Rare: ‘Viva Pinata is reaction to industry’s bad publicity’
Did you know that Rare used to be a second-party developer for Nintendo? Yes, they were partners for several years until Microsoft bought the company in 2002 for a whopping 377 million USD. Despite that, Nintendo’s think-out-of-the-box attitude is still very much reflected especially in Rare’s latest offering Viva Piñata.
The company’s lead designer Gregg Mayles shares, “A lot of the press you see about games over the last 12 months has been about how nasty and evil games are, so this is a kind of reaction to that.” The game can be likened to the Sims series, only players are tasked to tend, cultivate and beautify a garden to attract piñatas. Additionally, every species of piñata interacts differently with another often resulting in conflicts.
The sun-shiny bright atmosphere in Viva Piñata will make people think it is for kids alone but Mayles would like to believe that they’ve made a game anybody can actually play and enjoy. He quips, “It’s just something fresh and new and something they can relate to.“
Viva Piñata is an X360-only title to be released around a month from now.
Via CVG
Did you know that Rare used to be a second-party developer for Nintendo? Yes, they were partners for several years until Microsoft bought the company in 2002 for a whopping 377 million USD. Despite that, Nintendo’s think-out-of-the-box attitude is still very much reflected especially in Rare’s latest offering Viva Piñata.
The company’s lead designer Gregg Mayles shares, “A lot of the press you see about games over the last 12 months has been about how nasty and evil games are, so this is a kind of reaction to that.” The game can be likened to the Sims series, only players are tasked to tend, cultivate and beautify a garden to attract piñatas. Additionally, every species of piñata interacts differently with another often resulting in conflicts.
The sun-shiny bright atmosphere in Viva Piñata will make people think it is for kids alone but Mayles would like to believe that they’ve made a game anybody can actually play and enjoy. He quips, “It’s just something fresh and new and something they can relate to.“
Viva Piñata is an X360-only title to be released around a month from now.
Via CVG
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