It's true. We confess. We love Viva Piñata and we always have. And Viva Piñata Confessions has taught us that we aren't weird, we don't have a problem and that our love of the game isn't something we should be embarrassed about. Even our rebel of a game designer Cliffy B loves himself some Viva Piñata every once and a while. You too can come clean, you too can let go of all the built up anxiety and just do it ... confess. Confess that you love Viva Piñata and aren't afraid to tell the world.And if our inspirational talk doesn't make you believe in the wonder that is Viva Piñata, be sure to check out the embedded video after the break. Those piñatas truly have an affect on a person's brain.
Everyone's favorite piñata growing simulator Viva Piñata has received top honors from a collective group we call "parents". The Parents' Choice Foundation awarded Viva Piñata with the Parents' Choice Award in gaming for its "excellent production values, universal human values, appeal to children, and age appropriateness". We're sure it's an honor, but we wonder if such an award will deter older gamers from picking up the game. We know how sensitive some fanboys can be when it comes to their gamercard and playing "children's games", so does the new Parents' Choice Award further embarrass/deter those who are uneasy about trying Viva Piñata?
Our piñata loving friends over at Piñata Island are holding a contest where the winners will receive an extremely rare in-game Viva Piñata wild-card piñata. To win, all you have to do is pick a name of a developer off of the credits list and make a piñata that you feel best fits that person. Draw a piñata, build one out of wood, or use paper mache, it's up to you. Oh, and be sure to make up a brief back story for the little guy too. One lucky winner will have the choice of picking a discovered or undiscovered wild-card piñata or have a Mystery Crate sent to them. Three other runners up will get a discovered wild-card piñata of their choice. All entries must be posted on the forum by May 5th, so find a developer and make a piñata already!
The latest VG Cats comic features one of our favorite Xbox 360 games, Viva Piñata! Actually, the comic focuses on the darker side of our piñata game ... a side few have the courage to openly talk about. You'll have to read the comic to get the full impact, but let's just say giving too much power to a Viva Piñata gardener can have twisted consequences. Guys, we all know inbreeding Whirlms isn't acceptable in our society, but the answer is not feeding a Whirlm baby their parent's "candy". Sick, sick sick ... this is just sick.
The nominees for the 2006 National Academy of Video Game Testers and Reviewers (NAViGaTR) awards were just announced with Microsoft leading the pack in nominations count. Microsoft garnered 29 nominations for various games including games like Gears of War and Viva Piñata. Speaking of Gears, it's up for an amazing 16 nominations including Graphics/Technical and Game of the Year. With over 1,150 media critics, analysts, and journalists making the final decision, we'll be keeping our eyes open on May 20th to see if Gears can add to its ever expanding trophy case.
Over at Piñata Island (the information epicenter of all things Viva Piñata) they are running a contest and giving away a few Viva Piñata coffee mugs. All you have to do to enter is edit the wiki in any shape, way, or form three times between now and March 2nd. They'll then randomly select a few winners who'll receive piñata mug goodness. That's not all that hard now is it? Anyone up for changing the Horstachio wiki page to read "Definition: When you kill a prostitute and hide her beneath your hotel room bed"? Yeah ... the whitty Cliffy B came up with that one.
Sometimes developers create a huge list of possible achievements for their game, have to narrow down the list, and choose which ones they want to include in the final game. There are some that get rejected because they are either too lame, too dull, too easy, or just too impossible to attain. The guys over Game Stooge put on their detective hats and went searching. They dug up unused achievements that developers didn't put into the game simply because the achievement didn't mesh with the rest. And after looking at their handy work we know why these rejects didn't make the cut. Viva Piñata's "No Incest" achievement would have been a challenge, Blazing Angels' "Victor Over Boredom" would break down even the strongest gamer, and Madden 06's "Press 'A' Button" would be ... wait a second. Didn't that achievement make it into the final game? Anyway, did anyone un-earth rejected achievements that didn't make it into the final game? If you have, we beg you to share with the rest of us.
Would you play Viva Piñata on your Nintendo DS? That's the question Microsoft may be bouncing around the corporate board room table, because Shane Kim, Microsoft Game Studios VP, thinks it would be a great idea. In an interview with 1UP Kim said that "Viva Piñata on a DS makes a lot of sense in a lot of ways from a franchise perspective". We have to agree if they can pull it off on a DS and want those little piñatas to reach mass appeal. What do you think, would it be a good idea for Microsoft owned developer Rare to create a Viva Piñata spinoff for a competing company's handheld? Or do you think it would be a much better fit on Sony's PSP?
Over at the Viva Pinata Forum Rare's very own BIGsheep decided to run a poll asking fans which wild card piñata they'd like to see. And for those of you who aren't in the loop, wild card piñatas are extremely rare, randomly born, and there is no concrete formula on how to create them. Think of them as genetic screw ups that are one in a million. Anyway, BIGsheep's poll ends in roughly a week and we're curious to see what will happened when the poll ends. Is he going to be kind enough to show us what the wild card piñata looks like, maybe lift the lid on his entire wild card stash? We'll just have to wait and see what goes down with this wild card poll fiasco. And don't forget to vote!
Two of Rare's three founders, Chris and Tim Stamper, have decided to pack their bags and head for greener pastures. While some may assume that this departure is the result of Viva Piñata's undeservedly low sales and a string of games that failed to live up to their potential -- Grabbed by the Ghoulies, Kameo, Perfect Dark Zero -- Microsoft assures the world that the brothers are "simply leaving to pursue other opportunities." Studio veterans, Mark Betteridge and Greg Mayles will take over the roles of Studio Director and Creative Director, respectively.
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