Gears of War is no longer a Xbox 360 exclusive. Neither is Viva Pinata. Two of Microsoft's premiere console titles is now getting the Games For Windows treatment. The Game of the Year-winning shooter from Epic will gain a few enhancements on the PC, such as five new levels, a new editor, and "some very big surprises." Could the game look even prettier on a DirectX 10 PC? Believe it. Thankfully, the game will run on both Windows XP and Windows Vista.

Viva Pinata and a major list of new Games for Windows titles were revealed at the Microsoft keynote, including titles such as Age of Empires 3: The Asian Dynasties, Stranglehold, Blacksite: Area 51, and Kane and Lynch: Dead Men.

Microsoft is bringing home family fun again with a newly announced Viva Pinata game. The game will retain the original's fantastic graphics, but will add brand new gameplay that's bound to appeal to the younger crowd. The original struggled to target an audience due to its strategy-laden gameplay that alienated the children the cartoon would have appealed to.

Taking a page from Nintendo, the new Viva Pinata title will be a game filled with minigames. Viva Pinata: Party Animals will be Microsoft's attempt at providing a Mario Party experience on the 360. Will it succeed?

Behold a Shadow the Hedgehog Pinata, made by Slaziman and his mother for this little brother's birthday (Flickr gallery). In his words, "I will personally beat it till the candy sprays out of it for starring in the worst Sega game ever, Shadow the Hedgehog." Check out the highlights for today:

Joystiquery
Japanese hardware sales, Jun. 4 - Jun. 10: E-scandal Edition
Joystiq hands-on: Fishing Master (Wii)
Joystiq first look: Tony Hawk's Proving Ground
Joystiq impressions: Omega Five (XBLA)
Today's iciest videos: Spinning Princess (DS)

News
Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Portal, Team Fortress 2 shipping October 9th
Microsoft avoids 360 cooling rumors, calls hardware updates 'commonplace'
F-Zero X is Euro Virtual Console's 100th game
Lumines clone Luminator sliding to DS
Phantom Hourglass site opens, new videos inside
New Darkness video features darklings gameplay
Smash Bros blog shows seasonal stages, sliding barrels, Samus
Sega: Wii hype may soon wear off
Lost Planet finds third map pack June 21
Fallout 3 gameplay details revealed
Sam & Max episodes now available on Steam
Halo 3 Zune still can't "Finish the Fight"
Get down and Boogie Aug. 7 in US, Aug. 31 Europe
Tetris Splash rated by the Germans
Call of Duty dev rejects Live Anywhere
Rock Paper Scissors goes mobile
PS3 firmware 1.81 update now online
Sony says sorry to Church of England

Rumors & Speculation
Newsweek: Beautiful Katamari rolling exclusively with Xbox 360
It came from the internets: Rock Band info from Game Informer
Battery life could be prohibiting rumble in Sixaxis
Rumors: Pokemon cheaters banned from online play

Culture & Community
Wii cursor theme for Windows
World of Warcraft player activity in decline

Who's at fault for Nintendo's lack of third-party support: Nintendo, the developers, or the fans themselves? Kevin Cassidy, founder of website GoNintendo, places the blame on the Nintendo community for showing reluctance or unwarranted disdain toward third-party Wii games.

The rant, part of Newsweek writer N'Gai Croal's P2P series, makes a point out of Dewy's Adventure, a game he feels internet users have called in "kiddie" based on its looks alone, subsequently refusing to give it a chance. This is a problem Nintendo had when revealing Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker to be a cel-shaded romp with a pre-adolescent Link. Of course, that game sold well on merit of its Nintendo roots. Dewy's Adventure isn't even out yet, so opinions have room to alter wildly between now and its release later this year.

Is the "kiddie" problem inherently Nintendo's, though? Regard Microsoft's Viva Pinata, a game that has been praised widely but suffers from low (though steady) sales. Is the kiddie image of the title affecting other consoles, too? Cassidy opines that Nintendo fans are clamoring for "mature" titles that include violence and gore, but we feel this is a more universal trend that is affecting all consoles.

Have you ever wanted to go to a website where you can trade video games like stocks and bonds in an effort to get filthy rich (virtually)? We thought so. Well, now you can. The Sim Exchange is a site much like the Hollywood Stock Exchange where you can bank on the fact that a game will be a sleeper, a straight out hit, or a flop, and trade accordingly.

What would really make this challenging would be if you could bid on if a game would hit its release date or not. Like Duke Nukem Forever. Right now Halo 3 is sitting atop the most valuable list, and Viva Pinata heads the most traded of all time. Strange, yet true.

Sign up, compete against others, and then reflect on the fact that you're playing a game which is a simulation that uses games as the nuts and bolts of the matter. It's like a Russian nesting doll that never ends.

In the first part of an informative interview conducted by Mercury News' Dean Takahashi, Bill Gates responds to the suggestion that Nintendo's Wii may come out on top thanks to its unique controller and cheaper price tag. "Look at the graphics," he says. "Look at Nintendo's execution in terms of online capability. We have this thing that nobody has ever seen before. When you say to your friend, hey let's play online, you say then you have to buy an Xbox. That's what 10 million people say."

When peer pressure isn't selling Xbox Live, Gates points out that endeavours like cross-platform Vista gaming and IPTV are pushing the online service forward. However, he also believes that "Nintendo did some things right," going on to mention Microsoft's acquisition of Rare and the "huge success" that was Viva Piñata. Though many critics believe the game is a return to prominence for Rare, its lacklustre sales may lead others to agree with Gates for the wrong reason -- "Nintendo did some things right" by selling the developer when they did.

Be sure to check out the rest of the interview for some interesting tidbits on the Xbox 360's IPTV, the continued absence of a larger hard drive and how Sony "didn't know what they were doing" with the Cell processor.

Viva Piñata was designed from the ground up to be a marketing machine. Microsoft will do anything to get attention for the franchise, even splurging to make Mario López dance for us at the Santa Monica Pier. It's all good that those cute and colorful Piñata's got an E rating, but those who have played the game know that below its kid friendly E rating lies some dark AO rated themes.

Faith over at The Girl Gamer, with tongue firmly planted in cheek, has unleashed a diatribe on the sins glorified in Viva Piñata. The piñata's "dance" to breed, with no gender assignment to them, and parents can "dance" with their offspring to have more piñata children. Faith says, "Is Microsoft trying to teach our kids that having relations with your family is OK? They should have made it true to real life and had the baby piñatas come out disfigured or something ... how do we know we aren't breeding boy piñatas together?"

Viva Piñata is by no means the first production geared for children with underlying adult themes. Scooby-Doo's drug themes, X-Men's commentary on civil rights and prejudice, the Smurfs -- well, there's way too much subtext in the Smurfs. Viva Piñata clearly has themes of incest and let's not forget the fact that you raise these cute animals to be shipped off and inhumanely beaten to death.

If the Xbox beanie for eating Pop-Tarts wasn't enough, now you can munch your way to a free 48 hour Xbox Live Gold trial. Been playing Gears of War but haven't taken it online yet? Itching to play Uno in multiplayer? All this can now be yours, a few small toaster pastries later. You'll also get a Viva Piñata music video download for free, which we know you're dying to see.

Get out there, binge on sugar, and come challenge us to some gaming. Better yet, combine a Burger King value meal, Big Bumpin', a Pop-Tarts dessert, and you're all over the gaming map. Frosting optional. Just don't blame us when you can no longer see your own feet.

How on earth did this guy not win? Check out the moves.

Joystiq attended a Microsoft Viva Piñata event on the California coast yesterday, held at the world famous Santa Monica Pier. There must have been about a billion piñatas everywhere, but none of them were harmed during the event. Not a single one. How can you possibly set a bunch of kids loose on a bunch of papier måché animals and not expect them to a) want to whack the crap out of them, and b) grab all the candy that comes spilling out? Well, Microsoft is changing one mind at a time.

This was an event for kids, and there was the requisite face painting, picture taking, game playing, and ... Mario López? We're still not sure what he was doing there, other than the fact that yes, he's Mexican ... and was on Dancing with the Stars. Okay, so in stretch maybe we cou ... no, we still don't buy it. In addition to the tons of piñatas, the Spanish-language L.A. radio station La Raza 97.9 was also there to kick up the Latino factor with some jams and prizes. Unfortunately, there was no spicy food served at this event, much to our chagrin. However, they did have this commercial for the game playing on some sweet HDTVs. We could laugh at that all day. Well, through at least three viewings.

Check out our photocomic spread of the event after the jump. Just don't say we didn't warn you.

Speaking with GamesIndustry.biz, Rare's lead designer Gregg Mayles sounded reluctant about developing downloadable content for Viva Piñata. "We've got plenty of ideas for what we can do ... But the jury is still out," said Mayles. For now, Rare seems content to sit back and watch other studios' successes and failures.

It's clear that if Rare is to continue to provide downloadable content, it doesn't want to go the EA route; that's not to say the developer is in the business of hand-outs. Ill-reception of Kameo's premium content has forced Rare to rethink its strategy, leading the studio to consider that resources are perhaps better spent on the 'next' project. Despite forming a branch of the Microsoft camp, Rare is having a difficult time adopting its parent company's content-for-now, content-for-later model.

Rare's latest title, Viva Pinata, looks to have reopened the now-infamous -- and somewhat tiresome -- crab joke from Sony's E3 2006 press conference. A GameSpot forum member stumbled upon this during his game time and took a picture for everyone's amusement. Consider this one company using a first-party title to give its heated competitor a paper cut and pouring lemon juice on it.

After the E3 2006 press conference, the PlayStation 3 title Genji: Day of the Blade was derided for the description of "real-time weapon changing" and "giant enemy crabs" which you could "attack for massive damage." The meme has gone on to be more popular than the game itself, which has received poor reviews since its release alongside the PS3. Viva Pinata, for its part, has actually garnered some positive critical reception, given developer Rare some much-needed praise.

Now that Microsoft has taken the bait and retold a seven month old joke, can we please, please, please let it go?

See Also:
Pile on: Contact takes a jab at Sony meme

[Thanks, Brandon]

[Update: Missed one part of the joke -- real time weapons changing -- and fixed Rare's first-party status.]

Quick impressions and thoughts on some other noteworthy games shown on the X06 show floor.

• Guitar Hero II (360): Not playable, but demo'ed continuously by two rock gods with the stamina of heavyweight boxers (see picture). They confirmed that the final Xbox 360 guitar controller would look like a Gibson Explorer but refused to comment on wireless capabilities or the intriguing D-pad on the base. Game itself looked nice in hi-rez, but graphics lagged a bit with the music at this early stage.
• Viva Piñata: Playable tutorial walks you through building a house, attracting new piñatas and making baby eggs. Rare demo with ten hours of progress showed a thriving garden brimming with life and fully accessorized piñatas. Hired helpers prevent the game from becoming a micromanagement chore. Looks like it could be a hit with the Pokemon set.
• Forza Motorosport 2: Game had major frame rate issues, making it very difficult to play and/or judge. PR handlers say it's 60 percent complete... that last 40 will be an uphill battle.
• Halo 2 (PC): Game played great with the mouse and keyboard, and looked great on the decked out Dell Dimension 9150 with large widescreen monitor. Other than that, it's still Halo. Map editor was not available for demo.
• Crackdown: Grand Theft Auto meets Hulk: Ultimate Destruction in a mess of a game with rough graphics, sloppy controls and an awful camera system. Needs serious work to be a worthy contender.

That about does it for X06 posts from Barcelona. Sorry if I didn't cover your favorite game, but there wasn't enough time to do justice to everything available on the show floor. If there's anything you're still wondering about that wasn't covered in our X06 posts, I'll do my best to answer specific questions in the below comment thread in the coming days.

Viva Piñata was our first in a series of Microsoft press events being held yesterday during the first day of the open-to-the-public portion of the Tokyo Game Show. Safely huddled away from the unwashed gaming masses filling the Makuhari Messe convention center to within an inch of its legal limitations, I pulled up a chair to be walked through Rare's holiday hopeful by Michael Johnson, a Global Product Manager at Microsoft

Though we're inclined to process their insistence that Viva Piñata offers a depth of play that makes the kiddie-happy "life simulator" appealing to older audiences as self serving (of course they think it will be), there are several elements of the game that strike me as a bit twisted, in a wry, British sort of way. In addition to being able to crack open your piñatas and watch their sugary entrails pour out, the sensitive issue of procreation is handled quite literally through a "romance dance." No Hot Coffee minigame here, just the right tunes and the right moves, and somehow a stork gets the message that he should whip up some offspring to be delivered in egg format -- no icky birthing process necessary!

Stopping by the Viva Piñata booth at the Leipzig convention, a couple of the boys from 1Up noticed that the game maybe wasn't ready for public viewing. Besides not really knowing what to do, the guys also experienced some deadly frame rate issues -- sometimes having their screen freeze on them.

From the video, the game kind of looks like a Tim Burton rendition of Animal Crossing. But, putting a less-than playable version of such a much-hyped game on the show floor probably wasn't the smartest move for Microsoft.

[Thanks, Andrew Yoon]

[Update: Microsoft has responded to 1Up's video via the Gamerscore blog. Check after the break for the explanation.]

Our friendly anonymous source at Microsoft has provided us with a few more details concerning the 360 accessories announced back at E3.

Perhaps the most important involves the bundling of the Xbox Live Vision camera with a wired headset, the popular Live Arcade title UNO, and a month of Live Gold service for $39.99 when it releases in the States on September 19, 2006.

Granted, this is still an unofficial report (based on a leak of "official" info), so understand that you're probably not gonna get much confirmation from MS until they're good and ready to give it. If you'd like information on what other peripherals are coming out "Holiday 2006" (so sometime in the 4th quarter) and at what price, read on for more.