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Daily iPhone App: Icebreaker: A Viking Voyage is a tasty cold cut from Rovio Stars
Icebreaker: A Viking Voyage is the very first title from the Rovio Stars program, a publishing initiative from the makers of Angry Birds. The company has a whole lot of infrastructure and expertise, but not a lot of good new ideas flowing, so it's decided to publish other developers' titles, and if Icebreaker is any indication, they're going to make some good choices. Icebreaker is a really excellent puzzle game that has clearly been polished to a Rovio-level shine, and it's a perfect start for the publisher partnerships. Just like Angry Birds, Icebreaker is a casual, physics-based puzzle game, where you can cut various items in the environment by dragging your finger across them. Cut the Rope obviously used the idea of cutting in this way previously, but Icebreaker adds the ability to cut ice chunks, which then slide over each other in physics-based ways. Each level has a number of Vikings that you need to get sliding aboard a ship, and then your little hero on the ship can break up the ice (as long as it's cut small enough), free the Vikings and set sail in triumph. Icebreaker's super cute -- the little Vikings have some hilarious chatter, and sliding them around in the physics engine is tons of fun. The puzzles are clever, too: A few levels in, you'll be using the ice to create bridges, and going after optional coins to collect and treasure chests that also slide around. Despite being US$0.99 to download (or $2.99 for an HD version on the iPad), the game does have ads included in the pause screen, and there are powerups you can purchase via IAP, so Rovio isn't letting any opportunity to make money pass them by. Still, the game is great, and this is likely the start of a whole new industry for a company that's so far been propelled by what's essentially just one property. If all of the Rovio Stars title are of this quality, we'll look forward to playing all of them.
Rovio Stars says publishing was a 'logical step' for Angry Birds maker to take
The good folks at 148Apps have an interview up with Kalle Kaivola, Senior VP of Product and Publishing at Rovio, about the company's new Rovio Stars program, a publishing initiative putting out third-party titles under the Rovio banner. Kaivola says publishing was "was a pretty logical step" -- the company has extensive experience, of course, putting things out on the App Store, and sees creative titles being pitched all the time. And in a more practical sense, the company of course has a stable of successful games on the App Store already, set to be used as a platform for launching other titles as needed. Rovio Stars has already announced a few titles, two games called Icebreaker and Tiny Thief, which are set to hit the App Store soon. Kaivola says that the games Rovio Stars chooses to publish will fit the Angry Birds mold, so we won't see "FPS or survival horror titles" coming from them in the future. The Rovio Stars mark, in other words, is meant to serve as "the stamp of quality that tells the gamer that the game they are about to buy has the same level of polish, engaging gameplay and quality fun as Rovio's titles," says Kaivola.
Rovio launches Stars publishing program, names initial third-party games (video)
While Rovio still leans very heavily on one game franchise for its success, there's no question that it's a big company these days -- big enough, in fact, that it's venturing into publishing for the first time. Its new Rovio Stars division will look for a handful of promising third-party games to support, giving them both the resources and exposure needed to shine. The first titles to make the cut are Nitrome's upcoming puzzler Icebreaker: A Viking Voyage and 5 Ants' Tiny Thief. We don't know if Rovio's guiding hand will be enough to give these games a major boost, but we can get a taste of what's to come through the Icebreaker trailer after the break.
