Mark Mazzei

Banjo 3 and Viva Piñata 2, both slated for this year

Platforms, machines, weather, co-op and more make this the year for Rare

With the screenshots posted from both of Rare’s new 360 games comes new information on what to expect in this coming year. In addition, we now know tentative release months and Banjo’s new title. But before you can find out what’s going on with Banjo, you’ll have to go through the Viva Piñata 2 info first.* VP2 needs love too, folks.

Right, regarding Viva Pinata: Trouble In Paradise. It’s slated for September this year, and features use of the Xbox Vision Camera (anyone else get reminded of The Fast and the Furriest?) with actual cards. They contain codes on the card (think e-Reader, for those that remember back to 2002) which, when scanned, unlocks piñatas, buildings and abilities, and can even change the weather. One can only imagine how pricey the cards may or may not be. In addition to sporting a photo mode, the vision camera allows you to share your piñata in an easier way: by taking a picture of your piñata, it generates code for your piñata to be shared around the world. This in conjunction with piñatas able to mimic each other, more interactivity, more toys, 2 new areas to travel to collect piñatas, and Co-op mode (although no official word of having it be online at the moment) shows that, in this writer’s eyes, it isn’t just an expansion of what was missing in VP1. There’s a lot here that could qualify it as a bona-fide sequel.

[*Unless you scroll down. Which you probably did.] Now for the Banjo stuff. Reportedly, the title is being called “Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts.” Admittedly not the Banjo-Threeie that we’ve been wanting it to be called, but in time we’ll grow used to the lack of silliness within the title. It’s now slated for November of this year, and not Holidays ‘08 as we were previosly told.

Game Informer starts out by saying that the redesign was completely intentional; Rare didn’t want to just make another platformer in the vein of Kazooie and Tooie with pretty graphics. A bit of a shame, considering how pretty the Banjo renders around that time were. But anyway. The purpose within the levels is to create vehicles from parts found around them. Examples of vehicles that GI experienced were “a 4 wheeled kart with a spring attached to the bottom that allowed them to jump things. They later found a helicopter blade that allowed their kart to fly. Later they added balloons to the vehicle and put the blade on the back and created a hovercraft.” There will be 1600 (collect-a-thon fans, rejoice!) parts to collect during the course of the game.

In addition to this the notes you’ll collect throughout the game serve as a currency to buy vehicle blueprints. Although with the predominance of so many vehicle-related shots, yesterday community manager, George Kelion, had to clarify that “It’s not a racing game, and people are honestly better off waiting […] We haven’t revealed the gameplay mechanic yet.” Moreover, he also added that “the game is not just a graphical showcase.” GI reiterates, much as Rare themselves have done, that there will still be the traditional platforming that we know, love, and have been craving for eight years. Levels will have introductions to them. For example, Nutty Acres spoofs the credits for 80’s shows like Dallas. All this will be set in 15 challenges across 6 levels, with side missions to sweeten the deal.

That’s generally the information we’ve gotten so far. Stay tuned later today for what’s sure to be the riveting conclusion to people seeing Rare in the golden light of long ago!

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Our readers say...

By GFH

Oh damn… I hope this isn’t some “Crash Tag Team Racing”. If it is, I won’t even bother buying it.
And hey… there will be no jiggies this time? And there will only be 6 levels??? I think 8 would do fine!

By Grant McLachlan

Their are supposed to be jiggies, but they just didn’t mention it, but I do agree with you that six levels is kind of small for the game.


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