MS on Growing the Viva Pinata Garden

Company says it is in it for the long haul with cult-hit Xbox 360 game. And that might even include a trip to the DS.

Microsoft may have gobbled up Rare but that may not mean the end for the developer's games on Nintendo hardware. While Rare's most recent Xbox 360 game, Viva Piñata, was not the hit Microsoft would have hoped for, an executive at the company thinks the franchise still has life in it - possibly even on a Nintendo portable.

"A Kameo or a Viva Piñata on a DS makes a lot of sense in a lot of ways from a franchise perspective," Shane Kim, a vice president at Microsoft, told 1UP at the D.I.C.E. Summit in Las Vegas last week.

Kim was defending the relatively poor showing both of Rare's games had in stores and insisted that Microsoft isn't going to give up on them.

"Whether that is in the form of a sequel, a product line extension or through merchandising, whatever the case may be, that's something that we're going to stick with," he said.

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In a separate interview with Microsoft's Larry Hryb, Kim said that Microsoft thought of Viva Piñata as an "evergreen" game - one that gamers would be picking up throughout the life of the Xbox 360.

Does that mean there's something in the works already? Probably not, and Microsoft's isn't saying.

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo