Microsoft announced Viva Pinata: Party Animals, a game which sounds like an Xbox 360 version of Mario Party using their new Viva Pinata franchise. This change in game design may be part of their movement towards casual games to bring more kids to the Xbox 360 product line.

The execution of Viva Pinata on the Xbox 360, to me, was a complete failure. They released a great game with minimal hype overshadowed by a Gears of War release during the same period, will this happen again?

The Xbox 360 isn’t a family console…yet, and releasing a family-focused game at the same time as a big ‘hardcore gamers’ game will be a mistake. Party Animals is scheduled to be released by the end of the year, hopefully not around the time of Halo 3, GTA IV or Assassins’ Creed.

A brief trailer was shown for the new game, which showed the colourful animals playing a variety of minigames, including one where a group of the animals pushed their boats toward the end of a pool in a race…by burping.

Viva Pinata: Party Animals will not match up to the Wii control scheme but that doesn’t mean they cannot make a great game. Oddly enough, Rare Ltd. won’t be working this title and Microsoft gave the work to Krome Studios. It doesn’t seem that Krome Studios has released an Xbox 360 game to date, although Hellboy is listed on their site as a working title. Their released titles do not look all that impressive but that doesn’t mean they won’t live up to the legend of Rare Ltd. when it comes to this young franchise.

The concept seems solid, the development team seems to have a grasp of kid-friendly gaming but we’ll have to wait and see how serious Microsoft will take the title. If they give it half the hype of a Gears of War it could turn some heads.

(Thanks, GameSpot)