E3 2008: Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise Impressions

Earlier today, at its E3 media briefing held inside the Los Angeles Convention Center's West Hall, Microsoft showed off a trailer for Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise. Currently scheduled for release later this year, the Viva Pinata sequel promises to expand upon the original game with, among other things, the introduction of around 30 new species.

Today's trailer didn't show off much that was new, given that we had an opportunity to get hands-on with the game just a couple of months ago, but there were a couple of creatures in the mix that we hadn't seen in action before, including a camel and a great-looking pair of gorillas. We're not sure what their in-game names are going to be at this point, but caramels and grape apes (or granillas, perhaps) are surely names in the running over at Rare.

The new option to add creatures to your garden by scanning in cards using the Live Vision camera was also demoed briefly during the trailer, and if the information-video-style tutorial is to be believed, it'll require you to do nothing more than hold the card up to the camera for a couple of seconds. Microsoft still hasn't confirmed how the cards will be distributed.

Noteworthy garden features that appeared in the trailer included a toy train (one of many toys that you'll have the option to add) and a tower of sour much taller than the one in the first game. No surprises there. It makes sense that there would be some new predatory "sours" among the 30-plus new pinatas in the game.

We look forward to bringing you more information on Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise as soon as it becomes available. Hopefully that will be soon, given that E3 '08 opens its doors less than 24 hours from now.