the new title from the VP team “should be in the shops before the end of the year.” And to clear it up even more, the original Piñata designer adds that this game “is not Banjo.”

If we bear in mind that they have just needed a mere year and a half to develop this whole new game for X360, it’s patent that they are using most of the original code and it’s not something totally new. Moreover, Cook’s answer was writen specifically to emphasize that, as a random fan expected, “there will be more in the form of colorful Piñatas from everyone’s favorite studio”.

The question remains as if this new Piñata title will be a sequel (what we could call Viva Piñata 2) or another spin off (this time, in-house made). We can easily remember words from some Rare and Microsoft employees stating that they had more ideas for the game than what they could finally add in order to meet the release date; so a Piñata 2 with the planed garden visiting feature, more piñata species, real-time weather, some co-op multiplayer options, lots of minigames, leaderboards, and extra children cheering would definitively be a winning formula!

related news


Our readers say...

By AnaitGames » ¿Secuela de Viva Piñata este año?

Según afirma MundoRare, el tan rumoreado “otro juego de Rare para 2008″, además del escurridizo Banjo Kazooie 3, será una nueva entrega de su simulador social de piñatas. […]

By Grant McLachlan

Another Viva Pinata game? As good as it sounds, I don’t think the Banjo/Viva Pinata team can handle two games at once, and release them in the same year, besides I thought Rare said in the Scribes that it was a DS game that was going to be hear by the end of the year.

By Xmooth

“I don’t think the Banjo/Viva Pinata team can handle two games at once”

Hi Grant. As Rare’s George Kelion recently confirmed in our forums the Piñata team and the BK team “are, in fact, two separate teams, although Gregg Mayles has led the design of both games.”

Also, the point for the article is clear: when asked about new piñata offerings, Justin Cook answered talking about a new game from the original piñata team (which is obviosly working on Xbox 360, not the VP title for DS).

Hope that clarifies the issue a little bit ;)

By MundoRare | ¡Viva Piñata 2 Pronto!

[…] as she/he/it adequately named the game, is set to be released sometime near the end of this year. We published that in February along with some extra information. Now we can also tell you that Justin Cook, a veteran from Viva […]


post your comment


Get an avatar for your comments here. It'll also work on hundreds of blogs & websites.