So I wrote in a previous post to keep an eye out on Nintendo during the next console war. And either Microsoft had the same thought, or J Allard is reading my blog, because Viva Pinata is more than what it seems.

If anyone heard our first spotradio broadcast, the would have remembered me mocking Microsoft’s “big” counter-announcement to Sony’s PS3 news. But after listening to Major Nelson’s weekly lovefest, I finally put it together.

Viva Pinata is Microsoft’s Animal Crossing. It’s a clone, albeit of a great game, coming from a developer – Rare – who specializes in family games. One, like me, would initially say, “who cares?” But then it hit me. Sony is coming at high-end consumers with their PS3. Kids need not apply. It’s going to be all shooting, all killing on a $500 console. They are marketing toward sophisticated, mature consumers with money. The Revolution, meanwhile, will be targeting the general gamer with its innovative yet simplistic control scheme, low price, and family-oriented games. So does Microsoft want to risk losing the battle to Sony at the high-end while getting sucker-punched by Nintendo? No way. Enter Viva Pinata.

Viva Pinata is a defense against the Revolution. It is being released at an opportune time, strategically placed just in time for Nintendo’s big launch. In addition, the marketing blitz associated with the game – including a cartoon program and toy line – will be flooding the market along with the back-to-school crowd, traditionally a strong time for a product launch. This way Viva Pinata will be force-fed to kids all around the globe. It will be on every television, every school notebook, in every classroom, bedroom, etc. And the goal is it will divert attention from the Revolution launch.

I’m sure Microsoft has more surprises up their sleeve to defend against the PS3 launch later this year, and it will be interesting to see what those exactly are. But at least they have Nintendo pegged.