This is no huge, earth-shaking surprise (seeing as how we've known about it for months), but at least we've got a firm release window now. In the midst of all the hub bub surrounding Viva Pinata: Trouble In Paradise, Rare doesn't want the handheld owners to feel slighted. Along with publisher THQ, the two confirmed today that Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise, essentially a re-worked port of the original Xbox 360/PC title, will hit the Nintendo DS this Fall. Bob Aniello, senior vice president of worldwide marketing, THQ says:

Nintendo DS is the perfect platform for the Viva Piñata franchise because players can have direct interaction with the environment and their piñatas using the stylus. We are thrilled to introduce Microsoft's critically-acclaimed Viva Piñata series to an entirely new segment of the gaming community.

There is still loose talk (very loose, I might add) that Microsoft, in the midst of their ongoing Newton project, are currently looking at bringing the original Viva Pinata, or perhaps even the DS version, to the Wii as well. A perfect fit, if I do say so myself.

Hit the jump for the announcement.

Players Can Garden On-The-Go with an Intuitive Control Scheme Designed Specifically for Nintendo DS

AGOURA HILLS, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—THQ Inc. (NASDAQ: THQI) today announced that Viva Piñata®: Pocket Paradise™ is scheduled for release this fall for Nintendo DS™. The game is based on Microsoft Game Studios' highly-rated original Viva Piñata game for Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft. Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise features an array of content exclusive to Nintendo DS and an intuitive control scheme designed to take full advantage of the DS touch screen and stylus, making it a breeze to navigate through the garden.

"Nintendo DS is the perfect platform for the Viva Piñata franchise because players can have direct interaction with the environment and their piñatas using the stylus," said Bob Aniello, senior vice president of worldwide marketing, THQ. "We are thrilled to introduce Microsoft's critically-acclaimed Viva Piñata series to an entirely new segment of the gaming community."

In Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise, players will inherit a neglected garden on Piñata Island and turn it into a piñata paradise by tending to all aspects of cleaning the garden, growing and maintaining vegetation, caring for and breeding piñatas, as well as attracting new piñata species. The game features seven all-new piñata species, each with new requirements, houses and unique cut scenes. Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise also includes twelve full motion video clips that serve as tutorial levels within the game. The videos feature the stars of the Fox 4Kids Viva Piñata TV series, including Hudson Horstashio™, Fergy Fudgehog™ and Paulie Pretztail™. The brand-new Playground mode allows players to create a lush garden full of exciting and exotic piñatas in a very short amount of time. In addition, 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.

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BabaNoosh said:

YYEESSSS!!!!!! im buyin this asap. cant wait.

May 13, 2008