rovio

Angry Birds Space feels at once familiar and fresh. Unlike the previous sequels, which were pretty much the same game in different settings, Angry Birds Space puts a new spin on things with gravity-oriented physics, new obstacles to navigate, and bonus levels that add to the fun.

The gravitational mechanic in many of the levels adds a completely new element to how you approach each level. A flung bird might curve around a moon in one direction and then curve the other way once it passes into the next moon's orbit. It can also get caught in a gravity … Read more

Angry Birds Space feels at once familiar and fresh. Unlike the previous sequels, which were pretty much the same game in different settings, Angry Birds Space puts a new spin on things with gravity-oriented physics, new obstacles to navigate, and bonus levels that add to the fun.

The gravitational mechanic in many of the levels adds a completely new element to how you approach each level. A flung bird might curve around a moon in one direction and then curve the other way once it passes into the next moon's orbit. It can also get caught in a gravity … Read more

Angry Birds has reached the final frontier in the newest twist on the popular game dubbed Angry Birds Space.

Launching today, the new game finds the birds sucked through a wormhole into another galaxy where as usual they have to shoot down their piggly nemeses. But in a nod to actual physics, Angry Birds Space taps into the gravity in force around interstellar objects to help the birds nail their targets.

Stuck on the surface of a moon, the birds have to land on the other side to bring down the pigs. Sending the birds off on the familiar slingshot … Read more

Angry Birds is now making friends on Facebook.

After more than a year in development, the wildly popular game was supposed to make its debut on the social network tomorrow but was uncaged a day early.

Although the game is has long been available on a wide variety of mobile and desktop platforms, the Finnish game maker Rovio included features unique to the Facebook version, including power-ups intended to give users a leg up on the competition.

"There are four different types of power-ups and they can be accessed via the lightning bolt button at the top of the … Read more

With hundreds of millions of downloads of Angry Birds, one would think that Rovio would do everything in its power to fight piracy.

But, that's not the case.

At the Midem conference in Cannes today, Rovio CEO Mikael Hed announced, "Piracy may not be a bad thing: it can get us more business at the end of the day."

The Guardian reports that Hed was addressing an audience mainly from the music industry and said he looks to the music industry's mistakes in dealing with piracy. The chief lesson that Hed said he learned is that … Read more

Angry Birds maker Rovio is looking to go public. But it might surprise you just where it plans to do so.

Speaking to Reuters in an interview published today, Rovio's chief marketing officer and "Mighty Eagle" Peter Vesterbacka said that his company plans to go public in 2013 on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. He cited the Asian market's growth, as well as its "people and the money" to justify the decision.

Rovio has been talking about an IPO for months now, but its focus on Hong Kong is new. Back in May, the … Read more

As if stretching a mighty slingshot from Finland aimed at the heart of Beijing, Rovio says it will open its first Angry Birds retails stores in China this year.

Speaking at the TechCunch Disrupt conference in Beijing this week, Rovio Chief Marketing Officer Peter Vesterbacka laid out plans to bring the company's own merchandise outlets to multiple spots within China, its fastest-growing market, in hopes of generating more than $100 million in revenue there next year.

There are no details yet on exactly where or when these stores will open their doors, but the shops will sell Angry Birds tie-ins such as stuffed animals, toys, T-shirts, smartphone cases, shoes, and other merchandise that the billion dollar Rovio claims accounts for about 10 to 20 percent of its business, according to Bloomberg. … Read more

Another step forward in the march toward the Singularity--robots playing Angry Birds.

Our manufactured robotic friends have the unfortunate trait of being classic trend-followers rather than trendmakers. So the fact that robots are now playing Angry Birds must mean--as if there was ever any doubt--that Rovio's signature game is officially a big deal.

Specifically, the Bitbeambot, which looks like something constructed from tinker toys and leftover racks from your local Old Navy, currently holds the No. 1 spot on the "Robots that Play Angry Birds" leaderboard. … Read more

Emily is home from Chile, and is welcomed back with an Ice Cream Sandwich rumor, a couple iPad rumors, and the duck timer, which we ignore, as usual.

On last week's show, we bet that the Droid Razr would be announced today and alas, it was! The score is now 3 to 2, which means someone is going to have to do something totally embarrassing in the next couple weeks.

Also this week, we unravel some Ice Cream Sandwich details; Emily gets all riled up about Amazon buying poor Palm; we remind ourselves that Sony Ericsson isn't actually Sony; we discuss the likelihood of an iPad mini and an iPad 3 next year; and we wonder why Angry Birds-maker Rovio would want to go public. Does it have anything to do with the CEO's nickname being "Mighty Eagle"? We hope so. … Read more