Banjo Kazooie
March's edition of Game Informer magazine claims that Rare are working on a huge project, codenamed Viva Pinata.Microsoft recently announced a partnership with 4Kids Entertainment, famous for promoting brands such as the enormously popular, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. We'd make a educated guess that the two are connected.
Microsoft have been busy hatching something marketable that will appeal to children world-wide; a cartoon that will hook them as much as the Pokeman series, and allow them to capitalise on a range of products associated with the brand.
Ed Ventura, Microsoft's Director of Franchise Development said they hope to, "Explore the opportunities our collective efforts can create when we combine 4Kids's proven expertise in bringing engaging children's properties to life with Microsoft's leadership and knowledge of interactive entertainment."
The Viva Pinata project is being closely kept under wraps, but our money is firmly behind Banjo-Kazooie to appear on the Xbox 360 , be turned into a cartoon and anything else that can sting the public for a few extra quid here and there, such as card games and toiletries. A previous installment of the Banjo-Kazooie series,Banjo-Tooie even shows an opening cut-scene of Banjo-Kazooie, Mumbo, and Bottles sitting around a card table. This game is geared towards numerous money-making spin-offs.
Although Banjo Kazooie can't be compared to Pokemon gameplay wise, we feel that Microsoft, RARE and 4 Kids entertainment are planning an assault on the public, not seen since the Pokemon phenomenon.
The only other suggestion would be a brand new show, but Rare's 3D platformer must be top of the list of candidates.
Perhaps Sony could follow suit with the Ape Escape series, dozens of cheeky monkeys to collect, all with different attributes, sounds like a card game and cartoon in the making!
