Pocket Paradise announced by THQ, headed your way this fall
Paradise in your pants is not that far away
Amongst all the chaos (yet wonderful chaos) earlier this week with the official and unofficial announcements of Nuts & Bolts and Trouble in Paradise, you may have thought about our (or at least my) most anticipated game at the moment. That’s right, Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise has been officially announced by publisher THQ!
But you already knew that.
In the recent press release supplied by Kotaku, there’s the usual comments about what the game aims to do, yet there are two little tidbits that hasn’t been emphasized as of yet in it. We’ve seen how Rare has said that there are going to be new piñatas, but never how many. The press release states that there will be 7 new piñatas. Not bad at all for a DS game, though anticipators of the sequel are probably more excited about that, for 23 more obvious reasons.
Next up we have this little quote: “Certain rare piñatas 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.” If this utilized the Wi-Fi connection, this would be great news. But I ask now for a show of hands. How many of you have local friends who have a DS and an interest in Pocket Paradise? Basically it all comes down to being lucky enough to have local friends instead of the option to either get the rare pinatas locally or online. Probably not a big deal when the game comes out, but as of now it just seems like a missed opportunity to utilize online trading just as the original did. But I digress.
In perhaps a bit of happier news, Paul Machacek was interviewed by IGN a couple of days ago regarding Pocket Paradise. While it is an interesting read, MundoRare’s not MundoRare if we’re unable to summarize the most important parts. So, in no particular order:
- The Episodes mode that Rare claimed in their news article months ago are essentially tutorials on how to play the game, as taught by the piñatas on the TV show.
- If you’ve ever had a fetish for tickling piñatas, Pocket Paradise will be right up your alley, as a simple touch to any piñata you want causes them to get ticklish. Consequently, Machacek claims that if you want to move a piñata, you can simply abusively “drag” them anywhere you want with the stylus. Love and violence in perfect harmony, just like the original.
- Just as in the 360 version, you’re able to save anytime you wish.
- While we know of the stylus-based gameplay that seems to suit the game more adequately, Machacek admits to having a few face buttons as shortcuts. How effective they’ll be by themselves is unknown, but for the moment it’s nice to know that there just might be options for control. Even though I believe that this is one game that will suit the stylus-only controls just fine. In the end, we’ll see.
- When asked about the seven new piñatas, Machacek replied that while he couldn’t give their names away, there are nicknames for them: “Spotty, Hammy, Flighty, Tooty, Muddy, Growly and Scaredy.” You can now commence your “Tooty for VPDS!” comments.
- The mode formerly known as the Sandbox mode has been retitled to the Playground mode, where you can essentially set any piñatas you have or seen in a set landscape in a garden. Think the new easier option in Trouble In Paradise, in which you should be reading about very soon on this site.
Last but not least, we have a release window: Fall 2008. Say what you will about the new Banjo game, but 3 Rare titles within a single year and so close to each other is nothing to complain about.
As always, MundoRare will keep you up to date as news comes.
Somehow related news
- Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise is on the way to Nintendo DS ()
- Press to pay a visit to Rare’s new pocket-handkerchief garden ()
- Trouble in Paradise and Pocket Paradise ship to stores in North America ()
- Xbox Dashboard rumoured to be updated in early September ()
- BelieVe in Piñata the first week of September ()
