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ANGRY BIRDS

Posted by MUHAMMED VALEED on May 18, 2013, 4:43 p.m.

Angry Birds is a video game franchise created by Finnish computer game developer Rovio Entertainment. Inspired primarily by a sketch of stylized wingless birds, the first game was first released for Apple's iOS in December 2009.[2] Over 12 million copies of the game have been purchased from Apple's App Store,[3] which has prompted the company to design versions for other touchscreen-based smartphones, including the Android, Symbian and Windows Phone operating systems. It has since expanded to video game consoles and for PCs.

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 1.7 billion downloads across all platforms and including both regular and special editions,[4] the game has been called "one of the most mainstream games out right now",[5] "one of the great runaway hits of 2010",[6] and "the largest mobile app success the world has seen so far".[7]

Contents

Game series

Angry Birds app icon on iOS.

Angry Birds

Main article: Angry Birds (video game)

The initial version of the game was released on iOS in December 2009. 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 types of birds become available, 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 also released stand-alone holiday and promotional versions of the game. There have been free upgrades released by Rovio:[8]

  • "Poached Eggs"
  • "Mighty Hoax"
  • "Danger Above"
  • "The Big Setup"
  • "Ham 'Em High"
  • "Mine and Dine"
  • "Birdday Party"
  • "Bad Piggies"
  • "Surf and Turf"
  • "Golden Eggs"

Special editions

Angry Birds Seasons

Main article: Angry Birds Seasons

This game contains several holiday-themed episodes:

  • "Trick or Treat": Halloween-themed levels
  • "Season's Greedings": Christmas-themed levels
  • "Hogs and Kisses": Valentine's Day-themed levels
  • "Go Green, Get Lucky": St. Patrick's Day-themed levels
  • "Easter Eggs": Easter-themed levels
  • "Summer Pignic": Summer-themed levels
  • "Mooncake Festival": Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival-themed levels
  • "Ham'o'ween": Halloween-themed levels
  • "Wreck the Halls": Christmas-themed levels
  • "Year of the Dragon": Chinese New Year-themed levels
  • "Cherry Blossom": Japanese-themed levels
  • "Piglantis": Summer-themed levels
  • "Back to School": School-themed levels
  • "Haunted Hogs": Halloween-themed levels
  • "Winter Wonderham": Christmas-themed levels

Angry Birds Rio

Main article: Angry Birds Rio

Angry Birds Rio was launched in March 2011.[9] The game is based on the 20th Century Fox animated film Rio.[9] There are several episodes included:

  • "Smuggler's Den"
  • "Jungle Escape"
  • "Beach Volley"
  • "Carnival Upheaval"
  • "Airfield Chase"
  • "Smuggler's Plane"
  • "Golden Beachball"
  • "Market Mayhem"
  • "Trophy Room"

Angry Birds Space

Main article: Angry Birds Space

A new game in the Angry Birds franchise called Angry Birds Space was launched on March 22, 2012,[10] The game features elements from the preceding Angry Birds games as well as new gameplay mechanics.[10] The 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.[11] The episodes included are:

  • "Pig Bang"
  • "Cold Cuts"
  • "Fry Me to the Moon"
  • "Utopia"
  • "Red Planet"
  • "Pig Dipper"
  • "Eggsteroids"
  • "Danger Zone"

Angry Birds Star Wars

Main article: Angry Birds Star Wars

Angry Birds Star Wars was announced in October 8, 2012, and was released on November 8, 2012. Merchandise related to the game was released on October 17, and October 28. The game is a crossover with the Star Wars original trilogy, and casts the Angry Birds as the Rebels and the Bad Piggies as the Empire. The chapters included are:

  • "Tatooine"
  • "Death Star"
  • "Hoth"
  • "Cloud City"
  • "Boba Fett Missions"
  • "Path of the Jedi"
  • "Bonus"

Spin-Off

Main article: Bad Piggies

A spin-off to Angry Birds, called Bad Piggies, was released on September 27, 2012 on Mac, Android and iOS platforms. The game is from the Pig's point of view, and involves building vehicles in order to reach a goal point.

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,[5] hotair.com[12] and intomobile.com,[13] as well as from online news media agencies such as Haaretz,[14] The Christian Science Monitor,[6] The Guardian,[15] and MSNBC.[16] 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.[17][18][19] 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.[20] 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".[21] 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.[22] In August 2011, the Milwaukee Brewers played the Angry Birds theme song during the pre-game introductions of the arch-rival St. Louis Cardinals players, in reference to former Cardinals' manager Tony LaRussa's propensity to bean opposing players. Angry Birds also appears briefly, for comic relief, during a scene in the 2013 film G.I. Joe: Retaliation, in which the villain of the film plays the game while waiting for the world leaders' response to his threats of annihilation.

A screenshot from the T-Mobile advertisement. The advertisement was shown in Greece by Cosmote.

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.[23] 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.[24] A June 2011 T-Mobile advertisement filmed in Barcelona, Spain included a real-life mock-up of the game in a city plaza,[25] 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.[26] 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.[27] Rovio has also prepared a number of web-based promotional variants of Angry Birds themed around creations of other companies, such as Finnish snack company Fazer,[28] Spanish pizza delivery chain Telepizza,[29] and Japanese television network Fuji TV,[30] as well as promotions of American brands including Cheetos,[31] Wonderful Pistachios[32] and Coca-Cola.[33]

One of the 2012 New Models for Hot Wheels cars from Mattel is based on the Red Bird from Angry Birds. The package card bears both the Hot Wheels and Angry Birds logo.

The game's characters have been used, officially or otherwise, in amusement park attractions. In September 2011, the Window of the World theme park in Changsha, China opened an unlicensed Angry Birds attraction.[34] Visitors to the park use a large slingshot to launch stuffed versions of the bird characters at green balloons representing the pigs.[34] Upon learning of the attraction, Rovio Mobile was reported to be considering working with the theme park to officially license it.[35] In March 2012, Rovio announced plans for an official Angry Birds land (opened April 28, 2012) at the Särkänniemi adventure park in Finland.[36]

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. Angry Birds has teamed up with the Lotus F1 Team for the upcoming 2012 Monaco Grand Prix, with its logo on the top of each Lotus Renault F1 car's nosecone,[37] as well as a promotional web-based version of Angry Birds in honor of Kovalainen.[38]

HockeyBird, an angry hockey playing bird, was the official mascot of the 2012 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships. It was designed by Toni Kysenius and Rovio Entertainment.[39]

Angry Birds Land in Särkänniemi, Finland.

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.[40] Another game, entitled Chicks'n'Vixens and released in beta form on Windows Phone devices, replaces the birds and pigs with chickens and foxes, respectively.[41] 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.[41]

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.[42][43][44][45][46] The piece attracted much media attention, in Brazil and abroad, for its unique method of philosophico-religious presentation.[47][48][49][50] 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;-)".[42]

Rovio is investigating ways to expand the Angry Birds brand, including merchandise, television shows and movies.[51] 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.[52] In May 2011, Mattel released an Angry Birds board game, entitled "Angry Birds: Knock on Wood".[53] Over 10 million Angry Birds toys have been sold thus far.[54] Rovio opened the first official Angry Birds retail store in Helsinki on November 11, 2011 at 11:11am local time.[35] It expects to open its next retail store somewhere in China, considered the game's fastest-growing market.[35]

Mikael Hed, CEO of Rovio Mobile, has envisioned a feature film in the stop-motion animation style of Aardman Animation.[51] To that end, Rovio has purchased a Helsinki-based animation studio to prepare Angry Birds short cartoons on the Nicktoons station's Nickelodeon Extra,[54] the first of which was a Christmas special named "Wreck the Halls" that debuted in December 2011.[55] 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.[54] 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.[51] Rovio officials have hinted that one such "sequel" will be told from the pigs' point of view.[56]

On March 20, 2012, National Geographic published a paperback book titled Angry Birds Space: A Furious Flight Into The Final Frontier[57][58] shortly before the release of Angry Birds Space which became available on March 22, 2012.

At Spring 2012, Olvi started to manufacture Angry Birds softdrink, when It made a deal with Rovio for making of them.[59] First there came two different tastes, Tropic (tropical fruits).[59] and Paradise (pineapple-mandarin).[59] At September 2012 Olvi released two new tastes to the softdrink collection, they were Lagoon (pear-apple) and Space Comet (orange-cola).[60][61]

Angry Birds Toons, a TV series based on the game will make its debut on March 16, 2013. Initially it will consist of 52 episodes, with a duration between two and a half and three minutes each. Toons will be released through third-party video distribution platforms, including Comcast’s Xfinity On-Demand in the US, Samsung Smart TVs, and Roku set-top boxes. It will also be available in a number of countries on traditional television broadcasts. Rovio will also be bringing Angry Birds Toons on the mobile devices by adding an additional Toons channel on the Angry Birds apps homescreen.[62]

A 3D computer-animated film has been officially announced for release in 2016.[63]

See also

Portal icon Finland portal
Portal icon Video games portal
Portal icon Angry Birds portal

References

  1. ^ Promotional trailer
  2. ^ "Angry Birds Review". IGN.com. February 11, 2010. Retrieved March 24, 2011.
  3. ^ "The Supremely Addicting Angry Birds Hits 42 Million Free and Paid Downloads". SymbianFreak.com. October 22, 2010. Archived from the original on December 18, 2010. Retrieved December 11, 2010.
  4. ^ John Gaudiosi (March 11, 2012). "Rovio Execs Explain What Angry Birds Toons Channel Opens Up To Its 1.7 Billion Gamers". Forbes.com. Forbes.com LLC. Retrieved March 12, 2012.
  5. ^ a b Van Camp, Jeffrey (November 23, 2010). "Israeli Angry Birds satire goes viral". digitaltrends.com. Retrieved November 26, 2010.
  6. ^ a b Shaer, Matthew (November 29, 2010). "Angry Birds bound for Xbox, PlayStation". Archived from the original on December 04 2010. Retrieved November 29, 2010.
  7. ^ "Angry Birds will be bigger than Mickey Mouse and Mario. Is there a success formula for apps?". MIT Entrepreneurship review. February 18, 2011. Retrieved March 27, 2011.
  8. ^ "iOS Angry Birds Mighty Eagle On Its Way: Video". phonesreview.co.uk. November 25, 2010. Archived from the original on January 02 2011. Retrieved November 30, 2010.
  9. ^ a b Paul Suarez (January 29, 2011). "'Angry Birds Rio' Release Teams With Hollywood". PCWorld.com. Archived from the original on February 05 2011. Retrieved February 4, 2011.
  10. ^ a b Jeff Bertolucci (February 17, 2012). "Angry Birds in Space: The Final Merchandising Frontier?". PCWorld.com. Retrieved February 18, 2012.
  11. ^ "First Angry Birds Space Gameplay Footage Debuts from Orbit". Kotaku. March 8, 2012. Retrieved March 8, 2012.
  12. ^ "Breakthrough: Peace talks begin to settle bitter longstanding conflict". hotair.com. November 25, 2010. Archived from the original on November 28, 2010. Retrieved November 26, 2010.
  13. ^ "The Angry Birds Peace Treaty didn’t turn out so well". intomobile.com. November 23, 2010. Retrieved November 26, 2010.
  14. ^ "Israeli satire show goes viral with Angry Bird take on peace talks". Haaretz. November 22, 2010. Archived from the original on November 24, 2010. Retrieved November 26, 2010.
  15. ^ Stewart, Keith (November 23, 2010). "Angry Birds Treaty brings casual gaming into the world of satire". The Guardian (UK). Archived from the original on November 25, 2010. Retrieved November 29, 2010.
  16. ^ Popkin, Helen A.S. (November 22, 2010). "'Angry Birds' fail to negotiate peace treaty". MSNBC. Retrieved November 29, 2010.
  17. ^ Conan O'Brien (host) (December 15, 2010) (in English). Conan's Message to Finland (Television production). TBS. Event occurs at 1:38. Archived from the original on December 28, 2010. Retrieved December 21, 2010.
  18. ^ Jon Stewart (host) (February 16, 2011). Intro – Watson Competes on Jeopardy (Television production).
  19. ^ Daniel Tosh (January 11, 2011). Tosh.0: Angry Birds (Television production).
  20. ^ Mirkinson, Jack (February 10, 2011). "Chris Coons Mocks Jake Tapper". Huffington Post (USA). Retrieved February 17, 2011.
  21. ^ Nick Wingfield (November 30, 2010). "Why We Can't Stop Playing". The Wall Street Journal (Dow Jones & Company, Inc.). Retrieved March 27, 2011.
  22. ^ Kevin Durant @KDThunderup. "Man they be cheatin terrible on angry birds...make me wanna throw my phone out the window.". celebritytweet.com. Retrieved May 6, 2012.
  23. ^ Angry Birds Bing Video – Episode 1. Rovio Mobile. Retrieved March 7, 2011.
  24. ^ Angry Birds On A 15 Storey Building At SXSW. March 12, 2011. Retrieved June 9, 2011.
  25. ^ T-Mobile Angry Birds Live. Retrieved June 9, 2011.
  26. ^ Lim Yung Hui (June 11, 2011). "Guinness World Record at Nokia World’s Biggest Angry Birds Playground in Kuala Lumpur". greyreview.com. Retrieved December 14, 2011.
  27. ^ Matt Molnar (September 21, 2011). "Angry Birds Take Over Finnair Flight to Singapore - NYCAviation". Retrieved January 22, 2012.
  28. ^ Angry Birds Volcano
  29. ^ Angry Birds ?elepizza
  30. ^ Angry Birds Fujitv
  31. ^ Angry Birds Cheetos
  32. ^ Angry Birds Pistachios
  33. ^ Angry Birds Coca-Cola
  34. ^ a b Charles Cooper (September 16, 2011). "China steals "Angry Birds" for theme park". CBS News. Retrieved November 12, 2011.
  35. ^ a b c "Angry Birds Opens First Store". Yahoo.com. November 11, 2011. Retrieved November 12, 2011.
  36. ^ Updated 12:57 2 Mar 2012 by Andrew Wooden (2012-03-02). "Angry Birds Land to hit theme park in Finland". T3. Retrieved 2012-04-24.
  37. ^ Watch Out ! The Birds Have Landed ! 'Lotus F1 Team Angry Birds' Game Goes Live !. Lotus F1 Team (2012-05-23). Retrieved on 2012-09-05.
  38. ^ Angry Birds Heikki
  39. ^ "Born: Hockey Bird!". Iihf.com. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
  40. ^ Marc Flores (January 31, 2011). "Bored with Angry Birds? Try Angry Turds". IntoMobile.com. Retrieved February 5, 2011.
  41. ^ a b Chris Davies (February 2, 2011). "Chicks’n'Vixens brings Angry Birds clone to WP7 as Rovio protest". Slashgear.com. Retrieved February 5, 2011.
  42. ^ a b "Angry Birds™ Yoga – How to Eliminate the Green Pigs in Your Life, Part I". Giridhari Dasa. Retrieved June 26, 2011.
  43. ^ "Angry Birds™ Yoga – How to Eliminate the Green Pigs in Your Life, Part II". Giridhari Dasa. Retrieved June 26, 2011.
  44. ^ "Angry Birds™ Yoga – How to Eliminate the Green Pigs in Your Life, Part III". Giridhari Dasa. Retrieved June 26, 2011.
  45. ^ "Angry Birds™ Yoga – How to Eliminate the Green Pigs in Your Life, Part IV". Giridhari Dasa. Retrieved June 26, 2011.
  46. ^ "Angry Birds™ Yoga – How to Eliminate the Green Pigs in Your Life, Final Part". Giridhari Dasa. Retrieved June 26, 2011.
  47. ^ Kendall, Paul (February 7, 2011). "Angry Birds: the story behind iPhone's gaming phenomenon". London: telegraph.co.uk. Archived from the original on July 26, 2011. Retrieved June 26, 2011.
  48. ^ Name (required) (2011-06-15). "Angry Birds Yoga Making a Splash in Brazil | Giridhari’s Blog". Pandavas.wordpress.com. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
  49. ^ "topics". Dzai.com.br. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
  50. ^ Smullen, Madhava (June 25, 2011). "Is ISKCON Devotee's "Angry Birds Yoga" Set To Go Viral?". news.iskcon.com. Retrieved June 26, 2011.
  51. ^ a b c Marc Graser (August 24, 2010). "Angry Birds flies with Hollywood". Variety. Archived from the original on October 28, 2010. Retrieved November 29, 2010.
  52. ^ "Angry Birds Shop". Rovio.com. Archived from the original on December 09 2010. Retrieved November 30, 2010.
  53. ^ Brian Stetler (January 7, 2011). "Angry Birds at C.E.S.". New York Times. Retrieved January 8, 2011.
  54. ^ a b c "Angry Birds Aim For World Domination". FoxNews.com. 2011-10-19. Retrieved 2011-10-20.
  55. ^ Eric Goldman (December 16, 2011). "Angry Birds Short Film Airing on Nicktoons". IGN.com. Retrieved December 19, 2011.
  56. ^ Bosker, Bianca (November 17, 2010). "Angry Birds sequel will reveal pigs' point of view". Huffington Post (USA). Retrieved January 6, 2011.
  57. ^ Nathan Brown (19). "National Geographic publishing Angry Birds book". Edge. Future Publishing Limited. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
  58. ^ Victoria Jaggard (8). ""Angry Birds Space" Q&A: Your Guide to the Angry Universe". National Geographic News. National Geographic Society. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
  59. ^ a b c ""Olvi pistää Angry Birdsit tölkkiin" (Finnish)[[Category:Articles with Finnish language external links]]". 9. Wikilink embedded in URL title (help)
  60. ^ ""Angry Birds Lagoon" (Finnish)[[Category:Articles with Finnish language external links]]". 9. Wikilink embedded in URL title (help)
  61. ^ ""Angry Birds Space Comet" (Finnish)[[Category:Articles with Finnish language external links]]". 9. Wikilink embedded in URL title (help)
  62. ^ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Forbes-1.7B (see the help page).
  63. ^ "John Cohen to Produce Angry Birds Movie for 2016". ComingSoon.net. December 11, 2012. Retrieved December 11, 2012.

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