As far as incompatible franchise mashups go, Viva Piñata Vs Killer Instinct must be eligible for some kind of award. Only Manhunt Vs Animal Crossing could compete, really.

Nevertheless, that is what Rare are offering via the medium of Piñata Vision cards. By downloading and printing out this set of Killer Instinct themed Vision cards and then laboriously scanning them in to the game via a Vision camera, you can get some, er, KI Piñata.

PIÑATA VISION CARDS [Rare]

“We don’t have any plans for DLC. As far as the team is concerned we are taking a break from VP for a while to make something new. But things change quickly in the software industry so next week it may be a completely different story”

But what could this new game be? I spoke to Rare’s Community Manager George Kelion, who said that the team were keen on a fresh challenge after spending so long cooped up with just sentient Piñatas for company.

“With VP2 out the door and Banjo in its vinegar strokes, we’re focusing on getting the Avatars all finished and done for the New Xbox Experience”, said Kelion, “After that, it’ll most likely be a mix of new projects and hopefully a Banjo sequel.. maybe? Fingers crossed, anyway!”

Chatting in Paradise [Mondo Rare]

As we covered back in May, Viva Piñata: Trouble In Paradise for the Xbox 360 can be used with the Xbox Live Vision Camera and a selection of special cards. Players can wave the cards in front of the camera to invoke certain game effects.

Players will be able to download free cards, which can then be printed out — or just displayed on a PDA or mobile phone screen held in front of the camera. Players can also create their own cards for online trading.

It looks like it will work a bit like the PS3 game Eye Of Judgement although Rare say that the game will be fully playable without the card/camera combo.

“The Vision Camera just adds a new dimension to Piñata and how you can interact with the game. Vision cards are really versatile, by showing one of the cards to the Vision Camera you can affect the weather, the time, garden items, piñatas, you can do just about anything” – Ryan Stevenson, Rare

The first Piñata Vision Card goes online! [MundoRare]

When will we find out? According to Burton, “soon enough”. If that means Leipzig Games Convention, we’ll be surprised, and expect that we’ll hear real details after the release of Rare’s already in development Xbox 360 titles.

Rare: Half the studio working on secret projects [Videogamer]

Anyway, Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise adds 30 new piñata species, more co-op and gameplay modes, and the official announcement promises that Piñata Island has gotten even bigger. Crecente had a look at it recently and found that it seems to tone up what could’ve been seen as problem zones in the original.

Full details after the jump!

Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise Release Date and New Details Revealed
Green thumbs and animal-loving gamers rejoice with the return of their favourite candy-filled creatures, hits shelves on 5th September
LONDON – 3rd July 2008 – Roarios and Tigermisus and Fizzlybears, OH MY! Microsoft today announced that “Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise” will be released and on store shelves by 5th September.

With more than 30 additional new piñata species, expanded co-op options and multiple gameplay modes, “Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise” offers limitless fun for every animal-lover in the family.

Piñata Island has gotten bigger too! Now players can explore wild areas outside of the garden where they will need to bait and retrieve exotic piñata species who won’t venture into the garden on their own.

Put on your mittens and snow shoes as you brave the cold of the Pinartic where you’ll find piñatas that prefer cooler temperatures and the occasional blizzard, like Pengums and Polollybears. Or you can shed the layers and head to the sands of the Dessert Desert, where Camellos and Jameleons bask in the arid sun.

All of these new exotic piñatas will not venture into your garden willingly, so you’ll need to bait and retrieve them yourself. But you can make them feel at home right away by adding patches of snow or sand to your garden, similar to how you add grass and water.

Available exclusively on Xbox 360, “Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise” reinvigorates a colourful and engaging gaming experience. Now with full cooperative gameplay modes and various approachable difficulty settings, the “Viva Piñata” franchise opens its doors even wider with a new game that provides hours of fun for gamers of all ages, fans of the animated series and animal lovers alike.

-Ends-

They put the Viva Piñata franchise on TV to reach a broad audience, they put it on PC to reach a different broad audience, and they’re doing the same thing with the DS. They’re trying to widen the audience of the franchise, basically… They see DS as a very viable platform.

Honestly, if Microsoft wants better odds at cracking the Japanese market, it really should release its exclusives on the DS. We hear the DS is popular in Japan. Xbox 360, not so much so.

MS sees DS [Eurogamer] [Pic]

Judging by what I saw, THQ’s aiming to take what fans of the original Viva Pinata liked best and put it front-and-centre, while also making it portable and by tying it in to the TV series in the hopes of opening frilly neon pinata guts and raining candy down on a whole new audience of fans.

So how’s it look?

Really exciting, actually. The rep who demoed it for me explained that the real-time strategy-esque elements of the original VP were not so much at home on the console – she’d been a fan of the game, but found herself wishing she could point-and-click to manage things more efficiently.

The stylus controls, she said, provide a more direct access to the interface, and you can zoom in on individual pinatas with just a tap and view various stat screens on them with the buttons. Providing tutorials on all the controls are Fergie, Paulie, Franklin and Hudson from the TV series, and there are full-motion video clips pulled straight from the show (which I confess to occasionally viewing on Saturday mornings. Okay, I almost always watch it. Shut up.)

The game has two modes, also – the traditional mode plus a free-play, sandbox-style mode where money’s no object, if you just want to mess around. The thing I found most interesting is that you can ship your pinatas and items even among your own saved games, of which you can have up to three. So if a Sour enters your garden, the rep said, you can box it up and ship it to a different garden of yours. You can also trade among your friends, and some of the pinatas to collect can only be unlocked through trades (think Pokemon).

So it looks like all of the necessities are there for traditional Viva Pinata fans, and new ones may be attracted to the series for the first time by the DS’s huge install base, the relationship to the TV show, and the different modes for more accessible play.

Originally announced at the New York Comic Con, the DS version will share themes with the original Viva Piñata, tasking players with nursing a neglected garden into a piñata paradise. Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise will also introduce seven new piñata species, in addition to tutorial full motion videos from the Fox 4Kids TV series.

Full release follows the jump.

Blueberry Garden (sneak peek trailer) [Blip]