Justin Cook and James Thomas on the Viva Pinata franchise

Posted Oct 12, 2007 at 7:06PM EST by QJ Staff

Listed in: Wii, Nintendo DS, Xbox 360 Tags: James Thomas, Justin Cook, Krome

Game designer Justin Cook and software engineer James Thomas expressed their thoughts about Rare and the Viva PiÃ±ata franchise in a recent interview. According to them, they wanted to blaze a new trail on the Xbox 360, and Viva PiÃ±ata was the fruit of that desire. Despite the risk of the game being overshadowed by Gears of War, Rare went ahead and did the best job they could, and it shows.

Thomas and Cook also mentioned that a DS version of Viva PiÃ±ata is due for release sometime in the future. Both men were particularly pleased with the DS version, and they mentioned that the modified game menu systems fit well with the stylus and the touch screen system. The result? Added accuracy and flexibility to an already wonderful game.

A sequel entitled Viva PiÃ±ata: Party Animals is also scheduled for release on October 30, 2007. Rare has passed the development torch to Krome for this installment, as the former is busy with a new hush-hush project. There appears to be a good working relationship between the two developers; Cook and Thomas said that both Rare and Krome are pretty much on the same team. In fact, Krome has been sending courtesy test versions of the sequel to Rare as a professional courtesy, and from what they've seen, both Cook and Thomas think that Krome has done a pretty good job so far.

One question that's probably on everyone's minds is: Can and will Rare revisit old favorites like Killer Instinct, in spite of the fact that Rare is now Microsoft-owned? That is certainly a possibility, as Rare Ltd. is still on good terms with Nintendo. While Nintendo has the option of releasing certain old titles for their Wii's Virtual Console, Cook and Thomas stated that certain titles remain entirely theirs (Banjo-Kazooie, for instance). In fact, Nintendo has actually asked them to do ports of games for Nintendo's format, a testament to the quality of Rare's titles.

To read up on the rest of the Rare interview, feel free to visit the read link below.

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Justin Cook and James Thomas on the Viva Pinata franchise

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