Viva Piñata was an attempt by Microsoft to reach out to people who don't particularly like the Xbox 360's staple shooting and racing games. They had the best intentions in the world, even going so far as to develop a children's television show to accompany the release of the game. Two fatal errors were made: 1) the game was not as accessible as it needed to be and 2) Microsoft neglected to advertise the game at all, thus the project was nowhere near as successful as hoped. The game began to gain popularity after being bundled with the Xbox 360, which has now resulted in a sequel, Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise.
Trouble in Paradise quickly attempts to set itself apart from the original game by introducing scant traces of something resembling a plot, just to give a little more purpose to your breeding activities. It seems Professor Pester (the antagonist of the previously mentioned cartoon) broke into Piñata Island's central computer with the intention of stealing the vital statistics and other information on every creature on the island. Unfortunately, one of his dim-witted goons erased all of the data, so it's up to you to restore it while fending off Pester's attempts to break and steal your piñatas.