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Far Cry 3 And The Stranger In A Strange Land Blueberry Garden is a forthcoming indie release from Erik Svedäng that looks like … well, I’m not entirely sure. A surreal, super-minimalist Viva Piñata, perhaps? Your guess is as good as mine. I’m totally mystified, and I kinda like it. There’s a bit more information over at the creator’s blog (plus info on his other games), including a short story from Blueberry Garden involving party hats, birds, blueberries, and starving party hats. Poor little party hats. My interest is piqued and I’m waiting to find out more.
The Into The Pixel art showcase at DICE featured plenty of wonderful artwork from beloved games like God of War, Metal Gear Solid, Half-Life 2 and Rayman’s Raving Rabbids, each up for auction. The piece that looked to grab the biggest bucks was the Viva PInata digital painting seen above, which closed at $US 1400. The winner? None other than Epic Games’ Mark Rein, who hovered near the bidding sheet like a hungry wolf until the auction closed, growling at anyone who attempted to outbid him. My choice? It would’ve been the Team Fortress 2 piece seen after the jump.
The lads at Rare seem to be taking the piss in their new Christmas card, which not only features Viva Piñata stars Hudson Horstachio and Fergy Fudgehog alongside Banjo and Kazooie, but a teaser stocking that reads “KI3″. Clearly, it’s in reference to the Rare fighting game series Killer Instinct which hasn’t seen a release since Killer Instinct Gold hit the Nintendo 64 over ten years ago.
Are Rare hard at work on a third combo-filled fighting game? Not according to them, at least, as of this summer, when Rare responded via its Scribes letters page “Purely out of contractual obligation, no, we’re not working on KI3“. Despite that dismissal, I’m pretty sure I can make out Cinder in the fire there. Of course, I’m just teasing (as I’m fairly sure Rare is, too).
Gamasutra has a great article up on the development of Viva Piñata from pretty bland garden sim to the piñata-filled paradise of bright colors, cute animals, and irritating helpers. It’s an interesting look at game design from concept to execution, and some of the decisions that go into what stays, what goes, and what needs a major overhaul – from initial concept art to packaging. And we discover how those piñatas got so damn cute:
Not fully happy with his pastel creations, concept artist Ryan took a step back and began drawing inspiration from many places. He looked at ancient cave paintings with their simplified shapes, Aboriginal patterns and the art found in Aztec culture.
He then progressed to looking at the Mexican Day of the Dead festival with all the associated costumes and bright colors. At this point memories of childhood were sparked, and visions of piñatas gave him an idea.
I’m feeling inspired to check in with my piñatas – I spent a solid, jet lagged week after moving back to the US up with VP. I still hate flying from Asia to the US and vice versa, but cute piñatas were an excellent way to get over a twelve hour time difference.
Rare’s Viva Pinata: Giving The World Buzzlegums And Fudgehogs [Gamasutra]
I always love it when a game company can show a bit of a sense of humor about their own product. Kotakuite Zach sent in this screen grab from the most recent Xbox Flash email. A small poll asked players which survival horror they would be afraid of facing in real life. Slipped in between Dead Rising’s zombies, and BioShock’s Little Sisters were the colorful denizens of that most horrific of all games, Viva Pinata. If I had to pick off that list, I would definitely choose to fight a zombie horde or a slew of monsters before I would want to face even one of those horrifyingly cute, cannibalistic beasts. Something about paper animals that eat the candy innards of their fallen comrades is deeply disturbing. Like all those clowns coming out of that tiny car… absolutely terrifying.
Last Christmas, Microsoft published two very important titles. One was Gears of War. You may have heard of it. But what was the other? Oh, go on. Guess. That’s right. It was Viva Pinata! The game everybody loved and nobody bought. Speaking with Gamasutra, Rare’s James Thomas ponders just why MS spent a bucketload of cash on Gears but left Viva Pinata hanging in the wind:
If haven’t already, read this story on the guy who proposed to his lady using Rare’s Viva Pinata as a, uh, romantic candlelit dinner.
Now, I know when I met that special someone, I’ll be doing things the more traditional way. That’s just how I was brought up – even though I’m a bogan from Southwest Sydney, I still learnt a thing or two about the importance of real life human contact from my hillbilly parents. Especially in matters as important as a marriage proposal.
Anyway, I’m curious to know what you think. Would you consider proposing online, or using an MMO to do your dirty work? Let me know.
There are only so many hours in the day. Developer Rare is not going to widdle them away making downloadable content for Viva Piñata. Rare is doing other stuff, ‘kay? A member of Rare’s team commented on its website: We aren’t doing any downloadable content for Viva Piñata because we are much too busy doing something else.
Yeah, something more important. The game didn’t turn out to be the runaway smash hit Microsoft was hoping for. But like many things Xbox 360, Microsoft will push on valiantly with Viva Piñata by releasing PC and DS versions. All is not yet lost. Rare Says No More [Games Industry]
A new report from research firm Frank N. Magid Associates reveals that Xbox 360 are not only largely unaware of the console’s high definition graphics capabilities, but that nearly a third of owners are unfamiliar with the Xbox Live Arcade service. The report, based on response 1800 households (only 149 of which actually own an Xbox 360), reveals that while a large number of users have purchased or tried an XBLA title, a surprising number of them are clueless about how they can get UNO, Double Dragon or Pac-Man Championship Edition on their chill white Xboxes.
One can only assume that this “awareness gap” is due to the large number of dedicated Viva Pinata machines.
Magid: Almost a Third of 360 Owners Don’t Know Xbox Live Arcade Exists [GameDaily BIZ]
In an online interview, lead designer Cameron Davis talks about the upcoming Viva Pinatas: Party Animals for Xbox 360. Having enjoyed the first Viva Pinata game, I’d been optimistic about the new title. But knowing what I know now—the groundbreaking controls in the new belching minigame—I’m ecstatic: The core idea of it was that I wanted the player to use the controller in a new way, and hitting two random buttons as quickly as possible was just the ticket.
Other innovations are said to include a menu system, colour graphics and…if we’re lucky…a pause feature that freezes the game in progress. For those with callused thumbs, a demo should be hitting LIVE shortly.
PinataIsland.info interview with Cameron Davis [pinataisland]
