Despite Microsoft's much-publicised inability to truly crack the Japanese game market, the large Xbox 360 booth at TGS was quite the hotbed of activity. One of the games we had to line up for was Viva Piñata: Party Animals, the upcoming party game compilation from Australian dev house Krome Studios.

　　As you've probably read from our previous coverage, this game takes the characters and world created by Rare in the original Viva Piñata and puts them in pure party game territory. The four-player title will let players take the role of either Fergy Fudgehog, Paulie Pretztail, Franklin Fizzlybear, or Hudson Horstachio in a series of more than 50 challenges.

　　We've seen a few of the games that the final title will ship with, such as Piñata racing, as well as a hot-potato-style bomb-passing game, all of which featured extremely simple controls that befit Viva Piñata: Party Animals' family demographic. A new minigame we saw at TGS proved to just as simple: a Piñata dancing game that saw the four competitors line up and perform dance moves. These moves were essentially timed button presses on the Xbox 360 controller, the indicator of which appeared above each individual Piñata's head. Nail the moves and your Piñata will bust out in dance; miss them and it'll stumble while trying to disco. It was a quick and fun affair, although we were disappointed to note that each Piñata had only one set dance animation.

　　Viva Piñata: Party Animals is set for release on the Xbox 360 at the end of October.