Microsoft yesterday moved into the realm of toys and children's television shows as it sought to widen the audience for its Xbox 360 games console with a game called Viva Piñata.

The leading software company said a strategic alliance announced in January with 4Kids Entertainment, which has marketed properties such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Japan's Pokémon, would see Viva Piñata become an animated TV series and lead to related merchandise.

Viva Piñata challenges players to create and maintain a living garden, including animals based on the Latin American papier-mâché figures that are beaten with sticks to release presents.

Viva Piñata is an attempt by Microsoft to create original intellectual property that could emulate successful games such as Neopets, The Sims and World of Warcraft, which all have online elements that allow players to socialise and compete to improve their worlds.

Microsoft says the game is for eight to 80-year-olds, much wider than the current major demographic for its games of 18 to 34-year-olds.

The TV series will debut in the autumn on the Fox Network in the US, ahead of the Xbox 360 game, due at Christmas.

Peter Moore, vice-president of Microsoft's interactive entertainment business, conceded there were elements of The Sims, Neopets, Pokémon and the electronic Tamagotchi pets, but said the unique feature of Viva Piñata would be the interactivity enabled through Xbox Live and its online marketplace.

"We're excited, it's a very interesting departure for us, the ability to go into each other's environments and trade things is pretty unique," he told the Financial Times.

"It's perhaps the first time we've tried to develop a Microsoft entertainment intellectual property across multiple mediums."