Angry Birds is a strategy
puzzle
video game developed by Finnish computer
game developer Rovio
Mobile. Inspired primarily by a sketch of stylized wingless birds,
the game was first released for Apple's iOS in December 2009.[3] Since that time,
over 12 million copies of the game have been purchased from Apple's App Store,[4] which has
prompted the company to design versions for other touchscreen-based smartphones, such as those
using the Android operating system, among others.
In the game, players use a slingshot to launch birds
at pigs stationed on or within various structures, with the intent of
destroying all the pigs on the playing field. As players advance through the
game, new birds appear, some with special abilities that can be activated by
the player. Rovio Mobile has supported Angry Birds with numerous free
updates that add additional game content, and the company has even released
stand-alone holiday and promotional versions of the game. The game is also
available on HP App
Catalog.
Angry Birds has been praised for
its successful combination of addictive gameplay, comical style, and low price.
Its popularity led to versions of Angry Birds being created for personal
computers and gaming
consoles, a market for merchandise featuring its characters and even
long-term plans for a feature film or television series. With a combined 700
million downloads across all platforms and including both regular and special
editions,[5] the game has been
called "one of the most mainstream games out right now",[6] "one of the
great runaway hits of 2010",[7] and "the
largest mobile app success the world has seen so far".[8]
Gameplay
In Angry Birds, the player controls a menagerie of
multi-colored birds that are attempting to retrieve eggs that have been taken
by a group of green pigs.[9] On each level,
the pigs are sheltered by structures made of various materials such as wood,
ice[10] and stone, and
the objective of the game is to eliminate all the pigs on the level. Using a
slingshot, players launch the birds with the intent of either hitting the pigs
directly or damaging the structures, causing them to collapse and eliminate the
pigs.[11] In various
stages of the game, additional objects such as explosive crates and rocks are
found in the structures, and may be used in conjunction with the birds to
destroy hard-to-reach pigs.
There are several different types of birds used in the
game. In the earliest levels, the basic red bird is the only one available.[9] As the player
advances through the game, additional types of birds become available. Some
birds are effective against particular materials, and some have special
abilities that may be activated by the player while the bird is airborne.[11] For example, a
yellow bird can increase its speed, a blue bird can separate into three small
birds,[9] a black bird
explodes,[11] and a white bird
can drop explosive eggs.[9] The pigs
themselves also appear in different sizes. While small pigs are relatively weak
and are easily destroyed either by direct hits or by debris from the damaged
structures, larger pigs are able to sustain more damage. In addition, some pigs
wear helmets as armor, making them even more resistant to damage; pigs with
crowns or moustaches can take the most damage.
Each level starts with the number, types, and order of
birds pre-determined.[9][11] If all of the
pigs are defeated by the time the last bird is used, the level is completed and
the next level is unlocked.[9] Points are scored
for each pig defeated as well as for damage to, or destruction of, structures,
and bonus points are awarded for any unused birds. Upon completing each level,
players receive one, two, or three stars, depending on the score received.
Players may re-attempt unlocked levels as many times as they wish in order to
complete them successfully or to earn additional points or stars.
Development
In early 2009, Rovio staff began reviewing proposals for
potential games. One such proposal came from senior game designer Jaakko Iisalo[12] in the form of a
simulated screenshot featuring some angry-looking birds with no visible legs or
wings.[13] While the
picture gave no clue as to what type of game was being played, the staff liked
the characters,[13] and the team
elected to design a game around them.[14] As the concept
of Angry Birds was developed, the staff realized the birds needed an
enemy.[12] At the time, the
"swine
flu" epidemic was in the news, so the staff made the birds'
enemies pigs.[12] The game's
mechanics were inspired by other petrary
physics games that have
been released over the years, including another 2009 release, Crush the Castle.[15][16] The initial cost
to develop Angry Birds was estimated to exceed €100,000, not including money spent on the
subsequent updates.[13] For the iOS version,
Rovio partnered with distributor Chillingo to publish the
game to the App Store.[17] Since then Rovio
has self-published almost all of the later ports of the game, with the
exception of the PlayStation Portable version, which was produced under license
by Abstraction Games and then distributed by Chillingo.[18]
Prior to this meeting we
had set up strict criteria to determine which game we would go with, but we
threw that out for the angry bird character.
–Mikael Hed, CEO of Rovio Mobile[14]
When Rovio began writing new versions of the game for
other devices, new issues came to light. As the team began working on a version
for Android systems, they observed the large number of
configurations of device types and versions of the Android software.[12] The number of
combinations of software version, processor
speed and even user
interfaces was significantly larger than that for the earlier iOS
version.[19] Ultimately, the
team settled on a minimum set of requirements,[12] even though that
left nearly 30 types of Android phones unable to run the game, including some
newly released phones.[19] One month after
the initial release on Android, Rovio Mobile began designing a simpler version
of the game for these other devices.[19]
In early 2010, Rovio began developing a variant of Angry
Birds for Facebook.[20] The project
became one of the company's largest, with development taking over a year.[20] The company
understood the challenges of transplanting a game concept between social
platforms and mobile/gaming systems. In a March 2011 interview, Rovio's Peter
Vesterbacka said, "you can’t take an experience that works in one
environment and one ecosystem and force-feed it onto another. It's like Zynga. They can’t just take FarmVille and throw it
on mobile and see what sticks. The titles that have been successful for them on
mobile are the ones they’ve built from the ground up for the platform.”[20] The Facebook
version was expected to incorporate social-gaming concepts and in-game
purchases and was scheduled to enter beta-testing in April 2011;[20] the game became
officially available on Facebook in February 2012.[21]
Future improvements planned for the game include the
ability to synchronize the player's progress across multiple devices; for
example, a player who completes a level on an iOS device could log into their
copy of the game on an Android device and see the same statistics and level of
progress.[22]
Release
The initial iOS version of the game included a single
episode entitled "Poached Eggs", which contained three themed
chapters, each with 21 levels. From time to time, Rovio has released free
upgrades that include additional content, such as new levels, new in-game
objects and even new birds. As updates have been released, they have been
incorporated into the game's full version offered for download from each
platform's application store.[23]
The first update, released in February 2010, added a new
episode called "Mighty Hoax", containing two new chapters with 21
levels each. Updates released in April 2010 added the "Golden Eggs"
feature, which placed hidden golden eggs throughout the game that would unlock
bonus content when found, and a new episode called "Danger Above",
which initially contained a single chapter of 15 levels. Two later updates
added two more chapters to "Danger Above", each with 15 levels.
"The Big Setup" episode, released in June 2010, added a new chapter
with 15 levels and additional Golden Egg levels.[24] "The Big
Setup" was later given two more chapters of 15 levels each.
A fifth episode, called "Ham 'Em High",
launched in December 2010, in celebration of the game's first year in the iOS
App Store.[23][25] "Ham 'Em
High" contained 15 Wild
West-themed levels in a single chapter;[26] updates in
February 2011 and March 2011 each added one new 15-level chapter.[27][28] "Ham 'Em
High" also introduced the Mighty Eagle, a new bird that may be used once
per hour to clear any uncompleted levels.[26] The Mighty Eagle
can also be used in previously completed levels, without the once-per-hour
limit, to play a mini-game called "Total Destruction" in which the
player attempts to destroy as much of the scenery as possible, both with the
standard birds and the Mighty Eagle; achieving 100% destruction earns the
player a Mighty Eagle feather for the level.[26]
The Mighty Eagle is offered as a one-time, in-game
purchase,[23] and was
initially only available for iOS, as its App Store customers have iTunes accounts with pre-linked credit
cards.[29] In late 2011,
Rovio also added the Mighty Eagle to the Chrome App version of the game. Rovio
has begun testing an Android update called the "Bad Piggy Bank" with
the Elisa wireless service in Finland and T-Mobile, which allows users to
charge in-app purchases, such as the Mighty Eagle, to their mobile phone bills;
the service is expected to become available to other Android users in the
second quarter of 2011.[29]
The sixth episode, "Mine and Dine", was
released on June 16, 2011 with 15 new mining-themed levels and a new Golden
Egg.[30] An August 2011
update expanded "Mine and Dine" with two more 15-level chapters.[31]
The seventh update, "Birdday Party", was
released on December 11, 2011 to commemorate the second anniversary of the
first release of the iOS version into the iTunes App Store.[32] It included 15
new birthday cake-theme levels, as well as updated graphics and the addition of
elements from the spin-off games, such as the scoring graphic seen in Angry Birds Rio and the
introduction of the orange bird that first appeared in Angry Bird Seasons.[33] The update was
later released for Android and Microsoft Windows. The eighth update (as well as
another update for Angry Birds Rio) was released initially to the iOS on
March 20, 2012 in a lead-up to the release of Angry Birds Space. The new
update included an animated tutorial, enhanced gameplay, all new UI graphics,
and the first 15 levels of "Surf and Turf," the Angry Birds
Facebook-exclusive episode (see below), with another 30 coming soon.[34][35]
Reception
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Reception
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Aggregate scores
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Aggregator
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Score
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Review scores
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Publication
|
Score
|
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iOS: 8.0/10[38]
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iOS:
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iOS: 8.0/10[11]
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Angry Birds has been met with
critical acclaim. Chris Holt of Macworld
called the game "an addictive, clever, and challenging puzzler",[9] and Pocket Gamer's Keith
Andrew said Angry Birds is "a nugget of puzzling purity dished out
with relish aplenty".[11] Jonathan Liu of Wired News wrote that
"going for the maximum number of stars certainly adds a lot of replay
value to a fairly extensive game".[42]
Reviews for the first versions of the game that did not
use a touch-screen, the PlayStation
3/PSP
version and the Windows version, have also been positive, but with some
disagreement over the different interfaces. Will Greenwald of PC Magazine, in his
review of the PlayStation Network version, said that the control scheme on
these platforms is good, "but they're not nearly as satisfying as the
touch-screen controls found on smartphone versions", and that the PlayStation
3 version appeared "blocky and unpleasant, like a smartphone screen blown
up to HDTV size".[43] Conversely, Greg
Miller of IGN preferred the analog
control setup of the PSP version, saying it "offered me tiny variances in
control that I don't feel like I get with my fat finger on a screen".[39] While giving the
game a positive review, Miller concluded, "There's no denying that Angry
Birds is fun, but it could use polish – such as sharper visuals, a better price
and smoother action."[39] Damien McFerrin
of British website Electric Pig reviewed the PC version, saying "the
mouse-driven control method showcases many distinct advantages over its
finger-focused counterpart".[44]
Angry Birds became the top-selling
paid application on Apple's UK App Store in February 2010,
and reached the top spot on the US App Store a few weeks later,[45] where it
remained until October 2010.[46] Since release,
the free, limited version of Angry Birds has been downloaded more than
11 million times for Apple's iOS, and the full-featured paid version has been
downloaded nearly 7 million times as of September 2010.[13] The Android
version of the game was downloaded more than 1 million times within the first
24 hours of release,[47] even though the
site crashed at one point due to the load,[48] and over 2
million downloads in its first weekend.[49] Rovio receives
approximately US$1 million per month in revenue from the advertising that
appears in the free Android version.[4]
According to Rovio, players log more than 1 million hours
of game time each day on the iOS version of the game,[12] 3.33 million
hours per day across all platforms[50] and 40 million
monthly active users.[51] In November
2010, digitaltrends.com
stated that "with 36 million downloads, Angry Birds is one of the
most mainstream games out right now".[6] MSNBC's video game news blog has written that
"[n]o other game app comes close" to having such a following.[52] The Christian Science Monitor has remarked, "Angry
Birds has been one of the great runaway hits of 2010".[7] In December 2010,
in honor of the one-year anniversary of the release of Angry Birds,
Rovio Mobile announced that the game had been downloaded 50 million times, with
more than 12 million on iOS devices[4] and 10 million on
Android.[53] By March 2012,
the game had reached 700 million downloads, including Angry Birds, Angry
Birds Seasons and Angry Birds Rio.[5] On Christmas Day
2011 alone, 6.5 million copies of the various Angry Birds games were
downloaded across all supported platforms.[54]
In the history of the Apple App Store, Angry Birds
holds the record for most days at the top of the Paid Apps chart, having spent
a total of 275 days at the No.1 position; Angry Birds Rio has been No.1
for a total of 23 days, ranking ninth on the list.[55] In Apple's
"iTunes Rewind" list of the most popular iTunes Store media for 2011,
Angry Birds was the top-selling paid iPhone/iPod app on the App Store
and its free version was the fourth-most downloaded.[56] The game's two
special-edition versions, Angry Birds Seasons and Angry Birds Rio,
were also ranked in the top 10 for paid iPhone/iPod apps, while its
iPad-exclusive Angry Birds HD versions were the top-selling and
top-downloaded iPad apps for the year.[56]
Awards
In February 2010, Angry Birds was a nominee for
the "Best Casual Game"
award at the 6th annual International Mobile Gaming Awards in Barcelona, Spain.[57] In September
2010, IGN named Angry Birds
as the fourth best iPhone game of all time.[58] In April 2011, Angry
Birds won both the "Best Game App" and "App of the
Year" at the UK Appy Awards.[59] At the 15th
edition of the Webby Awards,
Angry Birds was awarded "Best Game for Handheld Devices".[60]
Ports
Since its initial release for the Apple iPhone and iPod
Touch, Rovio has released versions of Angry Birds for a number of
additional devices. One of the first was for Nokia's N900 handset,[45] through its Ovi
Store. An iPad-exclusive version, Angry
Birds HD, was released at the same time the iPad itself was released in
April 2010.[61] In August 2010, Angry
Birds was made available to the Palm Pre phone running Palm's webOS operating system through its App Catalog
online store.[62] Symbian^3 phones
received a version of the game in October 2010,[63] which initially
includes only the "Poached Eggs" and "Mighty Hoax"
episodes.[64]
In May 2010, Rovio announced plans for a version for
devices using Google's Android operating system,[65] with a beta
version being released through the Android Market (now Google Play) in September
2010.[66] The full Android
version of the game was first released instead on GetJar in October 2010,[46] though it was
subsequently released on Android Market within days.[47] Rovio officials
noted that GetJar had a more global reach than Android Market, and GetJar's
availability on other smartphone platforms (including Symbian) would make
cross-platform promotion of the game easier.[46] Unlike the previous
versions, Angry Birds for Android is a free, ad-supported application,
as paid applications aren't available on Android in some nations.[47] An update called
"Bad Piggy Bank" enabled players to buy out the in-game ads.[53]
Near the end of 2010, Rovio stated that it was developing
new ports of the game, this time for devices outside of the mobile phone
market. In January 2011, three of those ports launched. First, Sony announced the release of Angry Birds
for its PlayStation
Portable handheld system in the form of a PlayStation
mini game that includes nearly 200 levels from the original game;
the version is also playable on the PlayStation 3.[39][67] Next, Rovio
announced the release of a Windows version of the game[68] on January 4, 2011,
available for sale exclusively from the Intel AppUp center, which
included 195 levels at launch and plans for exclusive features not available on
the smartphone versions.[69] One day after
the Windows version was released, the Mac App Store launched,
with one of the first offerings being its own version of Angry Birds.[70] Ports of Angry
Birds are also proposed for the Xbox 360,[4] Wii,[4] Nintendo DS[71] and Nintendo 3DS[72] systems, as is a
version for Facebook,[73] which was
expected to launch in May 2011.[20] A 3D-enhanced
version of the game was proposed for release on the LG Optimus 3D in October
2011.[74][75]
In October 2010, Microsoft suggested on one of its
websites that a Windows
Phone 7 version of Angry Birds was in development. Rovio
complained that Microsoft had not asked permission to make such a statement,
noting that at that time it had not committed to design a Windows Phone
version. Although Rovio asked Microsoft to revise its site to remove references
to the game,[46][76] a Windows Phone
7 version was ultimately released in June 2011.[77]
The popularity of Angry Birds has helped spread
the game to other devices that were not initially designed as gaming machines. Barnes & Noble
announced that a future update for its Nook Color e-reader will let the Android-based
device run applications, including a port of Angry Birds.[78] In June 2011,
Rovio announced plans to partner with Roku to include a version of Angry Birds
on a new model of its Internet-connected set-top box, the Roku 2 XS.[79]
In May 2011, an in-browser version of Angry Birds
was released in beta form. The game uses WebGL or Canvas
and is distributed through the Chrome Web Store for use
with Google's Chrome web browser. It runs on any WebGL- or Canvas-enabled
browser, and features exclusive content when played on Chrome, such as
exclusive levels[80] and the
so-called "Chrome Bombs". The version includes offline playability
and features 60 FPS
gameplay with a selection of graphics settings to accommodate a variety of
hardware capabilities.[81]
In October 2011, during Nokia World 2011, it was
announced that Angry Birds would come preloaded in Nokia's Asha series
of Series 40 touch handsets,
aimed at emerging markets such as India, China and South Africa.[82] In December
2011, Rovio released Angry Birds HD, Angry Birds Seasons HD and Angry
Birds Rio HD on the BlackBerry
PlayBook tablet from Research
In Motion.[83] In January 2012,
Angry Birds was released for devices using Bada OS.[84]
In February 2012, Angry Birds made its official
debut on Facebook.[21] The version
launched with two chapters from the original game, along with an exclusive
"Surf and Turf" chapter. The Facebook version adds a number of new
power-up items, with a maximum of two in use per level.[21] For example, the
Super Seeds power-up will make the launched bird larger and thus more powerful,
while the King Sling power-up makes the slingshot stronger and able to launch
birds higher and faster.[21] Power-ups can be
purchased in-game or gifted by friends who also play the game.[21] "Surf and
Turf" would later be included in the original mobile versions of the game,
starting with iOS.[35]
Special editions
Main article: List
of Angry Birds games
Angry Birds Seasons
Main article: Angry
Birds Seasons
In October 2010, Rovio released a special Halloween edition of game.[85] Angry Birds
Halloween, exclusive to iOS at the time and a separate application from the
main game, included new levels with Halloween-themed music and graphics.[85] In December
2010, Rovio released Angry Birds Seasons to iOS, Android and Symbian^3
devices.[86][87] Seasons
introduced 25 Christmas-themed levels, one for each day leading to the holiday,
similar to an Advent
calendar.[86][87] All versions
include the previously-exclusive Halloween levels and are offered as separate,
stand-alone paid applications, with the exception of the free, ad-supported
Android version;[88] Angry Birds
Halloween users on iOS received the Seasons levels as a free
upgrade.[86] The Halloween
version was given the episode title "Trick or Treat", while the
Christmas episode was entitled "Season's Greedings". In February 2011,
Rovio released a new Valentine's Day update to Angry Birds Seasons,
entitled "Hogs and Kisses", complete with new themed levels and
graphics, as well as the option to send Angry Birds-themed Valentine's
Day messages through Facebook.[89] In March 2011,
Rovio released a new St. Patrick's Day update, entitled "Go Green, Get
Lucky",[90] followed by an
Easter update, entitled "Easter Eggs", in April 2011[91] and a summer
update, "Summer Pignic", in June 2011.[92] In September
2011, "Mooncake Festival" was released in conjunction with the
Chinese Mid-Autumn
Festival.[93] On October 20th,
2011, "Ham'O'Ween" was released and introduced a new orange bird,
known as the globe bird.[94] In December
2011, "Wreck the Halls" was released with 25 Christmas-theme levels
also arranged in an Advent
calendar setting. "Year of the Dragon," a
Chinese New Year-themed update, was released on January 20, 2012 (around
midnight China
Standard Time or January 19, 4:00 p.m. GMT).[95] The update
includes an episode-exclusive Mighty Dragon. Its function is the same as the
Mighty Eagle, but it can be used even by iOS users who have not purchased the
Mighty Eagle, as well as Android and Symbian^3 users, whose versions do not
carry the Mighty Eagle.[96] Another new
update came on March 7, 2012 with the Japanese/Hanami-themed episode "Cherry Blossom".[97] This was
announced earlier by Rovio Entertainment's Antti Sonninen in the ADC Meetup
Sound event on February 29.[98]
Angry Birds Rio
Main article: Angry Birds Rio
Rovio launched Angry Birds Rio in March 2011.[99] In this version,
based on the 20th
Century Fox animated film Rio, the Angry Birds
characters appear in Rio de
Janeiro and interact with characters from the film.[99] Angry Birds
Rio initially included two chapters including a warehouse chapter entitled
"Smuggler's Den" and a jungle chapter entitled "Jungle
Escape", but it has been updated with additional chapters and levels
including a beach chapter entitled "Beach Volley", a carnival chapter
entitled "Carnival Upheaval", an airfield chapter entitled
"Airfield Chase", and one more chapter as "Smuggler's
Plane." Since release, Angry Birds Rio has been downloaded more
than 10 million times.[100]
Angry Birds Space
Main article: Angry Birds Space
In February 2012, Rovio announced a new game in the Angry
Birds franchise to be called Angry Birds Space.[101] Angry Birds
Space launched on March 22, 2012,[102] and features
elements from the preceding Angry Birds games as well as new gameplay
mechanics.[102] The game
contains 60 initial levels with extra levels available as free updates and
in-app purchases.[103] Angry Birds
Space launched on iOS, Android, PC, and Mac, with a Windows phone release
to follow.[101] For the launch
of the game, Rovio partnered with wireless carrier T-Mobile to erect a
300-foot tall contraption, with a 35-foot tall red bird resting in it at the Seattle
Space Needle to make it look like a giant slingshot.[104]
On March 8, 2012, new footage of Angry Birds Space,
presented by NASA astronaut Don Pettit onboard the International Space Station, was released. The video shows
that the game's stage is no longer flat, instead comprising several different
planets, each of which has its own gravitational field that affects the
trajectory of the birds after launch. [105]
NASA states that such collaboration with Rovio Mobile may
share the excitement of space with the Angry Birds community, educate users on
NASA’s programs, and create interactive educational experiences for the public.[106]
The game also features new bird characters that carry
their own unique abilities.[107] As of March 26,
2012 Angry Birds Space has been downloaded a total of 10 million times since
launching on iOS, Android, PC and Mac.
Angry Birds Magic
A special version of the game, called Angry Birds
Magic, will be developed exclusively for Nokia's NFC-enabled
Symbian devices. This version of the game will include functionality that will
unlock game levels upon contact with another NFC-enabled phone running the
game. A free version of Angry Birds Magic came preinstalled with all NFC
Symbian devices to be sold in 2011, starting with the Nokia C7. [108]
Other media
The Angry Birds characters have been referenced in
television programs throughout the world. The Israeli comedy show Eretz Nehederet (in
English: a Wonderful Country), one of the nation's
most popular TV programs, satirized recent failed Israeli-Palestinian peace attempts
by featuring the Angry Birds in peace negotiations with the pigs. Clips of the
segment went viral,
getting viewers from all around the world. The sketch received favorable
coverage from a variety of independent blogs such as digitaltrends.com,[6] hotair.com[109] and
intomobile.com,[110] as well as from
online news media agencies such as Haaretz,[111] The Christian Science Monitor,[7] The Guardian,[112] and MSNBC.[52] American television
hosts Conan O'
Brien, Jon Stewart
and Daniel Tosh have referenced
the game in comedy sketches on their respective series, Conan, The Daily Show, and Tosh.0.[113][114][115] In the 30 Rock episode "Plan B", guest
star Aaron Sorkin laments to Liz Lemon, "Our craft
is dying while people are playing Angry Birds and poking each other on
Facebook". He then provides a tip for Liz to improve her score in the
game. In February 2011, American journalist Jake Tapper mockingly
introduced U.S. Senator Chris Coons
as the "Angry Birds champion of the Senate" during the National
Press Club's annual dinner.[116] Some of the
game's more notable fans include Prime Minister David Cameron of the United
Kingdom, who plays the iPad version of the game, and author Salman Rushdie, who claims
he is "something of a master at Angry Birds".[117] Basketball star
Kevin Durant is an avid fan
of Angry Birds, and regularly plays other NBA stars in matches, although
he is weary of cheating.[118]
Angry Birds and its characters have
been featured in advertisements for other products. In March 2011, the
characters began appearing in a series of advertisements for Microsoft's Bing
search engine.[119] At the 2011 South
by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, Nokia used scrims on a downtown
building to project an advertisement for its new N8 handset that included
the game's characters.[120] A June 2011 T-Mobile advertisement
filmed in Barcelona, Spain included a real-life mock-up of the game in a city
plaza,[121] while Nokia
used the game in Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia
to promote an attempt to set a world record for the largest number of people
playing a single mobile game.[122] Finnair has also used Angry
Birds in their advertising, including taping an Airbus A340 airliner with
the Angry Birds figures and holding an Angry Birds tournament on board a flight
to Singapore. [123]
In September 2011, the Window
of the World theme park in Changsha, China opened an
unlicensed Angry Birds attraction.[124] Visitors to the
park use a large slingshot to launch stuffed versions of the bird characters at
green balloons representing the pigs.[124] Upon learning
of the attraction, Rovio Mobile was reported to be considering working with the
theme park to officially license it.[125]
The game's popularity has spawned knock-off and parody
games that utilize the same basic mechanics as Angry Birds. For example,
Angry Turds features monkeys hurling feces and other objects at hunters
who have stolen their babies.[126] Another game,
entitled Chicks'n'Vixens and released in beta form on Windows Phone 7
devices, replaces the birds and pigs with chickens and foxes, respectively.[127] The developer
of Chicks'n'Vixens intended the game as a challenge to Rovio Mobile,
which stated at the time that a Windows Phone port of Angry Birds would
not be ready until later in 2011.[127]
Angry Birds has inspired works of
religious analogy. A five-part essay entitled "Angry Birds™ Yoga – How to
Eliminate the Green Pigs in Your Life" was written by Giridhari Dasa of
the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
(i.e. Hare Krishna) of Brazil, utilizing the characters and gameplay mechanics
to explain various concepts of yoga in Gaudiya
Vaishnavism as understood and interpreted by the Hare Krishna.[128][129][130][131][132] The piece
attracted much media attention, in Brazil and abroad, for its unique method of
philosophico-religious presentation.[133][134][135][136] The piece was
also recognized and appreciated by Rovio Mobile's Peter Vesterbacka, who was
prompted to comment on Twitter, "Very cool! I can see Angry Birds Yoga
becoming a worldwide craze;-)".[128]
Rovio is investigating ways to expand the Angry Birds
brand, including merchandise, television shows and movies.[137] The game's
official website offers plush
versions of the birds and pigs for sale, along with T-shirts featuring the
game's logo and characters.[138] In May 2011, Mattel released an Angry Birds board game, entitled
"Angry Birds: Knock on Wood".[139] Over 10 million
Angry Birds toys have been sold thus far.[140] Rovio opened
the first official Angry Birds retail store in Helsinki on November 11, 2011
at 11:11am local time.[125] It expects to
open its next retail store somewhere in China, considered the game's
fastest-growing market.[125]
Mikael Hed, CEO of Rovio Mobile, has envisioned a feature
film in the stop-motion
animation style of Aardman
Animation.[137] To that end,
Rovio has purchased a Helsinki-based
animation studio to prepare Angry Birds short cartoons on Nickelodeon,[140] the first of
which was a Christmas special named "Wreck the Halls" that debuted in
December 2011.[141] Rovio also
hired David Maisel, former
executive producer of Marvel
Studios films such as Iron Man and Thor, to head up
production of feature-length films.[140] Hed
acknowledges that such a film would be years away, and that Rovio must keep the
characters relevant until then, by producing sequels or new ports of the
original game.[137] Rovio officials
have hinted that one such "sequel" will be told from the pigs' point
of view.[142]
In March 2012, Rovio announced plans for an Angry
Birds attraction due to open in summer 2012 at the Särkänniemi adventure park
in Finland.[143]
Also in March 2012, Formula 1 driver Heikki Kovalainen unveiled
an Angry Birds crash helmet that he will use in the 2012 season, following
sponsorship from Rovio. Kimi
Räikkönen has also a Angry Birds Space logo on his cap.
A TV series based on the game is expected to make its
debut in the second quarter of 2012. Initially it will consist of 52 episodes,
with a duration between two and a half and three minutes each. Also, a
full-length feature film is expected for release in 2013–2014.[144]
