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Rovio launches syncable accounts for Angry Birds Classic and others, stores your progress across devices
No more repeating those first stages. Again. No more attempts to glean three stars on Level 4-14. Again. Rovio is finally offering sync functions for its new Croods game, globally, and its original hit, Angry Birds -- although that's only for Poland and Finland. Frustratingly, it's also only on iOS for now, although Rovio promises more areas (both device-wise and geographically, we assume) are coming soon. You'll need an email account to get yourself set up, but once that's sorted, all scores and stars can be transferred over, unified in a single account.
Rovio introduces accounts to sync game progress across platforms
Rovio is building up its Angry Birds empire even further with the introduction of Rovio accounts. This new account feature lets users sync their progress across devices, allowing them to start a game on one device and resume playing it on another. The service is available for The Croods game globally and for the original Angry Birds on iOS in Finland and Poland. It will roll out to other titles and other locations in the future. Rovio did not say when this expansion would occur.
Angry Birds for Windows Phone gains 100 levels, respect for 256MB handsets
Rovio has given Windows Phone users a fresh reason to fire up Angry Birds -- something to the tune of 100 vexing new levels. Also unique this time around, the game introduces support for Xbox Live achievements and leaderboards on Windows Phone 8. Rather than an update, however, this is a re-release of Angry Birds; you'll need to download the new version separately, which is free until May 15th. In other good news, if you own an entry-level Windows Phone such as the Lumia 610, you'll be glad to know that you can finally join in on the fun, since Angry Birds now supports devices with just 256MB of RAM. All in all, there's plenty to like about this one. Most of all, the price.
Angry Birds Friends recruits your Facebook friends in fight against the pigs
Charge your phone, hide your family and mourn the loss of your free time. Angry Birds has returned with the latest expansion of their fowl-flinging empire, Angry Birds Friends. The new version looks a lot like the old one at first glance. You still fling super-powered birds at structures in your quest to destroy the pig army. What's new is the social interaction of judging your scores against your friends, across every platform Angry Birds on which is available. Thats right; Facebook, iOS and Android friends can all play against each other in a seemingly never-ending quest to cook the pigs' bacon. If you've already purchased Angry Birds in the past and don't want to shell out for another new version, don't worry. Angry Birds Friends, like friendship, is free. The app is available now in the iTunes and Google Play stores.
Angry Birds Friends now available on iOS and Android, is totally free
It's hard to believe, but there is seriously another Angry Birds game headed to mobile today, dubbed Angry Birds Friends. Like its Facebook counterpart, the game is focused on social versions of standard Angry Birds mechanics -- flinging various bird types at various structures protecting pigs, with the ultimate goal of destroying said pigs. The twist in this iteration is that your score is tracked and stacked up against friends via Facebook, meaning that people on all platforms (Facebook, iOS and Android) can play against each other. Should you be wary of shelling out more cash for fowl, worry not, as Angry Birds Friends is free (supported by ads, as you might imagine). It's available now on both iTunes and the Google Play store.
Angry Birds Friends coming to the App Store this week
Rovio has announced today that a new game called Angry Birds Friends will be out on the App Store this week, offering up yet another iteration on the extremely popular series about frustrated avians. As you can tell from the name of the game, Angry Birds Friends will be a social take on bird-throwing, combining elements of the popular Facebook version and the iOS version's touchscreen gameplay. I think Rovio might be a little behind on this one, as asychronous Words With Friends-style multiplayer has fallen out of favor a bit on the App Store lately. But Angry Birds is one of the strongest brands out there, so if anyone can get people playing with their friends, it could be Rovio. We'll have a full look at Angry Birds Friends after it releases later on this week. [via AppAdvice]
Angry Birds Friends coming to Android and iOS, brings the franchise full circle
You may not have realized it if you were heads-down with your smartphone, but one of the most popular Angry Birds games is on Facebook: its social network adaptation, Angry Birds Friends, has racked up about 15 million active users. It's only appropriate, then, that Rovio complete the cycle with new plans to bring Angry Birds Friends to mobile. While details are slim, the company vows that the upcoming Android and iOS ports will maintain Facebook integration for rewards and tournaments, and they'll support both phones and tablets. We'll already have an inkling of what gameplay to expect courtesy of the web game, although we're not so fortunate with the release date -- Rovio will only say that the mobile Friends port is coming "soon."
Angry Birds Hand Sanitizer (hands-on)
Listen, when you work hard (and play hard) the way we do, your hands are going to get dirty from time to time. In fact, if we've got one piece of advice for frequent trade show attendees, it would be: wash your hands. A lot. Of course, a clean water source isn't always waiting for you between booths -- when that happens, there's no beating a well-placed bottle of hand sanitizer. But while the likes of Purell and its ilk have traditionally done the trick, we've always longed for a solution that could combine our sanitization obsessions with our passion for casual gaming. That wait, mercifully, is now over, thanks to a groundbreaking partnership between the fowl flingers at Rovio and those Ph.D.s in oral care products (the Firefly Hello Kitty toothbrush, anyone?): Dr. Fresh. Part of the industry-leading Infectiguard Kids line, Angry Birds Hand Sanitizer offers a slim and slick profile, perfect for tiny hands. The twist-off lid is located at the bottom of the bottle, pointing in a downward orientation when positioned as intended. The whole thing is supported by a carabiner laced through a loop in the top of the skinny bottle, so the sanitizer can be suspended from a backpack, messenger bag or other carrying case for easy access to its cleansing contents. And at 1.8 fluid ounces, the whole thing comes in well under the TSA's carry-on liquid restrictions.
Daily Update for March 15, 2013
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Angry Birds Toons premiering this weekend in Angry Birds apps
Rovio has long been threatening to bring Angry Birds into other media, and this weekend they're finally doing it -- kind of. Angry Birds Toons is a brand new cartoon series featuring none other than the frustrated fowl that iOS gamers have known and loved for so long. But you won't find it on a TV station or in a movie theater: Instead, the cartoon is premiering inside the Angry Birds apps, so if you have any of them installed, you can jump in and you'll be able to watch the series starting this weekend. Why are the birds so angry? Why do the pigs love the eggs so much? Rovio promises this series will answer all of those pressing questions fans of this game may or may not have. We have one of our own, however: Will iOS players ever get tired of tossing birds into badly-built structures? We may need more than a cartoon series to get an answer to that one.
Knights of Pen and Paper and Angry Birds go free
Two really great apps are free this week. First up, Knights of Pen and Paper is an (in my opinion) underrated and very charming turn-based RPG, with the unique premise that you're actually playing an old pen-and-paper role-playing game, complete with a dungeonmaster describing every environment you enter and NPC you come across. Or you can play DM yourself, and design an adventure for your gamers. The game is on iPhone and iPad, so more users than ever have a chance to download and enjoy it. And on the complete other end of the spectrum from underrated, the original Angry Birds app (and its HD counterpart) have gone free on iOS. It's hard to believe that you haven't played Angry Birds yet, as there have been lite versions, lots of sales and a number of various spinoffs and ways to play the game on all of its various platforms. But just in case you haven't gone back and played the original iOS hit, now's your chance. Do try Knights of Pen and Paper, though. It's really good.
Rovio adds TV channel to its games, launches Angry Birds Toons on March 17th
If Rovio wants to rival Disney, it's going to need to broaden its distribution network, right? It turns out that the company is going the opposite way, bundling a video channel inside its apps to showcase its first TV show; Angry Birds Toons -- a 52-episode series chronicling the never-ending fight against those egg-thieving pigs. In addition to phones and tablets, the show will be available on Xfinity and Samsung Smart TVs, with Roku and TV stations outside of the US to follow in short order. Of course, we're not too sure Disney's worried -- after all, it's spent $4.05 billion to get the real Mark Hamill, not Red Bird in a blonde wig.
Rovio releasing a game based on The Croods movie
Rovio has announced another game, and it's yet another surprising title from the Finish developer of Angry Birds. Rovio's first non-Angry Birds game was Amazing Alex (which was a rebranding of another developer's game), its second was the spinoff Bad Piggies, and now they're making: The Croods, a licensed title from the upcoming Dreamworks film. As you can see from the official gameplay trailer, it looks like a Farmville-style townbuilding title, though of course everything is styled after the movie (with some fun Rovio touches in the nonsensical language and a really elegant hand-drawn style). It looks like players will be able to catch pets, grow crops, and develop their own little Croods homestead, similar to a lot of other freemium management games. Rovio continues to make really interesting choices in its game development -- the company has definitely exploited the Angry Birds brand as far as it could go and then some, and Amazing Alex, while definitely not a failure, wasn't nearly as big a success as the birds and the pigs. Rovio's teamed up with a movie studio before (Twentieth Century Fox) in making Angry Birds Rio, so it's not uncommon for them to be talking to a movie studio like Dreamworks. It's worth noting, too, that while most of Rovio's big titles have been physics puzzlers, The Croods looks to be very different. We'll keep an eye out for the game on the App Store. It certainly seems like a strange next choice for Rovio to make, but given the vast success of Angry Birds, I think the company can afford to experiment a little more. Update: A previous version of this post stated Dreamworks had made the movie Rio, but that movie was produced by Twentieth Century Fox instead. The error's been fixed.
Angry Birds Trilogy flutters to Wii / Wii U in celebration of one million sold
The Angry Birds and the pigs they hate so are already quite popular on mobile devices, but it turns out that the collected escapades for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Nintendo 3DS in Angry Birds Trilogy also did quite well, pushing past one million units since September 2012. Its console success is apparently enough for its Finnish progenitor, Rovio, to release the game for both Nintendo's original Wii and the more recent Wii U at some point in 2013. The trilogy collects the first Angry Birds game with Seasons and Rio for "700+ levels." It stands to reason that the Wii U version will take advantage of the system's tablet-esque GamePad, but we'll have to wait on Rovio for more info as the year goes on.
Angry Birds Rio free for a limited time on iPhone and iPad
If there's one thing that could draw a bit of attention away from yesterday's surprise launch of Temple Run 2, it's a can't-miss deal on an Angry Birds game. In this case, it's news that both the iPhone/iPod touch and iPad versions of Angry Birds Rio -- the mash-up of Rovio's hit fowl-flinging title and Fox's 2011 CG-animated flick Rio -- are now free as the App Store's App of the Week promotion. They're normally US$0.99 and $2.99, respectively. Angry Birds Rio deviates from the core series a bit by seeing you saving animals from cages, rather than bringing architecture down on top of evil pigs. It also boasts a power-up system to make things a little more interesting via abilities such as laser targeting and super-sized birds. The free offer's only for a week, so get the game while it's hot -- or end up angry.
Angry Birds Space adds another 30 free levels
Rovio Entertainment has released version 1.4 of Angry Birds Space to the App Store. The free update is sure to make Angry Bird fans happy. Users now have another 30 levels to sling their way through as the birds find themselves in a new galaxy called "Splash" with all-new water-based planets, underseas life and pigs in boats. But it's not just new levels players can look forward to. Because the worlds are water-based, new physics are involved as you launch your birds to defeat the evil piggies. The update also adds an underwater boss and plenty of new power-ups, including Flock of Birds, a Space Egg that creates a black hole and the Pig Puffer, which expands the pigs. Angry Birds Space is US$0.99 for the iPhone and $2.99 for the iPad.
Apple announces the App Store's Best of 2012
Apple has posted its top picks for the entire year of 2012 in the App Store, and you can browse through all of the choices right now. On the iPhone, Action Movie FX has picked up the App of the Year award, and Ubisoft's Rayman Jungle Run has earned game of the year, with music app Figure and social word game Letterpress picking up the runner up slots. Over on the iPad, FiftyThree's Paper has won app of the year, and the spooky The Room has earned game of the year, with Action Movie FX's iPad version and Tiger Style's great Waking Mars as runner-ups there. There are also a ton of great apps listed in other various categories, and Apple has also listed the top downloaded (Angry Birds Space has nailed both top spots in paid) and top grossing apps in each category. Obviously, with any list like this, there are some favorites missing (and if you want to see TUAW's choices, follow along with our own Best of 2012 coverage). But it's definitely been a great and busy year on the App Store, and Apple's collection is chock full of very well-done apps and games for sure.
Daily Update for November 29, 2012
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Rovio wants a billion daily active users
Angry Birds maker Rovio's head Peter Vesterbacka stood up on stage in Helsinki last week, and told the assembled crowd that his company wants to eventually have a full 1 billion daily active users. Daily active users, or DAUs, is a measure used in tabulating mobile app success, and it's often a good indicator of just how engaged people are with a given app. Most smaller apps might claim a few hundred daily active users, and a very popular app might claim a few million. But Vesterbacka says Rovio wants a billion. At that point, you're not talking about an app any more, you're talking about a brand that's competing with some of the most storied and historic brands in the world. "We want to be the first entertainment brand with 1 billion fans [using the game] every day, watching animations, using our services," said Vesterbacka. "People think of the one company people use daily, which is Coca-Cola, and that's just a soft drink. So it should be straightforward for us to get to 1 billion fans every day in the next two to three years." Straightforward? Sure, whatever. Vesterbacka also said that China has overtaken the US in terms of most Angry Birds fans playing every day. And while Rovio has been testing the waters with releases outside of the Angry Birds brand lately, Vesterbacka says that's not necessary: "We want to make Angry Birds as big as it can be and very much a part of pop culture. We don't need to do anything else." As popular as this game continues to be, that may in fact be true.
Daily Update for November 23, 2012
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
