Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise, a Nintendo DS game based on Rare’s popular Microsoft 360 franchise has been known about since as far back as Comic-Con in July 2007. Only a few details and the odd screenshot have been leaked since then, but today the title has been officially announced.

In Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise, players will inherit a neglected garden on Pinata Island and turn it into a pinata paradise by tending to all aspects of cleaning the garden, growing and maintaining vegetation, caring for and breeding pinatas, as well as attracting new pinata species.

New to the game are seven fresh pinata species, each with its own set requirements for housing. As well as a full video tutorial, Pocket Paradise features the newly invented Playground mode, which allows players to create a lush garden full of weird and wonderful plants, in a much shorter amount of time than usual. In addition, certain rare pinatas can only be acquired by using the Nintendo DS local wireless connection, where players can transfer items from their garden to a friend’s garden.

“Nintendo DS is the perfect platform for the Viva Pinata franchise because players can have direct interaction with the environment and their pinatas using the stylus,” said Bob Aniello, senior vice president of worldwide marketing, THQ. “We are thrilled to introduce Microsoft’s critically-acclaimed Viva Pinata series to an entirely new segment of the gaming community.”

Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise is scheduled for release this autumn.