With an Angry Birds sequel already announced, it seemed odd this week when another unexplained Angry Birds update hit the App Store.  There didn’t seem to be any specific rhyme or reason for this to happen, unless of course if you believed what TheHollywoodReporter had to say.  In a supposed foreshadowing of Rovio’s partnership with the upcoming film Rio, they were actually planning an interesting cross promotion of sorts, the likes of which both industries had never seen.

Rio promo will air during the fourth quarter of the showdown between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers, which airs on the Fox Broadcasting Network.

During the spot, viewers will be invited to find the frame with the code, which in turns directs them to a special level of Angry Birds, which has entered into a first-of-its kind partnership with Fox. The level will take Angry Birds players to a Rio sweepstakes.

Lucky for us, the internet is never at a loss for people with too much free time, much like the good folks over at AngryBirdsNest.  They managed to comb through the HD version of 20th Century Fox’s trailer and found the one frame that contained the code “13-12.”  You can see a freeze frame of the image at left, if you are so inclined.  But unfortunately, that is only half of the battle…

Along with the information of where the newly hidden egg is ever so slyly incognito, you must go through a very odd process in order to unlock this football shaped forbidden fruit.  Once again the internet has come to our aid and provided us with just the information we need, in the form of a youtube clip, detailing the entire odd process.

It is neat to see cross promotions like this getting love from the mainstream media, as well as the viral advertising market.  Honestly, I would have had no idea about this promotion had our own Carter Dotson not mentioned it to me on twitter during the game.  Regardless, this shows the tremendous strides that iOS gaming has made in public acceptance.  It will be exciting to see what the future holds for the industry.

Now get out there and take a kick at finding that golden football… you should have all the information that you need to split the sticks.

$0.99

Angry Birds

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2009-12-11 :: Category: Games

Have you finally managed to conquer all of the holiday goodness that was Angry Birds: Seasons?  If you are anything like me, you have been eagerly awaiting the next proper entry in the series since completing the last festivus themed stage on Christmas morning.  While the game was a present in and of itself, I have been left with a month long void, where everyone’s favorite bombadeering birds have been absent from my iPhone.  It has been a dark time, indeed.

This is why I was thrilled to hear official confirmation from Angry Birds developer Rovio, by way of IntoMobile, that a proper sequel to the original phenomenon is not only in the works, but tentatively (not to mention vaguely) scheduled to crash land onto the iOS platform sometime in March.  In another first for the series, the game will be simultaneously launching on not only iOS, but also Android and Symbian.  It is hard not to have mixed feeling about this, given that the franchise was birthed on our gaming platform of choice, but if it helps funding expansions our favorite gaming addiction, who are we to really complain?

Now THOSE are some angry birds!

Though it is encouraging to hear that the game will be getting a newly christened graphical upgrade, forty-five new stages with the promise for more via update, and several new wrinkles to the game mechanics, it was surprising to learn that the developers have pared up with 20th Century Fox to help complement the launch of their upcoming animated film, Rio.  Entitled the very original, Angry Birds Rio, the game will focus on melding the two worlds together in a way that will hopefully pass along little bit of Rovio’s secret sauce onto the cinematic release.

“In Angry Birds Rio, the original Angry Birds are kidnapped and taken to the magical city of Rio, where they eventually escape their captors and set out to to save their friends, Blu and Jewel – two rare macaws and the stars of the upcoming Fox motion picture, Rio.  Angry Birds Rio will pair the physics-based gameplay of the original game with unique twists based on the highly-anticipated film.” — VIA Rovio Mobile BlogPost

I can’t help but feel like this is a slight betrayal of some of Angry Bird’s early “indie cred”, but that said, anyone else in Rovio’s position would be insane to not try to even partially cash in on the goodwill associated with the brand.  If nothing else, the immense amount of free content patched into the original game has earned them a free pass in my eyes and honestly, even if I was offended, it wouldn’t stop me from gobbling this up the moment it becomes available.

We will leave you with a sneak peak of what we can all be looking forward to in March.  Please attempt to keep your gleeful squealing to a minimum.