Grin and Bear it!

Not content to sit on their fannies after helping launch the single largest entertainment spectacle in history, Microsoft has plenty cooked up to guarantee that 2008 doesn't end on a downturn for fans. On the menu this week is the company's Xbox 360 Spring Showcase, where invited media-types and industry big-wigs mingle and match heads in relative peace and harmony - not to mention some schmooze the daylights out of each other while marketing the upcoming slate of delicious digital delights in store for the 360 come (naturally) this spring.

Although light on announcements thus far (sadly no Wii-esque motion controller), Microsoft was strategic when it came to outlaying their ambitious post-summer plans and as expected, came to the party with plenty of ammunition. While previously expressed titles like the upcoming sure-smash Gears of War 2 and Ninja Gaiden 2 won scores of fanatical drooling and palpitating hearts, I'd like to focus on two relatively unknown properties that might determine how malleable the Xbox 360 user-base is when it comes to less-than-optimal demographics. We're talking family-friendly and chockfull of casual leanings here, folks, and those are both must-have markets nuts the console has to crack if it truly wants a bite of that big, juicy casual apple.

But more importantly, both games are original creations and developed by the former company-of-justice, Rare. With such luminary classics ranging from Battletoads to Donkey Kong Country to Goldeneye, it seems that Nintendo's former 2nd-party of awesomeness never truly recovered their proud status as one of the industry's premier developers, having released a string of stinkers since joining Microsoft's team. Although far from terrible, their last wholly original effort Viva Piñata was met with a lukewarm reception at retail, and will most likely be soundly out-sold by its smaller Nintendo DS brother (due later this year). Will the company's recent slate of projects turn the tide and set things right once again? Will Microsoft justify their $400+ million acquisition? Can we stand yet another mumble-jumble bear platforming adventure?

Forgive the blatant laziness of using press releases and other copy 'n paste trickery, but seeing how neither game has been released it's only fair to let the Microsoft Marketing Department earn their golden coins fairly. Enjoy the blurbs and pretty pictures, and stay tuned for some personal notations and wishes from yours truly. Yeah, like that's what you came for...

Viva Pinata 2: Trouble in Paradise (September 2008)

Return to magical Piñata Island in Viva Piñata®: Trouble in Paradise. Unfortunately, not all is well on the island, as Professor Pester and his gang of Ruffians have wiped out Piñata Central's computer records, posing a threat to parties everywhere. Rebuild the computer database and thwart Professor Pester's evil plot by sending piñatas at full candiosity to parties all around the world. Build and maintain your piñata gardens—using your creativity and imagination to attract, trap, protect, train, and manage more than 100 different piñata species.

Game Features:

* Customize your garden and piñatas: Plant flowers, dig ponds, even place sand and snow in your garden to make exotic species of piñata feel at home. Buy objects to change the weather, or get new toys for your piñata. And nurture the thirty-two new species of piñata, including sour piñatas that infiltrate and wreak havoc in the garden. Choose to tame the sours, or feed them candy to keep them sweet.

* Play with a friend: Family members and friends can now share in the joy of creating a garden by plugging in an extra controller. The second player has access to all tools, actions, activities, and can help by collecting magic. It's an entirely new way to play.

* Play multiple game modes: Use the Player Guide System to master the fundamental aspects of the game. Then, try the Standard Mode where sour piñatas, feuding species, and limited money call for you to exercise problem solving and creativity to build and maintain your garden. Or enjoy Just for Fun Mode, which allows you to build a garden full of colorful creatures without worries.

* Experience Piñata Vision: Plug in an Xbox LIVE® Vision camera and interact with the game through the use of printed cards featuring a unique barcode. Flash a piñata card up to the Vision camera, and the content will drop directly into the game.

* Show off to friends: Use the new photo mode to snap, print, and upload pictures of your unique garden or customized piñatas to show to friends. Photograph your piñata and turn it into a piñata card, then share it with your friends so they can scan it and put it into their own garden.

* Teach your piñatas tricks: Piñatas can perform dazzling tricks, if you teach them with the new trick stick tool. Watch as piñatas play together, perch on each other, and interact in new ways to make them even more appealing.

Banjo-Kazooe: Nuts & Bolts (Holiday 2008)

Famed game developer Rare Ltd. is reviving one of its most beloved and successful franchises exclusively on Xbox 360® with the third installment of the Banjo-Kazooie series. Banjo-Kazooie™: Nuts & Bolts embraces new and old fans alike, as the famous bear and bird duo return in stunning high definition for a unique adventure of epic proportions. The Lord of the Games (aka LOG) is tired of the petty squabbling between Banjo and the evil witch Gruntilda (aka Grunty) over the years, and has arranged a showdown to decide the rightful owner of Spiral Mountain. Claiming to have created every video game ever made, LOG has built the game worlds in which the contest’s challenges take place. Banjo must complete LOG’s challenges to win, while Grunty tries to stop him using every method her devious mind can muster.

Throughout your adventure, create your own abilities by building vehicles for Banjo to pilot over land, water, and air. Vehicle parts, which range from simple devices such as engines and wheels to more unusual equipment such as springs and egg guns, are earned and collected throughout the game. Use your imagination to combine parts in any order to create whatever vehicle you choose. LOG's challenges have one goal, but your choice of vehicle and tactics will determine how you get there. By exploring worlds and solving puzzles, you will be rewarded with more advanced and diverse vehicle parts in your quest to defeat Grunty once and for all.

With the power of Xbox 360® and Xbox LIVE®, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts brings an entirely new experience to the console and takes the franchise to a whole new level of enjoyment. High-definition graphics, user-created content, and online gameplay are just three of the many advances people of all ages and skill levels will discover as they embark on their adventure.

Game Features:

* Adventure and imagination: If you can imagine it, you can build it in the Mumbo's Motors easy-to-use workshop. Then put your creation to the test as you take on Grunty in your quest for Spiral Mountain. Unlike other games, where you progressively pick up new skills or abilities at points pre-determined by the game’s creator, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts puts the power of improving Banjo's abilities into your hands as you build vehicles that allow Banjo to progress through the game. Vehicle parts include a wide variety of body panels, engines, wheels, wings, propellers, fuel, and weapons, plus many more weird and wonderful gadgets such as floaters, Mumbo Bombos, and the versatile sticky ball, from which you can design and create anything from a simple object-carrying truck to a space-age flying saucer. Once you've designed your creation, give it the finishing touch by painting it and choosing a suitable name before Banjo jumps in and pilots it into action.

* Customizable experience: With more than 100 contraption parts and unlimited combinations possible, no two players will have the same experience in Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts. By exploring the vast game worlds, discovering hidden secrets, and solving puzzles to win rewards, you will continually find more and more ways to customize and improve your contraptions, creating an unprecedented level of user-generated content for a 3-D platform adventure game.

* Fun right out of the box: Don't worry if you aren’t the world’s greatest inventor or want to skip the workshop and get straight to the action, because Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts comes with a fully loaded experience right out of the box. Pre-built vehicles are included so you can jump right in and get started, with many more contraptions available for purchase throughout the adventure using the in-game currency system of musical notes.

* Engaging storyline and entertaining characters: Two of Rare's most beloved characters return from retirement, making their debut on Xbox 360. To win the deed to their homeland and prevent the evil witch Gruntilda from developing it into tower blocks and malls, Banjo and his best friend Kazooie battle over land, sea, and air against their longtime rival. Familiar faces such as Mumbo Jumbo, Bottles, Captain Blubber, and the Jinjos are also back to lend a hand, along with an equally colorful cast of new friends and foes. Look out for Trophy Thomas, Piddles, Lord of the Games, and Grunty's mechanically menacing army of Gruntbots.

* Enjoy alone or with friends: Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts offers complete single-player and multiplayer experiences. Play through the adventure alone in the single-player campaign, or play with friends in competitive or cooperative challenges on your own or in teams.

* Fun for everyone: Xbox 360 is the home to the best entertainment experiences for everyone. With Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, Xbox 360 continues to build its impressive lineup of content that appeals to people of all ages and types.

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Like the original Viva Piñata, it looks like the second will retain much of what made the first game so appealing, while throwing in what makes the whole Xbox Live service itself so appealing - multiplayer and cooperative madness. Live Vision support should add a new level of interactivity, especially with the curious use of barcode enhancements...yes, barcodes. Needless to say the game looks absolutely incredible, in that cuddly and comfy sort of way and if the frame-rate this time around can be a bit more stabilized (oddly a problem that's beginning to increase on the platform) then we'll leave the shaking and stutters to smacking over some cherished piñata action.

The long-awaited third Banjo-Kazooie game is another matter entirely. No longer a Mario clone, Rare has freed the platformer from its substantial gathering roots and seems to have implemented a mind-boggling amount of customization and tinkering...can anyone say Ratchet & Clank? Hopefully the mumble-jumble will stay put, as I just can't imagine these characters speaking anything remotely fluent. Not really sure who the target audience is for this one, however, as it seems entirely too complex for the kiddies, and with its admittedly adorable motif may have trouble attracting the rough 'n tumble hardcore market.

For more on these recent announcements and to take a gander at Microsoft's upcoming Spring Spectacular, point those browsers over to the official spot by clicking right HERE!