rovio

Angry Birds maker Rovio is witnessing strong growth in China and is expanding operations there to capitalize on it.

The company announced today it has opened corporate and marketing operations in China that will aid its plans to develop titles for Chinese users. To kick things off, Rovio in September will be launching the "Moon Festival" episode of Angry Birds Seasons to coincide with the country's Mid-Autumn Festival. Moon Festival will also be available to Rovio's users outside of China.

To help embed itself in the Chinese market, Rovio is creating "Angry Birds-themed moon cakes,&… Read more

If you're wondering what the possible Angry Birds movie might look like, T-Mobile has put together a life-size version of the hit game with projectile birdies, explosions, and all.

In the T-Mobile promo below, players walk up to a booth, pick up a smartphone, and play the game while a real-life replica recreates the action.

The ad is carefully scripted and incorporates computer effects, but it gives you an idea of what Angry Birds might be like in the real world. It's easier than playing with the board game and plush toys.

The shooting apparently took place in Terrassa near Barcelona; you can see how they did it in a behind-the-scenes video here.

I would have liked to see real catapults, but I'm glad they didn't use real birds and pigs. … Read more

LONDON--When you sell Angry Birds, the casual game that's spread like wildfire from the iPhone to Android to Windows to the Web, what do you do for an encore?

You expand beyond games--as far afield as books and movies. At least that's the plan detailed by Peter Vesterbacka, whose title as leader of Rovio Mobile is "mighty eagle," the name of the game's all-powerful pig-blitzing character.

First came Angry Birds stuffed toys and T-shirts. They've been successful for the company, with 3 million toys and more than 1 million shirts sold so far, Vesterbacka … Read more

Roku has inked a deal with Angry Birds creator Rovio to bring the company's video games to its set-top boxes.

The companies have entered into a "strategic partnership" that will see Angry Birds, Angry Birds Seasons, and Angry Birds Rio come to Roku's Channel Store, Roku said late yesterday. An Angry Birds video channel with game-themed animated shorts, as well as a marketplace to buy game-related merchandise, will also be available in the Channel Store.

However, a Roku representative confirmed to CNET today that the games will not be available on the company's current hardware. Instead, the titles will be made available to owners of new hardware expected to launch this summer.

Roku has come a long way since its initial set-top box launched in 2008. Earlier this year, the company announced that more than 1 billion content streams have been sent to TVs through its set-top boxes, which currently range in price from $59.99 to $99.99. It currently offers more than 250 entertainment options in its Channel Store, which basically acts as an applications store, allowing people to add those channels to their personal menu and watch the content associated with them.

Netflix, Hulu Plus, Pandora, and NBA Game Time are among the channels Roku offers.… Read more

Amazon knows what mobile gamers want--popular titles and freebies. By inking high-profile studios to exclusive launches, the company has generated plenty of positive buzz around its Appstore and continues to build momentum, especially with its free App of the Day offers. The first being the hugely popular exclusive free download of Rovio's Angry Birds Rio.

So to follow up Amazon's success with its deal with Rovio, the company recently signed an exclusive agreement with casual gaming company PopCap. Chuzzle is the first game to roll out from PopCap and is also the free download of the day. Other … Read more

If you're one of those people who've bought Angry Birds multiple times for different devices, rejoice. You'll soon be able to port your saved game between your gadgets.

Rovio, the developer behind the popular game, has confirmed on Twitter that its sync feature will make its debut in the next couple of months. "We are working hard on that, before summer is the plan" the developer told a player who asked what the company's plans were for score synchronization.

Read more of "Angry Birds sync feature will keep your score across devices" at Crave UK. … Read more

Angry Birds won't be making its way to Facebook anytime soon, a new report claims.

According to The Next Web, which says it spoke with Rovio's Peter Vesterbecka, the wildly popular game won't be available on Facebook until May, two months after it was expected to launch on the social network.

Last week, Rovio announced that Angry Birds would be coming to Facebook and said it would launch in March. Vesterbecka reportedly told The Next Web that he was "not sure how the March date got in there."

Rovio did not immediately respond to request … Read more

A new set of advertisements portrays the bad guys in one of the most popular mobile video games as using Microsoft's search engine to do their dirty work.

Bing has sponsored four animated video advertisements that join the Angry Birds series' existing story. The ad spots feature the pigs, the villains of the game, who make use of Bing on a smartphone to search out bird eggs and have off with them. Two of those 15-second ad spots are up this morning, with the other two to be released later on down the line.

This is not the first … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--It's no secret Rovio has made a small fortune off its sales of Angry Birds on the App Store (and other platforms), but there had been some question about the success of its dabbling in the in-app purchase market.

That question was answered this afternoon by Rovio's "mighty eagle" Peter Vesterbacka at the Game Developers Conference here. In a talk outlining the company's efforts to build the Angry Birds franchise beyond its humble beginnings, Vesterbacka announced that 40 percent of new Angry Birds buyers had purchased the 99-cent "mighty eagle" add-on, which … Read more