Tough times have been brewing in the world of 4Kids over the past few years. Last November, we reported that 4Kids was leaving the Fox network (and was being replaced by infomercials) In January, we saw the company reduce it’s employee count by 25%. Now, we’re hearing word that 4Kids is working with Montgomery & Co. to assist in a potential sale of the company. What the heck is going on!! Currently, 4Kids is the home of Chaotic, Sonic, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Winx Club, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Huntik, Dinosaur King, RollBots, Viva Pinata, and a number of other series. We’re not yet sure what’s going to happen to them — maybe they’ll be fine, maybe they’ll move to a different channel, etc. What would you like to see happen?

This coming Friday, September 12th, you can catch a special preview of the brand new CW4Kids Saturday morning block.  That’s right; Saturday morning cartoons on a Friday!  The preview will run at 4:30pm on your local CW network (For example, that’s channel 11 in most NYC areas).  The preview, called The CW4Kids Brand Spankin’ New Spectacular Saturday Sneak Peek Party!, shows a quick look at all of the upcoming shows.  It’s only a half hour, but they managed to cram in a preview of the full 5-hour-block.  Be sure to check it out!

Sure, Saturday September 13th is the launch of the CW4Kids lineup, but that doesn’t mean it’ll be the same schedule forever!  In fact, only a few weeks later in September, on Saturday the 27th, we’ll see our first alteration to the cartoon block as new shows are introduced.  So, as of September 27, 2008, the CW4Kids Saturday morning block will look like this:

07:00 AM    Will & Dewitt
07:30 AM    Skunk Fu!
08:00 AM    Viva Pinata
08:30 AM    Gogoriki
09:00 AM    The Spectacular Spider-Man
09:30 AM    Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Back to the Sewer
10:00 AM    Dinosaur King
10:30 AM    Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s
11:00 AM    Chaotic
11:30 AM    Chaotic

It’s here!  It’s time!  The premiere season of The CW4Kids Saturday morning block of cartoons starts up next Saturday, September 13th… but the lineup of shows is available now!  Starting at 7 AM and running through 12 PM, the line up of cartoons on The CW looks like this:

07:00 AM    Will & Dewitt
07:30 AM    Magi Nation
08:00 AM    Skunk Fu!
08:30 AM    Viva Pinata
09:00 AM    The Spectacular Spider-Man
09:30 AM    Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Back to the Sewer
10:00 AM    Dinosaur King
10:30 AM    Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s
11:00 AM    Chaotic
11:30 AM    Chaotic

Eurogamer has posted an early review for the soon-to-be released Nintendo DS game, Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise, based on the animated Viva Pinata TV series.  The game hits stores in America later this week, but lets hear what our friends across the seas think of it!

…what Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise loses in coming second, and not having a triple-core PowerPC chip to drive its graphics, it makes up with its new, much better stylus-based interface, and Rare’s impressive feat of retaining the vast majority of the original game’s best features, in roughly the same measures. It’s still a bit too complex to work as a kids’ game (for that you might be better with the 360 sequel’s co-op mode, where you can pick up a second pad and offer a helping hand), but for everybody else it comes highly recommended….

[Source: Eurogamer.net]

Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise, the Rare game made for the Nintendo DS based on the Viva Pinata TV series, will be hitting stores September 2nd in the US and September 5th in the UK.  Those are similar dates for the Xbox 360 game, Viva Pinata: Trouble In Paradise, which is a sequel to the first Viva Pinata game from a few years back.

To promo the franchise, Rare has created a “Believe Pinata” campaign, where all of the commercials resemble the Halo commercials used to advertise Halo 3.  Very well done!  Check out some samples after the break.

[source: joystiq]

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Viva Pinata is a bright and beautiful and fun world, both the cartoon and the Xbox 360 game – and soon to be Xbox 360 games.  Now, the world of Viva Pinata is coming to the Nintendo DS!  Check out the beautiful trailer, and reserve space in your gaming hearts for it!