It may have been lost in all the fall release shuffle, but you'll recall a nice little game called Viva Pinata: Trouble In Paradise.  As we stated in our review, it's the perfect sequel to a fantastic game, and greatly benefits from the addition of co-op, both online and even local.  One of the new features in VP2 was the availability of snow for your garden.  Why not use that to make your garden the perfect Winter Wonderland?  Here are some tips, straight from Rare.

1. I’m dreaming… cover the garden with snow. When it rains you’ll get snow instead and you can enjoy a white Christmas
2. When Santa got stuck… Build a Robean house. It’s a festive fireplace complete with baubles and a stocking ready for a holiday visit
3. The gift of giving… Get yourself a warm glow by sending a friend a crate with a nice surprise over LIVE. Remember it’s better to give than to receive
4. It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas… Plant a holly bush. Use red fertilizer to get the maximum amount of berries
5. Twinkle, twinkle, little star… Holiday decorations aren’t complete without a star or two. Use Hollywood paving to add a constellation to your seasonal garden
6. Oh Christmas tree… Plant a fir tree. If you want something really impressive try using brown fertilizer to make it as big as it can be
7. Dance of the sugarplum… A Galagoogoo dressed in Kameo wings and with ballet shoes will give you a living fairy to put on top of your tree
8. Then one foggy Christmas eve… Dress a Doenut with a red nose and with a little re-naming Rudolf can be prancing around your Yuletide paradise
9. Polar Express… Build a track and set a little train rattling around. If you put the Chew Chew train down, it will run over sour candy and turn it into lovely candy
10. Father Christmas… Feed a Jeli some medicine – tinkered honey. Now give him a Santa hat and a pair of Breegull Waders (colored black) and you can have a version of everyone’s’ favorite chunky old man in your garden

Check out the gallery for some nice screenshots to get you in the mood.  Also included are some Pinata Vision cards you can scan using your Xbox camera for some special goodies!

Source: Link

The first Viva Pinata was easily the best sandbox games of all time.  But even the sweetest sandbox is no fun without a friend or two to share it with.  That's all been rectified in the games sequel, Viva Pinata: Trouble In Paradise.  Two players locally and up to four online can all share in one garden.  Should you check the game out?  Find out in our review!

We've got a double co-op feature this week.  First up is Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise for the Xbox 360.  The title features a recently announced 4 player co-op mode for both online and offline play.  The game is similar to the Animal Crossing series from Nintendo, but has some zany humor and plenty of gardening goodness with pinatas to pop and populate.

Next up is Mercenaries 2: World in Flames which is available on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2 and PC.  The game features 2 player co-op for online play including drop in and drop out support.  The game is an open world playground of destruction where you'll complete missions in a war zone as a mercenary.  I've been playing a good bit of this and it's a total blast, the co-op has a solid Crackdown vibe to it.

Both games should hit store shelves tomorrow, September 3rd.

Good news folks!  Not only did Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise get an significant feature upgrade with 4 player online and offline co-op, but it got a price reduction as well! 

Right now you can pre-order the game from Amazon.com (and other retailers) for only $39.99.  This is a far cry from other next-gen games that usually release at $59.99 MSRP. 

Similarly another Rare title releasing this fall, Banjo Kazooie Nuts and Bolts, will be priced at the same consumer friendly $39.99 and is also available for pre-order.   As a bonus, if you pre-order it now you'll receive and XBox Live Arcade code to download the original game free and earlier than everyone else.   While Banjo doesn't have any confirmed co-op, we have a sneaking suspicion you may see something announce soon on that front.  Stay tuned!

A mere week ago, we reported a rumor via a leaked achievements list from Viva Pinata: Trouble In Paradise.  Today, that rumor has been confirmed: Viva Pinata 2 will support up to four co-op players, either locally or online.  This news makes the little gardener inside of me get a little woozy, I must admit.  The first game was great fun, and even my wife and kids liked to watch me play.  However, with up to four people being able to participate at once, I imagine this little game will stay in our 360's disc tray for quite a while.

A few details about how it will work have emerged, as well.  One player will invite others to join the host's garden.  While in another players garden, you can do whatever you like, and it will affect only the host's garden.  (Beware of the griefers smacking around your Horstachios.)  All players will have access to all the game's tools.  More info is promised to be released soon, and we here at Co-Optimus will keep you posted!

Some great news for co-op fans has popped up, and it's almost too good to be true.  A list of achievements for the upcoming Viva Pinata: Trouble In Paradise has been revealed.  In addition to your standard gardening type achievements, similar to the first game, there is a rather intriguing one called "Full House".  Worth 10 Gamer score, the achievement is unlocked after you "Play 4 Player Online Co-op for 1 hour".  If the list is legitimate, this is serious news, as 2 player local co-op was all that had been announced so far.  Fire up the cameras and get your watering can ready!

E3 is right around the corner, July 13th through 17th to be exact, and with that comes our first coverage of the biggest show in the games industry.  We'll be onsite to cover all the co-op games that are on hand, and hopefully bring you guys some great exclusive content like developer interviews and in game footage!

Today we bring to you a list of co-op games that we will have a chance to look at E3 next week while the rest of the crew hold down the fort here. All of these games we either have an appointment with or they will be shown off at a Press Conference we’ve been invited to. If any games have been missed, please let us know. Not all publishers are covered, only ones we have appointments with.

Read on for the full list of almost 20 co-op titles at E3 this year!

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Holy Horstacios!  The brand new entry to the grossly under appreciated Viva Pinata series has a release date, and it's September 5th, 2008.  The game will feature over 30 brand new creatures along with all of your old favorites, as well as new gameplay modes, new weather effects and of course co-op.  That's right you and your buddy or kids can sit down and enjoy the virtual pinata gardening experience together with expanded co-op options, including co-op specific features and bonuses.

Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise will also feature brand new weather effects and object plus a new camera mode which allows you to create virtual cards of your pinatas and send them to friends to import via their Xbox Live Vision camera.  These cards can be bought in the store, sent via email, and scanned in from just about any device with a screen.    Very cool!

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It was previously reported, though the details were sparse.  But now we have the goods as well as some hands on impressions of the Viva Pinata sequel courtesy of Wired.

The co-op mode in the Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise will be limited to one box, but you can play it at any time simply by starting up the second controller.  The second player will be able to assists in tasks like watering and gardening, but as a bonus, they'll do this at a much higher level than the first player.   While this opens up the possiblity for people to cheat simply by playing co-op by themselves - Rare said "go right ahead!"  There's even some co-op specific bonuses you can get for working well together.

One other added feature to the new game will be the addition of physical cards that a player can scan in.  Basically these cards are physical representations of the Pinatas in game, and can be used to trade pinatas between people - an extension of the already in place crate system over Live.  The coolest aspect is the cards don't necessarily need to be physical, they can simply be an image on an iPod or computer screen.

Overall the new Viva game is supposed to be more accessible with a "just for fun mode" as well as the addition of co-op.  Soon you'll be able to team up with your buddy and walk poor helpless worm pinatas until they explode with candy and happiness.  Joy!

Be sure to check inside for some new screenshots of the title.