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Angry Birds Stars Wars sets coordinates for November 8 [update: platforms]
Angry Birds Star Wars is kicking into hyperdrive on November 8, Rovio today revealed. According to USA Today, the game is coming to iOS, Android, and Windows 8 PCs. Along with the above video, Lucasfilm and Rovio released the below promotional image. According to Lucasfilm licensing and consumer products marketing VP Paul Southern, the above characters aren't just "Angry Birds dressed up as Star Wars characters," but they do have "personalities which are kind of similar" to their counterparts. We can already imagine the names: Luke Skysquawker, Chewpecker... actually, that's all we've got.Perhaps unsurprisingly, the game uses the physics of Angry Birds Space, but is set on recognizable locations from the Star Wars series. We may well learn more details after the Times Square reveal later today.Update: Rovio lets us know the game is coming to iOS, Android, Amazon Kindle Fire, Mac, PC (including Windows 8), and Windows Phone.
Feel the Force: Angry Birds Star Wars coming November 8th to iOS, Android, WP, Kindle Fire and computers
Rovio teased a certain film-inspired Angry Birds picture a long, long last week, and as expected, it's another new game -- Angry Birds Star Wars. Our furious feathered friends are assuming the likenesses of characters from the epic saga, with the trusty Red Bird taking on Luke Skywalker's role. It wouldn't be the Rebel Alliance without a dark side to fight, which is where the Pigs fit into the storyline; even the music and levels for gravity-based play will hark back to the film franchise. In addition to the software, details of related merchandise have also been uncovered, including table games, toys and costumes. The game is out on November 8th for iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Kindle Fire and computers, and if it follows the original storyline, we wonder how Red Bird's going to feel about his porcine family history.
Angry Birds and Star Wars joining forces in a series of products
While the teaser from earlier this week indicated that a downloadable Star Wars-themed Angry Birds game was on the way from Rovio, the Idlehands blog published leaked images of upcoming board games and figures that mash up the two brands.The above image for a Star Wars Angry Birds Jenga game by Hasbro was also listed on Amazon.de. Rovio is scheduled to hold an event Monday in New York, where more information on these products may be revealed.
Rovio hints at Angry Birds tie-in with Star Wars on October 8th, Red Bird Five standing by
The green pigs have had their moment in the sun: it's time for the Angry Birds to come back. Rovio Mobile has posted a teaser of a collaboration between its frustrated avians and Star Wars that will get a grand reveal on October 8th at Toys R Us' Times Square location in New York City. No clear giveaways exist as to what's coming, although Rovio is promising animations, comics and other material in the weeks ahead -- we imagine it means more than a toy line, as unique as that can be. But does it mean an Angry Birds Space add-on that goes well beyond the Martian landscape, an entirely new game or something else altogether? We've asked the company for more details and will let you know if we're given more information. In the meantime, get ready for what's likely to be a geek culture explosion. [Thanks, Jaakko]
Star Wars Angry Birds teased
The folks behind Angry Birds and Star Wars license holders have apparently been talking: Rovio has tweeted an image of what appears to be a rotund Angry Bird in classic Star Wars robes, saying "Who could this be?"Additionally, an unknown official tumblr has surfaced with an animated version of the image that literally sheds a bit more light on the bird, but unfortunately not on the situation. We've reached out to Rovio for more information, but for now just sit back and think about the first time you ever saw The Empire Strikes Back. Remember all the weird space birds attacking the Millennium Falcon inside the worm's stomach? Yeah.Update: Rovio has tweeted a link directly to the Angry Birds tumblr mentioned, confirming its legitimacy. We've replaced this article's original header image with the animated version for maximum lightsaber-ness.
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.
Visualized: Inside Rovio's HQ (video)
When in Helsinki, or rather Espoo, there's only one thing left to do after stopping by Nokia's glass House -- visit Rovio's HQ. That's right, the company made famous (and filthy rich) by flinging fowl is just a short walk away from Elop and co.'s waterside domain. And, in a bit of perfect timing, we were graciously welcomed into the gaming outfit's office on the eve of its Bad Piggies launch. As you might expect and hope, the walls, doors, floors, couches, desks, soft drinks and even bottles of hand lotion are adorned in all things Angry Birds. There's even a mock-up experience store -- populated with a variety of branded paraphernalia -- sitting pretty in pale green just outside a bank of cubicles. It's everything we ever imagined it to be. But don't just take our words for it. You can check it out for yourself in a video after the break. And now, we're really Finnish(ed).
Portabliss: Bad Piggies (iOS)
This is Portabliss, a column about downloadable games that can be played on the go. Angry Birds is iOS gaming's juggernaut; even now, it regularly tops the App Store charts in both money earned and time played. Rovio, the Finnish company who created Angry Birds, put together dozens of mobile games before its first iOS release, and has seemingly hesitated to release anything else after it. The studio doesn't want to cannibalize its own success, so all we've seen from Rovio since Angry Birds' 2009 iOS release is a series of rebrands (including Angry Birds Rio and Angry Birds Space), and one licensed remake of a sandbox contraption game called Amazing Alex.Bad Piggies, then, is the first original title we've seen from Rovio in years, but even it doesn't go too far off the multibillion-dollar reservation. It's a game set in the Angry Birds universe, that follows the green pigs and their goal of grabbing eggs rather than the frustrated fowl trying to demolish them. But instead of unleashing furious destruction by catapult, Bad Piggies asks the player to create modular vehicles that will cart the pigs across a level, reaching a map piece goal at the end.
Bad Piggies trailer shows just how naughty these pigs get
Bad Piggies retains the characteristic Angry Birds appeal, but has players build wacky rides to roll and fly across obstacle courses collecting stars. Despite its adorable design, we'll continue thinking of Bad Piggies as a prequel to thechineseroom's Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs. Bad, bad piggies.
Bad Piggies will have you building custom vehicles for Angry Birds' piggies
The original Angry Birds is a hugely successful franchise, all built on the seemingly simple mechanic of flicking some birds at structures and knocking them down. Bad Piggies, the antagonists in the Angry Birds franchise, are now getting their own franchise based on building things. Similar to Amazing Alex in that you'll rely on creativity to build things to solve puzzles, in Bad Piggies you'll use blocks with various functions (an engine, a rotor, wheels, etc.) to build vehicles to "launch" your piggies. Of course there will be a variety of landscape challenges as your piggies must reach a goal with cargo intact. Look for Bad Piggies on September 27.
Bad Piggies is the 'complete opposite' of Angry Birds, here's how
Bad Piggies alters the expected Angry Birds formula, having players construct various contraptions and guide them through rickety levels, while collecting stars and demolishing crates of TNT. Bad Piggies, it turns out, takes more cues from Rovio's Amazing Alex than from its pop culture smash hit, Enraged Poultry (title paraphrased).Players build flying, rolling, roaming contraptions using a grid system, and then set the naughty pigs free, attempting to "three-star" each level. Check out a gameplay video showing off this set-up on Y!Games, and if you're really into pig products (bacon included) read the Bad Piggies comic here.Bad Piggies and Angry Birds are "complete opposites," Rovio EVP of Games Petri Järvilehto says. "Angry Birds smash things up, Bad Piggies build stuff. The pigs are all about making plans and building things, even – and especially – when they don't work!"
We test speeds on EE, the UK's first LTE network! (video)
Formerly known as Everything Everywhere, also known as the union of Orange and T-Mobile's UK networks, it's now going under the name EE and (finally) bringing LTE to the British Isles in the coming weeks. We decided to see what that means by running Speed Test on the device -- and it's looking good. Upload speeds averaged around 20Mbps, while downloads peaked around 38Mbps -- consistently above 25Mbps. If you're wondering what this means for how you'll normally use your phone, Angry Birds' 20MB-plus app download rocketed down from the new network and this very site appeared in an instant. See for yourself after the break. %Gallery-164916%
Angry Birds' sequel Bad Piggies is official
Rovio teased a title called "Bad Piggies" on various social networks last week, and now the game is official. Forbes traveled to Finland and got a first look at a brand new physics puzzle game set in the enormously popular Angry Birds universe. It's not completely clear how the game will work, but it definitely sounds different from the standard Angry Birds' catapult attack gameplay. Forbes says the pigs are stranded out in the world, and will "...have to build vehicles and contraptions to make their way to the delicious eggs that they can't seem to get enough of." There will still be three stars to attain in each level, but the gameplay sounds a little more strategic and creative than just knocking buildings down. Several Angry Birds spinoffs have been released already, but this is an entirely new game, and suggests that Rovio wants to take the series in a new direction. Rovio's planning to have the game out on September 27 on iOS, Android, PC, and Mac, with other platforms to come later on. One more note: This is also the first (official) indication that Rovio is indeed depending on the huge success of Angry Birds to keep its company going. VP of Franchise Development Ville Heijari says to Forbes that "it feels like when we're launching anything, some shadow of Angry Birds will be hanging over it," and indeed, that's been the case so far. Rovio recently tried to launch an all-new title with Amazing Alex, which was actually a full purchase and revamp of another developer's game, originally called Casey's Contraptions. While that game is definitely popular, it wasn't quite as big a hit as Rovio has had previously. If Bad Piggies doesn't match up to the rest of the franchise, we may see Rovio try some even more wild tactics to keep growing.
Bad Piggies, the alternate-universe's answer to Angry Birds, lands September 27th
Imagine a world where everyone's evil and wears a goatee, while our avian allies from Angry Birds are actually the villains of the piece. That's the premise behind Bad Piggies, Rovio's newest productivity killer, which promises entirely new game mechanics (and no slingshots!). It'll arrive on iOS, Android and OS X on September 27th, with Windows and Windows Phone 8 versions following shortly afterward.
The 'Bad Piggies' of Angry Birds get their own game on Sept. 27
Wow, Rovio's next game is not an Angry Birds game – though, of course, it does take place within the deep Angry Birds Universe. Bad Piggies stars the hated pig spheres from Angry Birds, and features "all new, never-before-seen gameplay – and not a slingshot in sight!"The teaser video doesn't show exactly what the new gameplay is, but we'll find out by September 27 at the latest, when Bad Piggies launches on iOS, Android, and Mac. Other versions coming afterward include Windows Phone, Windows 8 and PC. And though specific announcements haven't been made after those platforms, expect to see Bad Piggies in the plush toy, t-shirt, and fruit snack formats soon.
Angry Birds go Ga Ga for Mercury to celebrate Freddie For A Day
'Freddie For A Day' is an annual event held on Freddie Mercury's birthday, tomorrow, to celebrate the former Queen frontman and raise money for the AIDS charity set up in his name. Angry Birds creator Rovio gets in on the act this year by releasing the above specially created animation. We've got to hand it to Rovio: the late, great Mr. Mercury makes a dynamite Angry Bird.Freddie For A Day festivities continue throughout the week – although, Londoners, you've just missed out on glamming up The Savoy for a day. Luckily, there are still plenty of other ways to celebrate the rock legend and donate to a very worthy cause.
'Bad Piggies' teased by Angry Birds dev on Facebook, Twitter
Angry Birds developer Rovio is teasing "Bad Piggies" across social media platforms Facebook and Twitter. Current speculation is that the green porcine will receive a spin-off game of some kind, but given that Rovio has to maintain the cash cow of the Angry Birds franchise, this could just boil down to simply more branding.We flung a raven Rovio's way for a comment, but the company has yet to respond.
Fowl on the play: Angry Birds teams up with the Philadelphia Eagles
A new version of Angry Birds is coming exclusively to the Philadelphia Eagles Facebook page on September 4. Each week, a new free level will be available to play during this year's season. The teaser trailer above gives us a taste of what to expect, including a new unit type: the Mighty Philadelphia Eagle.
Rovio takes Angry Birds Space for a spin with NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover, teases Red Planet for fall (video)
It was almost as inevitable as gravity, really. Rovio has teamed up with NASA to offer a special, Curiosity-themed episode inside Angry Birds Space. The trek has the avians scouring 20 levels of the Martian landscape with a few bonuses thrown in for good measure. Just like your favorite childhood breakfast cereal, there's even a token healthy ingredient -- in this case, a chance for gamers to learn about Curiosity's exploration whenever they're not busy smashing pigs. Android and iOS users can dip into the new chapter right after they update, but that's not even the full extent of Rovio's plans. If the environs of Gale Crater are too limiting, you'll be glad to hear that the game developer is teasing a full-scale Red Planet variant for the fall.
Cut The Rope, Beat The Traffic, Angry Birds Space and more updated today
We've already heard about some big updates on the App Store this week, but this regular Thursday is also full of them -- some of the App Store's biggest apps are getting big chunky updates to use or play with. Here's a rundown for you. Angry Birds Space has a Mars Curiosity rover-related update out, with 20 new levels on Mars, and a new astronaut pig. Sounds fun! Cut the Rope also has new content, with new Spooky Box levels, and a feature called superpowers, which have you chasing after a new star on all levels to date. Doodle Jump has gotten its "biggest update yet," featuring a new ninja theme to play with, as well as new objects to help you jump farther and faster than ever, and new mechanics and obstacles as well. As previously mentioned, Facebook finally got its upgrade to a full app instead of just an HTML 5 skin, and it's much faster than it used to be. ProCamera HD has launched, bringing the versatile and powerful camera app from iPhone to iPad. The ingenious little Mission Alarm Clock (that requires you to complete "missions" to turn off your alarm every morning) has updated with a new UI and a new mission to complete. Vintagio is an app that we recently posted about -- it's an update of MacPhun's Silent Movie Director. And of course the TV Guide app was updated with things like celebrity watchlists and curated channel listings. Finally, the bill management app Chronicle in the Mac App Store was updated for both Retina Display compatibility, as well as support for Mountain Lion, and a whole new, great looking interface. All great apps, all updated with even more great features. All of these updates are available for download for free in an App Store near you.
