Angry Birds
Encyclopedia
Angry Birds is a 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. Since that time, over 12 million copies of the game have been purchased from Apple's App Store, which has prompted the company to design versions for other touchscreen-based smartphone
s, 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 playfield. 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.
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 500 million downloads across all platforms and including both regular and special editions, the game has been called "one of the most mainstream games out right now", "one of the great runaway hits of 2010", and "the largest mobile app success the world has seen so far".
s that have been taken by a group of hungry green pigs
. On each level, the pigs are sheltered by structures made of various materials such as wood
, ice
and stone
, and the objective of the game is to eliminate all the pigs in 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. 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. As the player advances through the game, additional types of birds become available with specific birds being effective against particular materials. Some birds have special abilities that may be activated by the player after the bird has been launched. For example, a blue bird can separate into three small birds, a black bird explodes, and a white bird can drop explosive eggs. 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, while pigs with crowns can take the most damage.
Each level starts with the number, types, and order of birds pre-determined. 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. 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.
was in the news, so the staff made the birds' enemies pigs. 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
. The initial cost to develop Angry Birds was estimated to exceed €
100,000, not including money spent on the subsequent updates. For the iOS version, Rovio partnered with distributor Chillingo
to publish the game to the App Store. 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.
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. The number of combinations of software version, processor
speed and even user interface
s was significantly larger than that for the earlier iOS version. Ultimately, the team settled on a minimum set of requirements, although that left nearly 30 types of Android phones unable to run the game, including some newly released phones. One month after the initial release on Android, Rovio Mobile began designing a simpler version of the game for these other devices.
In early 2010, Rovio began developing a variant of Angry Birds for Facebook. The project became one of the company's largest, with development taking over a year. 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.” The Facebook version is expected to incorporate social-gaming concepts and in-game purchases and was scheduled to enter beta-testing in April 2011.
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.
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. "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. "Ham 'Em High" contained 15 Wild West-themed levels in a single chapter, with updates in February 2011 and March 2011 each adding one new 15-level chapter. "Ham 'Em High" also introduced the Mighty Eagle, a new bird that may be used once per hour to clear any uncompleted levels. 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.
The Mighty Eagle is offered as a one-time, in-game purchase, and is currently available only for iOS, as its App Store customers have iTunes
accounts with pre-linked credit cards. Rovio has begun testing an Android update called the "Bad Piggy Bank" with the Elisa wireless service in Finland, 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.
The sixth episode, "Mine and Dine", was released on June 16, 2011 with 15 new mining
-themed levels and a new Golden Egg. An August 2011 update expanded "Mine and Dine" with two more 15-level chapters.
's Keith Andrew said Angry Birds is "a nugget of puzzling purity dished out with relish aplenty". 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".
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". 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". 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." 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".
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, where it remained until October 2010. 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. The Android version of the game was downloaded more than 1 million times within the first 24 hours of release, even though the site crashed at one point due to the load, and over 2 million downloads in its first weekend. Rovio receives approximately US$1 million per month in revenue from the advertising that appears in the free Android version.
According to Rovio, players log more than 1 million hours of game time each day on the iOS version of the game, 3.33 million hours per day across all platforms and 40 million monthly active users. In November 2010, digitaltrends.com
stated that "with 36 million downloads, Angry Birds is one of the most mainstream games out right now". MSNBC
's video game news blog has written that "[n]o other game app comes close" to having such a following. The Christian Science Monitor
has remarked, "Angry Birds has been one of the great runaway hits of 2010". 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 and 10 million on Android. By November 2011, the game had reached 500 million downloads, including Angry Birds, Angry Birds Seasons and Angry Birds Rio. 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.
" award at the 6th annual International Mobile Gaming Awards in Barcelona
, Spain. In September 2010, IGN
named Angry Birds as the fourth best iPhone game of all time. In April 2011, Angry Birds won both the "Best Game App" and "App of the Year" at the UK Appy Awards
. At the 15th edition of the Webby Awards, Angry Birds was awarded "Best Game for Handheld Devices". And it is proven to be one of best iPhone game apps on the market as of 2011.
handset, 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. 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. Symbian^3 phones received a version of the game in October 2010, which initially includes only the "Poached Eggs" and "Mighty Hoax" episodes.
In May 2010, Rovio announced plans for a version for devices using Google's
Android operating system, with a beta version being released through the Android Market
in September 2010. The full Android version of the game was first released instead on GetJar
in October 2010, though it was subsequently released on Android Market within days. Rovio officials noted that GetJar had a more global reach than Android Market, and GetJar's availability on other smartphone platforms (including Symbian and Windows Phone 7
) would make cross-platform promotion of the game easier. Unlike the previous versions, Angry Birds for Android is a free, ad-supported application, as paid applications aren't supported on Android in some nations. An update called "Bad Piggy Bank" enabled players to buy out the in-game ads.
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. Next, Rovio announced the release of a Windows
version of the game on January 4, 2011, available for sale exclusively from Intel's AppUp center, which included 195 levels at launch and plans for exclusive features not available on the smartphone versions. 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. Ports of Angry Birds are also proposed for the Xbox 360
, Wii
, Nintendo DS
and Nintendo 3DS
systems, as is a version for Facebook, which was expected to launch in May 2011.
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, a Windows Phone 7 version was ultimately released, on June 29, 2011.
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. 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
expected in the 3rd quarter of 2011.
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 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.
On 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.
edition of game. 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. In December 2010, Rovio released Angry Birds Seasons to iOS, Android and Symbian^3 devices. Seasons introduced 25 Christmas-themed levels, one for each day leading to the holiday, similar to an Advent calendar
. 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; Angry Birds Halloween users on iOS received the Seasons levels as a free upgrade. 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. In March 2011, Rovio released a new St. Patrick's Day update, entitled "Go Green, Get Lucky", followed by an Easter update, entitled "Easter Eggs", in April 2011 and a summer update, "Summer Pignic", in June 2011. In September 2011, "Mooncake Festival" was released in conjunction with the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival
. In October 2011, "Ham'O'Ween" was released and introduced a new orange bird, known as the globe bird.
In December 2011, "Wreck the Halls" was released with 25 Christmas-theme levels also arranged in an Advent calendar
setting.
animated film Rio, the Angry Birds characters appear in Rio de Janeiro
and interact with characters from the film. 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 Smugglers Plane. Since release, Angry Birds Rio has been downloaded more than 10 million times.
'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 will come preinstalled with all NFC Symbian devices to be sold in 2011, starting with the Nokia C7
.
(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
, hotair.com
and intomobile.com, as well as from online news media agencies such as Haaretz
, The Christian Science Monitor
, The Guardian
, and MSNBC
. 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
. In the 30 Rock
episode "Plan B"
, guest star Aaron Sorkin
laments, "Our craft is dying while people are playing Angry Birds and poking each other on Facebook." 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. 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". Basketball star Kevin Durant
is a huge fan of Angry Birds, and regularly plays other NBA stars in matches, although he is weary of cheating.
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. At the 2011 South by Southwest
festival in Austin, Texas
, Nokia used scrim
s on a downtown building to project an advertisement for its new N8 handset
that included the game's characters. A June 2011 T-Mobile
advertisement filmed in Barcelona, Spain included a real-life mock-up of the game in a city plaza.
In September 2011, the Window of the World
theme park in Changsha, China
opened an unlicensed Angry Birds attraction. Visitors to the park use a large slingshot to launch stuffed versions of the bird characters at green balloons representing the pigs. Upon learning of the attraction, Rovio Mobile was reported to be considering working with the theme park to officially license it.
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. 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. 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 wouldn't be ready until later in 2011.
Angry Birds has inspired works of philosophical analogy. A five-part essay entitled "Angry Birds™ Yoga – How to Eliminate the Green Pigs in Your Life" was written by Giridhari Dasa of ISKCON Brazil, utilizing the characters and gameplay mechanics to explain various concepts of yoga
philosophy as understood by Gaudiya Vaishnavism
. The piece attracted much media attention, in Brazil and abroad, for its unique method of philosophical presentation. The piece was also recognized and appreciated by Rovio Mobile's Peter Vesterbacka, who was prompted to comment, "Very cool! I can see Angry Birds Yoga becoming a worldwide craze;-) ".
Rovio is investigating ways to expand the Angry Birds brand, including merchandise, television shows and movies. The game's official website offers plush versions of the birds and pigs for sale, along with T-shirt
s featuring the game's logo and characters. In May 2011, Mattel
released an Angry Birds board game
, entitled "Angry Birds: Knock on Wood". Over 10 million Angry Birds toys have been sold thus far. Rovio opened the first official Angry Birds retail store in Helsinki on November 11, 2011 at 11:11am local time. It expects to open its next retail store somewhere in China, considered the game's fastest-growing market.
Mikael Hed, CEO of Rovio Mobile, has envisioned a feature film in the stop-motion animation style of Aardman Animation
. To that end, Rovio has purchased a Helsinki-based animation studio to prepare Angry Birds short cartoons, and they have hired David Maisel
, executive producer of Marvel Studios
films such as Iron Man
and Thor
, to head up production of feature-length films. 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. Rovio officials have hinted that one such "sequel" will be told from the pigs' point of view.
Rovio mobile
Rovio Entertainment Ltd. or Rovio is a Finnish computer game developer founded in 2003 as Relude, and in 2005 renamed as Rovio, based in Espoo...
. Inspired primarily by a sketch of stylized wingless birds, the game was first released for Apple's iOS in December 2009. Since that time, over 12 million copies of the game have been purchased from Apple's App Store, which has prompted the company to design versions for other touchscreen-based smartphone
Smartphone
A smartphone is a high-end mobile phone built on a mobile computing platform, with more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a contemporary feature phone. The first smartphones were devices that mainly combined the functions of a personal digital assistant and a mobile phone or camera...
s, such as those using the Android operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
, among others.
In the game, players use a slingshot
Slingshot
A slingshot, shanghai, flip, bean shooter or catapult is a small hand-powered projectile weapon. The classic form consists of a Y-shaped frame held in the off hand, with two rubber strips attached to the uprights. The other ends of the strips lead back to a pocket which holds the projectile...
to launch birds at pigs stationed on or within various structures, with the intent of destroying all the pigs on the playfield. 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.
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 500 million downloads across all platforms and including both regular and special editions, the game has been called "one of the most mainstream games out right now", "one of the great runaway hits of 2010", and "the largest mobile app success the world has seen so far".
Gameplay
In Angry Birds, players control a flock of multi-colored birds that are attempting to retrieve eggEgg (biology)
An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo first begins to develop. In most birds, reptiles, insects, molluscs, fish, and monotremes, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum, which is expelled from the body and permitted to develop outside the body until the developing...
s that have been taken by a group of hungry green pigs
PIGS
PIGS is a four letter acronym that can stand for:* PIGS , Phosphatidylinositol glycan anchor biosynthesis, class S, a human gene* PIGS , the economies of Portugal, Italy , Greece and Spain...
. On each level, the pigs are sheltered by structures made of various materials such as wood
Wood
Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...
, ice
Ice
Ice is water frozen into the solid state. Usually ice is the phase known as ice Ih, which is the most abundant of the varying solid phases on the Earth's surface. It can appear transparent or opaque bluish-white color, depending on the presence of impurities or air inclusions...
and stone
STONe
is a Japanese manga written and illustrated by Sin-Ichi Hiromoto. Kodansha released the two bound volumes of the manga on April 23, 2002 and August 23, 2002, respectively.The manga is licensed for an English-languague released in North America be Tokyopop...
, and the objective of the game is to eliminate all the pigs in the level. Using a slingshot
Slingshot
A slingshot, shanghai, flip, bean shooter or catapult is a small hand-powered projectile weapon. The classic form consists of a Y-shaped frame held in the off hand, with two rubber strips attached to the uprights. The other ends of the strips lead back to a pocket which holds the projectile...
, 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. 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. As the player advances through the game, additional types of birds become available with specific birds being effective against particular materials. Some birds have special abilities that may be activated by the player after the bird has been launched. For example, a blue bird can separate into three small birds, a black bird explodes, and a white bird can drop explosive eggs. 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, while pigs with crowns can take the most damage.
Each level starts with the number, types, and order of birds pre-determined. 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. 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 in the form of a simulated screenshot featuring some angry-looking birds with no visible legs or wings. While the picture gave no clue as to what type of game was being played, the staff liked the characters, and the team elected to design a game around them. As the concept of Angry Birds was developed, the staff realized the birds needed an enemy. At the time, the "swine flu" epidemic2009 flu pandemic
The 2009 flu pandemic was an influenza pandemic, and the second of the two pandemics involving H1N1 influenza virus , albeit in a new version...
was in the news, so the staff made the birds' enemies pigs. The game's mechanics were inspired by other petrary
Petrary
Petrary is a generic term for a medieval stone-throwing siege engine , used to hurl large rocks against the walls of the besieged city, in an attempt to break down the wall and create an entry point....
physics games that have been released over the years, including another 2009 release, Crush the Castle
Crush the Castle
Crush the Castle is an action flash game developed by Armor Games. The flash version was released on April 28, 2009, and versions for the iPhone and iPod Touch were released on January 19, 2010. The goal of the game is to injure all inhabitants of various castles by using a trebuchet to fling large...
. The initial cost to develop Angry Birds was estimated to exceed €
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
100,000, not including money spent on the subsequent updates. For the iOS version, Rovio partnered with distributor Chillingo
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...
to publish the game to the App Store. 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.
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. The number of combinations of software version, processor
Central processing unit
The central processing unit is the portion of a computer system that carries out the instructions of a computer program, to perform the basic arithmetical, logical, and input/output operations of the system. The CPU plays a role somewhat analogous to the brain in the computer. The term has been in...
speed and even user interface
User interface
The user interface, in the industrial design field of human–machine interaction, is the space where interaction between humans and machines occurs. The goal of interaction between a human and a machine at the user interface is effective operation and control of the machine, and feedback from the...
s was significantly larger than that for the earlier iOS version. Ultimately, the team settled on a minimum set of requirements, although that left nearly 30 types of Android phones unable to run the game, including some newly released phones. One month after the initial release on Android, Rovio Mobile began designing a simpler version of the game for these other devices.
In early 2010, Rovio began developing a variant of Angry Birds for Facebook. The project became one of the company's largest, with development taking over a year. 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
Zynga
Zynga is a social network game developer located in San Francisco, United States. The company develops browser-based games that work both stand-alone and as application widgets on social networking websites such as Facebook and MySpace....
. They can’t just take FarmVille
FarmVille
FarmVille is a farming simulation social network game developed by Zynga in 2009. It is similar to Happy Farm, Farm Town,, and older games such as the Harvest Moon series...
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.” The Facebook version is expected to incorporate social-gaming concepts and in-game purchases and was scheduled to enter beta-testing in April 2011.
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.
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.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. "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. "Ham 'Em High" contained 15 Wild West-themed levels in a single chapter, with updates in February 2011 and March 2011 each adding one new 15-level chapter. "Ham 'Em High" also introduced the Mighty Eagle, a new bird that may be used once per hour to clear any uncompleted levels. 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.
The Mighty Eagle is offered as a one-time, in-game purchase, and is currently available only for iOS, as its App Store customers have iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
accounts with pre-linked credit cards. Rovio has begun testing an Android update called the "Bad Piggy Bank" with the Elisa wireless service in Finland, 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.
The sixth episode, "Mine and Dine", was released on June 16, 2011 with 15 new mining
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
-themed levels and a new Golden Egg. An August 2011 update expanded "Mine and Dine" with two more 15-level chapters.
Reception
Reviews of Angry Birds have been highly positive. Chris Holt of Macworld called the game "an addictive, clever, and challenging puzzler", and Pocket GamerPocket Gamer
Pocket Gamer is a website and video game magazine that focuses on handheld video games. It was launched in 2005 and is published by Steel Media. The publication covers all major portable and mobile gaming formats, including iPhone, Android, PSP and the various versions of the Nintendo DS and was...
's Keith Andrew said Angry Birds is "a nugget of puzzling purity dished out with relish aplenty". Jonathan Liu of Wired News
Wired News
Wired News is an online technology news website, formerly known as HotWired, that split off from Wired magazine when the magazine was purchased by Condé Nast Publishing in the 1990s. Wired News was owned by Lycos not long after the split, until Condé Nast purchased Wired News on July 11, 2006...
wrote that "going for the maximum number of stars certainly adds a lot of replay value to a fairly extensive game".
Reviews for the first versions of the game that did not use a touch-screen, the PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
/PSP
PlayStation Portable
The is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on , 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...
version and the Windows version, have also been positive, but with some disagreement over the different interfaces. Will Greenwald of PC Magazine
PC Magazine
PC Magazine is a computer magazine published by Ziff Davis Publishing Holdings Inc. A print edition was published from 1982 to January 2009...
, 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". Conversely, Greg Miller of IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
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". 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." 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".
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, where it remained until October 2010. 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. The Android version of the game was downloaded more than 1 million times within the first 24 hours of release, even though the site crashed at one point due to the load, and over 2 million downloads in its first weekend. Rovio receives approximately US$1 million per month in revenue from the advertising that appears in the free Android version.
According to Rovio, players log more than 1 million hours of game time each day on the iOS version of the game, 3.33 million hours per day across all platforms and 40 million monthly active users. In November 2010, digitaltrends.com
Digital Trends
DigitalTrends.com is a high-tech lifestyle, technology news and information website created by Ian Bell and Dan Gaul in June 2001. It publishes news, reviews, guides, how-to articles, descriptive videos and podcasts on technology and consumer electronics products...
stated that "with 36 million downloads, Angry Birds is one of the most mainstream games out right now". MSNBC
MSNBC
MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
's video game news blog has written that "[n]o other game app comes close" to having such a following. The Christian Science Monitor
The Christian Science Monitor
The Christian Science Monitor is an international newspaper published daily online, Monday to Friday, and weekly in print. It was started in 1908 by Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist. As of 2009, the print circulation was 67,703.The CSM is a newspaper that covers...
has remarked, "Angry Birds has been one of the great runaway hits of 2010". 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 and 10 million on Android. By November 2011, the game had reached 500 million downloads, including Angry Birds, Angry Birds Seasons and Angry Birds Rio. 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.
Awards
In February 2010, Angry Birds was a nominee for the "Best Casual GameCasual game
A casual game is a video game targeted at or used by a mass audience of casual gamers. Casual games can have any type of gameplay, and fit in any genre. They are typically distinguished by their simple rules and lack of commitment required in contrast to more complex hardcore games...
" award at the 6th annual International Mobile Gaming Awards in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
, Spain. In September 2010, IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
named Angry Birds as the fourth best iPhone game of all time. In April 2011, Angry Birds won both the "Best Game App" and "App of the Year" at the UK Appy Awards
Appy Awards
The Appy Awards, first presented on 11 April 2011, mark successful and popular applications for mobile devices. Sponsored by The Carphone Warehouse, Europe's largest independent mobile phone retailer, awards were presented in ten categories in a ceremony hosted by television presenters Richard...
. At the 15th edition of the Webby Awards, Angry Birds was awarded "Best Game for Handheld Devices". And it is proven to be one of best iPhone game apps on the market as of 2011.
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 N900Nokia N900
The Nokia N900 is a smartphone made by Nokia. It supersedes the Nokia N810. Its default operating system, Maemo 5, is a Linux-based OS originally developed for the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet. It is the first Nokia device based upon the Texas Instruments OMAP3 microprocessor with the ARM Cortex-A8...
handset, through its Ovi Store. An iPad
IPad
The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. The iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010 by Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs. Its size and...
-exclusive version, Angry Birds HD, was released at the same time the iPad itself was released in April 2010. In August 2010, Angry Birds was made available to the Palm Pre
Palm Pre
The Palm Pre is a multimedia smartphone designed and marketed by Palm with a multi-touch screen and a sliding keyboard. The smartphone was the first to use Palm's Linux based mobile operating system, webOS...
phone running Palm's
Palm, Inc.
Palm, Inc., was a smartphone manufacturer headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, that was responsible for products such as the Pre and Pixi as well as the Treo and Centro smartphones. Previous product lines include the PalmPilot, Palm III, Palm V, Palm VII, Zire and Tungsten. While their older...
webOS operating system through its App Catalog online store. Symbian^3 phones received a version of the game in October 2010, which initially includes only the "Poached Eggs" and "Mighty Hoax" episodes.
In May 2010, Rovio announced plans for a version for devices using Google's
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
Android operating system, with a beta version being released through the Android Market
Android Market
Android Market is an online software store developed by Google for Android OS devices. Its gateway is an application program called "Market", preinstalled on most Android devices, allows users to browse and download mobile apps published by third-party developers...
in September 2010. The full Android version of the game was first released instead on GetJar
GetJar
GetJar is an independent mobile phone application store founded in Lithuania in 2004, with offices in Vilnius, Lithuania and San Mateo, California....
in October 2010, though it was subsequently released on Android Market within days. Rovio officials noted that GetJar had a more global reach than Android Market, and GetJar's availability on other smartphone platforms (including Symbian and Windows Phone 7
Windows Phone 7
Windows Phone is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft, and is the successor to its Windows Mobile platform, although incompatible with it. Unlike its predecessor, it is primarily aimed at the consumer market rather than the enterprise market...
) would make cross-platform promotion of the game easier. Unlike the previous versions, Angry Birds for Android is a free, ad-supported application, as paid applications aren't supported on Android in some nations. An update called "Bad Piggy Bank" enabled players to buy out the in-game ads.
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
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
announced the release of Angry Birds for its PlayStation Portable
PlayStation Portable
The is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on , 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...
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. Next, Rovio announced the release of a Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
version of the game on January 4, 2011, available for sale exclusively from Intel's AppUp center, which included 195 levels at launch and plans for exclusive features not available on the smartphone versions. One day after the Windows version was released, the Mac App Store
Mac App Store
The Mac App Store is a digital distribution platform for Mac OS X applications developed by Apple Inc.. The platform was announced on October 20, 2010 at Apple's "Back to the Mac" event. Apple began accepting app submissions from registered developers on November 3, 2010 in preparation for its launch...
launched, with one of the first offerings being its own version of Angry Birds. Ports of Angry Birds are also proposed for the Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
, Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
, Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
and Nintendo 3DS
Nintendo 3DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo. The autostereoscopic device is able to project stereoscopic 3D effects without the use of 3D glasses or any additional accessories. The Nintendo 3DS features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS series software, including Nintendo DSi software...
systems, as is a version for Facebook, which was expected to launch in May 2011.
In October 2010, Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
suggested on one of its websites that a Windows Phone 7
Windows Phone 7
Windows Phone is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft, and is the successor to its Windows Mobile platform, although incompatible with it. Unlike its predecessor, it is primarily aimed at the consumer market rather than the enterprise market...
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, a Windows Phone 7 version was ultimately released, on June 29, 2011.
The popularity of Angry Birds has helped spread the game to other devices that were not initially designed as gaming machines. Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble, Inc. is the largest book retailer in the United States, operating mainly through its Barnes & Noble Booksellers chain of bookstores headquartered at 122 Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron District in Manhattan in New York City. Barnes & Noble also operated the chain of small B. Dalton...
announced that a future update for its Nook
Nook
Nook may refer to a small corner formed by two walls.Nook may also refer to:*A slang name for a person reading; also known as a "book nook"*"Nook", a science-fiction TV series Lexx episode...
Color e-reader will let the Android-based device run applications, including a port of Angry Birds. In June 2011, Rovio announced plans to partner with Roku
Roku
Roku , is an American, privately held, consumer electronics company that sells home digital media products. The Company is based in Saratoga, California.- Company profile and products :...
to include a version of Angry Birds on a new model of its Internet-connected set-top box
Set-top box
A set-top box or set-top unit is an information appliance device that generally contains a tuner and connects to a television set and an external source of signal, turning the signal into content which is then displayed on the television screen or other display device.-History:Before the...
expected in the 3rd quarter of 2011.
In May 2011, an in-browser version of Angry Birds was released in beta form. The game uses WebGL
WebGL
WebGL is a software library that extends the capability of the JavaScript programming language to allow it to generate interactive 3D graphics within any compatible web browser...
or Canvas
Canvas (HTML element)
The canvas element is part of HTML5 and allows for dynamic, scriptable rendering of 2D shapes and bitmap images. It is a low level, procedural model that updates a bitmap and does not have a built-in scene graph.- History :...
and is distributed through the Chrome Web Store
Chrome Web Store
The Chrome Web Store is an online store from Google. It was announced at the Google I/O conference on May 19, 2010 by Vic Gundotra and released on December 6, 2010...
for use with Google's Chrome
Google Chrome
Google Chrome is a web browser developed by Google that uses the WebKit layout engine. It was first released as a beta version for Microsoft Windows on September 2, 2008, and the public stable release was on December 11, 2008. The name is derived from the graphical user interface frame, or...
web browser. It runs on any WebGL- or Canvas-enabled browser, and features exclusive content when played on Chrome, such as exclusive levels 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.
On 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.
Angry Birds Seasons
In October 2010, Rovio released a special HalloweenHalloween
Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
edition of game. 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. In December 2010, Rovio released Angry Birds Seasons to iOS, Android and Symbian^3 devices. Seasons introduced 25 Christmas-themed levels, one for each day leading to the holiday, similar to an Advent calendar
Advent calendar
An Advent calendar is a special calendar which is used to count or celebrate the days of Advent in anticipation of Christmas. Some calendars are strictly religious, whereas others are secular in content...
. 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; Angry Birds Halloween users on iOS received the Seasons levels as a free upgrade. 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
Valentine's Day
Saint Valentine's Day, commonly shortened to Valentine's Day, is an annual commemoration held on February 14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions. The day is named after one or more early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine, and was established by Pope Gelasius I in 496...
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. In March 2011, Rovio released a new St. Patrick's Day update, entitled "Go Green, Get Lucky", followed by an Easter update, entitled "Easter Eggs", in April 2011 and a summer update, "Summer Pignic", in June 2011. In September 2011, "Mooncake Festival" was released in conjunction with the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival
Mid-Autumn Festival
The Mid-Autumn Festival , also known as the Moon Festival or Mooncake Festival or Zhongqiu Festival, is a popular lunar harvest festival celebrated by Chinese and Vietnamese people. A description of the festival first appeared in Rites of Zhou, a written collection of rituals of the Western Zhou...
. In October 2011, "Ham'O'Ween" was released and introduced a new orange bird, known as the globe bird.
In December 2011, "Wreck the Halls" was released with 25 Christmas-theme levels also arranged in an Advent calendar
Advent calendar
An Advent calendar is a special calendar which is used to count or celebrate the days of Advent in anticipation of Christmas. Some calendars are strictly religious, whereas others are secular in content...
setting.
Angry Birds Rio
Rovio launched Angry Birds Rio in March 2011. In this version, based on the 20th Century Fox20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
animated film Rio, the Angry Birds characters appear in Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
and interact with characters from the film. 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 Smugglers Plane. Since release, Angry Birds Rio has been downloaded more than 10 million times.
Angry Birds Magic
A special version of the game, called Angry Birds Magic, will be developed exclusively for NokiaNokia
Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational communications corporation that is headquartered in Keilaniemi, Espoo, a city neighbouring Finland's capital Helsinki...
's NFC
Near Field Communication
Near field communication, or NFC, allows for simplified transactions, data exchange, and wireless connections between two devices in proximity to each other, usually by no more than a few centimeters. It is expected to become a widely used system for making payments by smartphone in the United States...
-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 will come preinstalled with all NFC Symbian devices to be sold in 2011, starting with the Nokia C7
Nokia C7-00
The Nokia C7-00 is a Symbian^3 smartphone from the Nokia Cseries. The C7-00 features a , 640 x 360 pixel capacitive touchscreen...
.
Other media
The Angry Birds characters have been referenced in television programs throughout the world. The Israeli comedy show Eretz NehederetEretz Nehederet
Eretz Nehederet is a satirical Israeli television show, which made its debut on November 7, 2003. It features satirical references to current affairs of the past week through parodies of the people involved, as well as the thoughts of recurring characters. The program is one of the most watched...
(in English: a Wonderful Country), one of the nation's most popular TV programs, satirized recent failed Israeli-Palestinian peace attempts
Direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians in 2010
Direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian National Authority have been taking place since September 2010, between United States President Barack Obama, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and ended when Netanyahu refused to extend...
by featuring the Angry Birds in peace negotiations with the pigs. Clips of the segment went viral
Viral video
A viral video is one that becomes popular through the process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites, social media and email...
, getting viewers from all around the world. The sketch received favorable coverage from a variety of independent blogs such as digitaltrends.com
Digital Trends
DigitalTrends.com is a high-tech lifestyle, technology news and information website created by Ian Bell and Dan Gaul in June 2001. It publishes news, reviews, guides, how-to articles, descriptive videos and podcasts on technology and consumer electronics products...
, hotair.com
Hot Air (news site)
Hot Air is a U.S. website providing news and commentary from a fiscally conservative and socially centrist point of view. It is written by Ed Morrissey, Tina Korbe and the pseudonymous Allahpundit and Jazz Shaw....
and intomobile.com, as well as from online news media agencies such as Haaretz
Haaretz
Haaretz is Israel's oldest daily newspaper. It was founded in 1918 and is now published in both Hebrew and English in Berliner format. The English edition is published and sold together with the International Herald Tribune. Both Hebrew and English editions can be read on the Internet...
, The Christian Science Monitor
The Christian Science Monitor
The Christian Science Monitor is an international newspaper published daily online, Monday to Friday, and weekly in print. It was started in 1908 by Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist. As of 2009, the print circulation was 67,703.The CSM is a newspaper that covers...
, The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, and MSNBC
MSNBC
MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
. American television hosts Conan O' Brien, Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart is an American political satirist, writer, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian...
and Daniel Tosh
Daniel Tosh
Daniel Dwight Tosh is an American stand-up comedian and host of the Comedy Central television show, Tosh.0.-Personal life:...
have referenced the game in comedy sketches on their respective series, Conan, The Daily Show
The Daily Show
The Daily Show , is an American late night satirical television program airing each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central. The half-hour long show premiered on July 21, 1996, and was hosted by Craig Kilborn until December 1998...
, and Tosh.0
Tosh.0
Tosh.0 is an American television series hosted by comedian Daniel Tosh, who provides sarcastic commentary on online video clips, society, celebrities, and other parts of popular culture.-History:...
. In the 30 Rock
30 Rock
30 Rock is an American television comedy series created by Tina Fey that airs on NBC. The series is loosely based on Fey's experiences as head writer for Saturday Night Live...
episode "Plan B"
Plan B (30 Rock)
"Plan B" is the eighteenth episode of the fifth season of the American television comedy series 30 Rock, and the 98th overall episode of the series. It was directed by the show's composer and producer Jeff Richmond, and written by Josh Siegal & Dylan Morgan...
, guest star Aaron Sorkin
Aaron Sorkin
Aaron Benjamin Sorkin is an Academy and Emmy award winning American screenwriter, producer, and playwright, whose works include A Few Good Men, The American President, The West Wing, Sports Night, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, The Social Network, and Moneyball.After graduating from Syracuse...
laments, "Our craft is dying while people are playing Angry Birds and poking each other on Facebook." In February 2011, American journalist Jake Tapper
Jake Tapper
Jacob Paul "Jake" Tapper is an American print and television journalist, currently the senior White House correspondent for ABC News in Washington, D.C...
mockingly introduced U.S. Senator Chris Coons as the "Angry Birds champion of the Senate" during the National Press Club's annual dinner. Some of the game's more notable fans include Prime Minister David Cameron
David Cameron
David William Donald Cameron is the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Leader of the Conservative Party. Cameron represents Witney as its Member of Parliament ....
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". Basketball star Kevin Durant
Kevin Durant
Kevin Wayne Durant is an American professional basketball player for the Oklahoma City Thunder of the National Basketball Association . A 6'9" small forward/shooting guard who is also capable of playing power forward, Durant was the consensus 2007 National College Player of the Year and the...
is a huge fan of Angry Birds, and regularly plays other NBA stars in matches, although he is weary of cheating.
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. At the 2011 South by Southwest
South by Southwest
South by Southwest is an Austin, Texas based company dedicated to planning conferences, trade shows, festivals and other events. Their current roster of annual events include: SXSW Music, SXSW Film, SXSW Interactive, SXSWedu, and SXSWeco and take place every spring in Austin, Texas, United States...
festival in Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
, Nokia used scrim
Scrim
The term scrim has two separate meanings in terms of fabric. In each case, it refers to woven material, one a finely woven lightweight fabric widely used in theatre, the other a heavy, coarse woven material used for reinforcement in both building and canvasmaking.-Light gauzy material:A scrim or...
s on a downtown building to project an advertisement for its new N8 handset
Nokia N8
The Nokia N8 is a Symbian^3 smartphone of the Nokia Nseries and Nokia's flagship device of 2010. It was released on 23 September 2010 at the Nokia Online Store before being released in markets around the world on 1 October 2010. The N8 features a 12 megapixel camera, a pentaband 3.5G radio and...
that included the game's characters. A June 2011 T-Mobile
T-Mobile
T-Mobile International AG is a German-based holding company for Deutsche Telekom AG's various mobile communications subsidiaries outside Germany. Based in Bonn, Germany, its subsidiaries operate GSM and UMTS-based cellular networks in Europe, the United States, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands...
advertisement filmed in Barcelona, Spain included a real-life mock-up of the game in a city plaza.
In September 2011, the Window of the World
Window of the World
The Window of the World is a theme park located in the western part of the city of Shenzhen in the People's Republic of China. It has about 130 reproductions of some of the most famous tourist attractions in the world squeezed into 48 hectares...
theme park in Changsha, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
opened an unlicensed Angry Birds attraction. Visitors to the park use a large slingshot to launch stuffed versions of the bird characters at green balloons representing the pigs. Upon learning of the attraction, Rovio Mobile was reported to be considering working with the theme park to officially license it.
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
Feces
Feces, faeces, or fæces is a waste product from an animal's digestive tract expelled through the anus or cloaca during defecation.-Etymology:...
and other objects at hunters who have stolen their babies. 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. 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 wouldn't be ready until later in 2011.
Angry Birds has inspired works of philosophical analogy. A five-part essay entitled "Angry Birds™ Yoga – How to Eliminate the Green Pigs in Your Life" was written by Giridhari Dasa of ISKCON Brazil, utilizing the characters and gameplay mechanics to explain various concepts of yoga
Yoga
Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline, originating in ancient India. The goal of yoga, or of the person practicing yoga, is the attainment of a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility while meditating on Supersoul...
philosophy as understood by Gaudiya Vaishnavism
Gaudiya Vaishnavism
Gaudiya Vaishnavism is a Vaishnava religious movement founded by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in India in the 16th century. "Gaudiya" refers to the Gauḍa region with Vaishnavism meaning "the worship of Vishnu"...
. The piece attracted much media attention, in Brazil and abroad, for its unique method of philosophical presentation. The piece was also recognized and appreciated by Rovio Mobile's Peter Vesterbacka, who was prompted to comment, "Very cool! I can see Angry Birds Yoga becoming a worldwide craze;-) ".
Rovio is investigating ways to expand the Angry Birds brand, including merchandise, television shows and movies. The game's official website offers plush versions of the birds and pigs for sale, along with T-shirt
T-shirt
A T-shirt is a style of shirt. A T-shirt is buttonless and collarless, with short sleeves and frequently a round neck line....
s featuring the game's logo and characters. In May 2011, Mattel
Mattel
Mattel, Inc. is the world's largest toy company based on revenue. The products it produces include Fisher Price, Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels and Matchbox toys, Masters of the Universe, American Girl dolls, board games, and, in the early 1980s, video game consoles. The company's name is derived from...
released an Angry Birds board game
Board game
A board game is a game which involves counters or pieces being moved on a pre-marked surface or "board", according to a set of rules. Games may be based on pure strategy, chance or a mixture of the two, and usually have a goal which a player aims to achieve...
, entitled "Angry Birds: Knock on Wood". Over 10 million Angry Birds toys have been sold thus far. Rovio opened the first official Angry Birds retail store in Helsinki on November 11, 2011 at 11:11am local time. It expects to open its next retail store somewhere in China, considered the game's fastest-growing market.
Mikael Hed, CEO of Rovio Mobile, has envisioned a feature film in the stop-motion animation style of Aardman Animation
Aardman Animations
Aardman Animations, Ltd., also known as Aardman Studios, or simply as Aardman, is a British animation studio based in Bristol, United Kingdom. The studio is known for films made using stop-motion clay animation techniques, particularly those featuring Plasticine characters Wallace and Gromit...
. To that end, Rovio has purchased a Helsinki-based animation studio to prepare Angry Birds short cartoons, and they have hired David Maisel
David Maisel
-Life:Maisel attended Harvard University and earned an MBA. His first job was with Boston Consulting Group. Maisel was later employed at Walt Disney Co. and the Endeavor Talent Agency. IN 2004, Avi Arad introduced Maisel to Isaac Perlmutter who hired Maisel as Marvel Studios Chief Operating...
, executive producer of Marvel Studios
Marvel Studios
Marvel Studios, originally Marvel Films, is an American television and motion picture studio based in Manhattan Beach, California. Marvel Studios is a subsidiary of Marvel Entertainment, a self-contained part of the The Walt Disney Company conglomerate....
films such as Iron Man
Iron Man (film)
Iron Man is a 2008 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. Directed by Jon Favreau, the film stars Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark, an industrialist and master engineer who builds a powered exoskeleton and becomes the technologically advanced superhero, Iron...
and Thor
Thor (film)
Thor is a 2011 American superhero film based on the comic book character of the same name published by Marvel Comics. It is the fourth film released as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe...
, to head up production of feature-length films. 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. Rovio officials have hinted that one such "sequel" will be told from the pigs' point of view.