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Angry Birds Seasons calls out the Haunted Hogs
The Halloween installment of Angry Birds Seasons adds 30 new levels and ghost bricks, along with some quirky-creepy music, if what's in the trailer gets transferred to the game itself. The Haunted Hogs update is live now – smash some pumpkins without the mess!
Here's a look at the whole universe of Angry Birds games (so far)
Bad Piggies is the latest title added to Rovio's growing universe of Angry Birds games, and the latest word is that it's the fastest-selling game in the company's history, hitting number one on the App Store just a few hours after it launched. Given all of the various Angry Birds properties that have hit the App Store (and elsewhere), you might not have heard about everything Angry Birds out there. But worry not -- we've put together a quick guide here to the entire universe of Angry Birds. Here's a list of every single Angry Birds game Rovio has released so far, from the first title released back in December of 2009, all the way up until Bad Piggies' release about a week ago. Keep in mind that we're just talking about the games here -- this list doesn't include the countless bits and bobs of Angry Birds merchandise out there, and other partnerships like the upcoming Angry Birds TV show and maybe even a movie. Angry Birds (December 11, 2009): This is Rovio's original hit and its first iOS title (published by Chillingo, which is now part of EA) after a string of uninteresting J2ME releases and games for Nokia's N-Gage phone console. Since its original iOS release, the first version of Angry Birds has also shown up on a number of other mobile operating systems, including Android (as a freemium title), Windows Phone, Blackberry Tablet OS and Symbian. The original game has also seen about nine different free updates, as well as a number of promotional add-ons and content as well. Angry Birds HD (April 2, 2010): The iPad version of the game arrived about six months after the iPhone version, just as the first iPad appeared. The game wasn't fundamentally different, but the larger screen made for a larger audience, and the higher price point ($4.99) definitely made Rovio more money. The standard and HD games also got free versions at some point as well, with eight mini-episodes released for free. Angry Birds Seasons (October 21, 2010): Rovio introduced this first official spinoff just under a year after the original launch, featuring tons of new levels, and a regular holiday-based structure for updates (an HD version was released right around the same time). The game originally started out as Angry Birds Halloween, but as more holidays came around, it was updated to its current "Seasons" status. There have been 13 different updates to the game so far, with the latest being a "Back to School" update back in August of 2012. Angry Birds Magic (October 2010): This game, also called "Angry Birds in Florida" in some places, was made specifically for Nokia's NFC (near field communication) smartphones, and had a feature where when two smartphones with the game installed on them came near each other, different levels would be unlocked. The title was announced to great fanfare at a Nokia conference in mid-2010, and presumably it released on the smartphones later that year, though since we're all iPhone owners here, we have no idea how it turned out. Angry Birds Rio (March 22, 2011): This version of the game was created in conjunction with the animated movie Rio and featured a Rovio-built storyline that had the movie's birds crossing paths with the Angry ones. It premiered on the movie's release date with two sets of levels, and a series of updates provided more and more levels to go along with the film's storyline. This is arguably the least popular version of Angry Birds, although there's no doubt that both the game and the movie benefited from the shared marketing. And given that there's an Angry Birds TV show on the way, Hollywood paid close attention to this release. Angry Birds Chrome (May 11, 2011): Rovio designed a special browser-based version of the game for Google's Chrome browser, completely free to play and supported by in-app purchases. The game featured "Chrome bombs" which were special items that players had to find and hit with the frustrated fowl, in order to unlock "Chrome dimension" levels. Angry Birds Space (March 22, 2012): This game was billed as a full Angry Birds sequel, with all new levels and new gravity-based gameplay, as the birds were tossed off of actual planets and out into the upper reaches of space. But since the app's release, Rovio has spun it more as just another part of the current universe, with new twists on the game's tried-and-true method of throwing birds into pigs. Space spawned both HD and free versions on the App Store as well, and has been ported off to Android, Windows and Mac. Angry Birds Friends (May 23, 2012): Angry Birds Friends is the Facebook version of the game, which has been running online for a while now. The game features weekly tournaments and lots of competition between Facebookers and their friends. (There are also a number of other browser-based versions of the game that have been live at different times over the years, including promotions with Samsung, Formula 1 racing driver Heikki Kovalainen, Wonderful Pistachios, Pepsi, Fuji TV and a Finnish candy company. These games have all featured new levels and themed content, but have been live only during certain promotional times.) Angry Birds Trilogy (September 25, 2012): Rovio teamed up just a little while ago with console publisher Activision to bring the content from Angry Birds, Angry Birds Seasons, and Angry Birds Rio to consoles as a downloadable title, including the Nintendo 3DS, the Xbox 360 (with Kinect integration) and the PlayStation 3. Sales only just started, so we'll have to wait and see how Rovio's birds do in the larger traditional gaming market after they have dominated so much in the mobile markets. Bad Piggies (September 27, 2012): Which brings us back to Bad Piggies, Rovio's current hit, and the first game in the series that is build around the Pigs, specifically the task of building them vehicles to try and find a map to the birds' eggs. There will likely be a whole slew of updates for this title as well, and then ... who knows? Rovio has certainly grown its Angry Birds franchise by capitalizing on the initial game, so as big as this universe is already, there's no doubt that the company still has lots of other ideas on how to make it even bigger.
Angry Birds Seasons' new 'Pink Bird' is multifaceted
By which we mean she's not angry all the time. Instead, the new Pink Bird is a happy-go-lucky, bubble-blowing character who only embodies the Angry Birds stereotype when presented with scheming pigs.The new character was introduced in a charming cartoon (above), advertising a "Back to School" update for Angry Birds Seasons. We're curious about how a bird who blows bubbles will work in the normal "bird tossing" gameplay. Maybe she can just distract herself with bubbles while she's being slingshotted into a stone wall.
Pigs beware: Angry Birds Trilogy coming to 3DS, PS3 and Xbox 360 later this year
Despite already being a massive success story on the Android and iOS platforms, Rovio's clearly not planning on slowing down its Angry Birds adventure any time soon. Speaking to IGN earlier today, the company's Executive Vice President of Games, Petri Järvilehto, told the site that the Angry Birds Trilogy is headed -- in physical form, no less -- to the 3DS, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 later this holiday season. Sadly, Järvilehto didn't say how much we'll have to spend on the bird-slinging trilogy, or when exactly it'll be available at retail shops -- though he did say you should "think of the game as the ultimate collector's edition." The Trilogy's set to include the original Angry Birds title, Seasons and Rio, with the set expected to offer support for Kinect, Move and StreetPass on Nintendo's three-dimensional handheld.
Angry Birds Trilogy goes retail on 3DS, Xbox 360 and PS3
You can buy Angry Birds plushes, t-shirts, fruit snacks, board games, and dozens of other items at stores, but until this holiday the one thing you couldn't get in a box was the actual game. Now, Rovio has announced the Angry Birds Trilogy, a collection of Angry Birds, Angry Birds Seasons, and Angry Birds Rio, on a PS3 or Xbox 360 disc or 3DS cartridge, for release this holiday season."You can think of the game as the ultimate collector's edition," Rovio EVP of Games Petri Järvilehto told IGN. "There are new cinematics, extras and other entertaining content. In addition all of the existing material has been uprezzed and re-treated for the high-resolution and big screen." New "reactive" backgrounds take advantage of the fact that you're playing on a screen big enough to see backgrounds.The upgrades also feature Kinect and Move capability, as well as StreetPass functionality on 3DS. Most importantly, they support the "being able to be bought and given as holiday gifts" functionality that Rovio has lacked so far.
Rovio makes a Mighty Eagle's $68 million in profit in financial squawk
Rovio has announced that in 2011, it made a huge $106.3 million turnover and a whopping $67.6 million in profit (before tax), showing that flinging feathery fowl is a very serious business. Fueled by the success of Angry Birds, Seasons and Rio, the company grew by a factor of eight in the last year, from 28 employees all the way to 224. The company adds that the three games were downloaded 648 million times and are now used by 200 million daily users, while sales of merchandise contributed to around 30 percent of the total revenue. The report adds that the only barrier to future profits is if people stop buying new smartphones, but we're not sure that's likely to be the case for a while.
GDC 2011: Building the Angry Birds franchise
Rovio's Peter Vesterbacka hosted an entertaining panel on the first day of the 2011 Game Developers Conference here in San Francisco. Rovio's app, Angry Birds, is the runaway hit of Apple's iOS platform, signifying both the potential reach of iOS games and the chance for indie mobile developers to create gigantic hits. Vesterbacka, speaking in his Finnish accent, was almost arrogant at times during his talk, saying that after last year's GDC, Rovio is "a bit more popular now for some reason," and that while people laughed at his predictions of 100 million downloads for the game across all the platforms, Rovio is basically there. But he was also informative and helpful, and he thanked Apple multiple times during the talk. Rovio's made 52 different mobile games so far, and Vesterbacka credited Apple for changing the tempo around the mobile games market. Before Apple, mobile carriers held all of the power, and carriers both a) wanted a lot of games for their specific platforms, and b) didn't care about the quality. Vesterbacka joked about pitching Angry Birds to a carrier before the App Store: "It's a game where you slingshot birds at three pigs," he said, and then he mimicked the reply to the crowd's laughter: "It's not a poker game? Not interested."
Angry Birds add-on puts some holiday cheer in your pig murder
Are you looking to fulfill you annual desire to get totally pumped for the holidays, but can't seem to stop playing the iPhone sensation Angry Birds long enough to do so? Thanks to a recently published expansion to Rovio's tower-toppling App, you can now kill two birds with one high-velocity bird. For $0.99 on iOS ($1.99 for the HD version), or for free (but ad-supported) on Android, you can download "Season's Greedings," an add-on that features a new level every day in the 25 days leading up to Christmas. It's like an advent calendar! Only ... like, way more fun. Purchasing the pack also unlocks the 45-level Halloween expansion for free -- or, if you've already acquired this extra spooky level pack, you can grab "Season's Greedings" in a free title update. We wonder if we can expect a purchase of this new add-on to grant us free admission to the next holiday-themed level pack, "New Year's Evil Pigs," or "Punxsutawney Panic." (Yes, those are made up. For now.) Download: Angry Birds Seasons [iOS SD: $0.99] [iOS HD: $1.99] [Android: Free]
Angry Birds Seasons app available now
Rovio has released Angry Birds Seasons, and it's now available on the App Store. The app is a free upgrade for those that purchased Angry Birds Halloween, or it's available to download for £0.59 in the UK ($0.99 in the US store). If you didn't purchase Angry Birds Halloween, you'll be pleased to know that the 45-level Halloween special edition is included as a free special episode called Trick or Treat -- hence the new title, Angry Birds Seasons. We can only hope that there will be further seasonal episodes to come. Expanding on Angry Birds Halloween, the app introduces Season's Greetings. This brand new festive level is packed with 25 daily surprises to enjoy while counting down the days to Christmas, in much the same fashion as a traditional Advent calendar. Season's Greetings includes new achievements, Game Center support and a very merry golden egg. [Speaking of Advent calendars, both Gameloft and Appvent are counting down the days until 12/25 with a different free app or special preview/discount every day. Don't miss out! –Ed.] If you're an Angry Birds fan, we're sure you must be feeling like Christmas has come early this year. And if you didn't purchase the Halloween edition, well ... at this price, you can't exactly turn up your nose at it. You're now getting a whole lot of Angry Birds entertainment for not very much money at all.
