If you're about to go on a trip to a new town or country and you know someone who's been there, you may ask for recommendations. What do I have to do when I go there? For example, if you're coming to New York City, you must ride the subway. If you go to Rome, you have to go to the incredible bone church. And if you go to Belize, you've got to go snorkeling.

Since playing a new video game is similar to visiting a new country, Multiplayer is going to start asking the people who make these games -- who've been to these foreign lands -- for a list of things we have to do when we visit. What do we have to do in these games to have the best time?

Here's the first installment, via the folks at Rare in England, for all of you stepping into the world of the studio's new game. Oddly, their tips seem like they're written in a foreign language. I've played hours of the game and even I don't understand them all.

Rare Developers' Must-Do List For Players of
"Viva Pinata: Trouble In Paradise"
(Xbox 360 Fantasy Garden Simulator, September 2008)

1) Feed a Parrybo with Candary candy and watch it swashbuckle like a pirate.

2) Unpack a triggered trap thinking it's a Sweetle only to find a Camelo staring back at you.

3) Accidentally feed a Doenut the fir tree seed and watch in surprise as he morphs into a Moojoo.

4) Have your brother's high-level prize piñata soundly thrashed by your humble Whilrm in the P-Factor.

5) Watch a Sparrowmint ride a train around the garden until he fills up with candy - then send him to a party!

6) Spend the night fending off the Sour Sherbat then breathe a sigh of relief as the sun rises over Piñata Central and the little pest flies off for the day.

7) Take some time to watch the Piñata Central blimp fly over the garden while the sprinkling you hired keeps all your crops well watered.

8 ) Watch a Custacean with bunny slippers on walk out of his house and down the beach in the morning light, as if they're off to fetch the morning paper.

***

Once upon a time people discussed the idea of Wii60, a melding of the Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii consumer bases.

In more recent times games such as "Shadowrun" promoted the idea of 360-PC connectivity.

But what would you say about the unholy marriage of the Nintendo DS and Xbox 360?

The developers at Microsoft's Rare games studio tested it and one of them told me that they've gotten it to work.

But you won't be playing it.

Here's why...

Read more...

Are you an Xbox 360 owner who felt left out last fall when the "Eye of Judgment" game launched for the PlayStation 3 and let gamers use their console's camera to scan playing cards?

Consider yourself left out no more.

An unexpected pair of bullet points on the press site for the newly announced "Viva Pinata" sequel "Viva Pinata: Trouble In Paradise" state:

Experience Piñata Vision: Plug in an Xbox LIVE Vision camera and interact with the game through the use of printed cards featuring a unique barcode. Flash a piñata card up to the Vision camera, and the content will drop directly into the game.

Show off to friends: Use the new photo mode to snap, print, and upload pictures of your unique garden or customized piñatas to show to friends. Photograph your piñata and turn it into a piñata card, then share it with your friends so they can scan it and put it into their own garden.

The rest of the description on the press site makes the new game sound like a pure sequel to the first. Yesterday, Microsoft Games Studios chief Shane Kim told me I should expect a less dauntingly complex game from the first, one that doesn't overwhelm its players as swiftly as the first one did.

I should know more after I play it at Microsoft's San Francisco event today.