Tag: Rovio Stars »

A series of updates have arrived for Rovio games over the past few days, honoring the Chinese New Year. 

Angry Birds Epic and Rovio Stars title Jolly Jam have events paying homage to the Year of the Goat, while Angry Birds Go! and Angry Birds Stella are following the goat theme by adding in a new kart and a new set of levels in the Island Map, respectively. Plunder Pirates is avoiding the goat theme but instead honors the celebrations by decorating the island and adding in a new character, Ching Shih.

All of the previously mentioned games are available to download from the App Store now, for free.

Nitrome has announced an update for Icebreaker: A Viking Voyage, bringing with it a new level pack entitled 'Kraken'. The pack adds 40 new levels to the game, which is around 50% of the size of the game previously. These new levels continue the story and contain new enemies, characters, missions, and a new boss fight.

In addition to this, the 'HD' version now supports Cloud saving and has had a name change: it's now the 'Universal' version, meaning (as you'd likely have guessed) it's now a universal app. To celebrate this update, this version of the game is now also 30% off for a limited time.

Icebreaker: A Viking Voyage is available now for $0.99 for the iPhone version and $1.99 for the Universal version.

Each and every week, we take a look at the top twenty apps as recommended on Powerslyde. Once installed on your iOS device, Powerslyde detects the apps you have installed, then recommends apps you may like and may not be aware of. Think of it as a way to get App recommendations from somewhere other than the App Store itself.

This week, five of the most recommended apps are:

Amazing Alex
Flow Free
Ruzzle
Chasing Yello
Plumber Crack

Looks like casual games made a strong showing this week, with Rovio's Amazing Alex possibly returning due to interest in the two new Rovio Stars games that have recently hit the App Store: Ice Breaker and Tiny Thief. Ruzzle made an impression on reviewer Ruari O'Gallchoir, who says, "Ruzzle has several tricks up its sleeve to differentiate itself from it’s more established competitors." Two of the five are lesser-known games that follow fairly standard formulas: Chasing Yello is an endless runner, and Flow Free is a color-matching game. As for Plumber Crack, we'll leave that one up to your imagination. If you're wondering if someone could build a game around that particular anatomical gem, it seems like they can and did.

What apps do you recommend this week? Drop us a comment below, or send us a message on Facebook or Twitter.

Rovio Entertainment, creators of Angry Birds, has a new publishing initiative called Rovio Stars that will see its first titles Icebreaker and Tiny Thief released soon. Kalle Kaivola, Senior Vice President of Product & Publishing at Rovio Entertainment, took the time to answer some of my questions about Rovio Stars.

Why launch a publishing initiative? What advantages will Rovio Stars have over other mobile publishers out there?

Expanding into publishing games was a pretty logical step for Rovio Entertainment to take. In the course of our work we run into a lot of interesting, fun and creative game projects - things we know our fans would love. Why not help the developers of these games to give them the final polish, and let our massive, dedicated fan base know of them? Right now it’s a huge challenge to get your game known in the avalanche of games and apps that are flooding the different app stores - it’s not enough to have a good game if you can’t get the word about it out there.

Rovio Entertainment is in an unique position to do exactly that. We communicate with our fan base directly on a daily basis, and they know they can expect quality fun from us. We also have a huge amount of know-how in creating mobile content, and we have a lot to offer to the developers in terms of helping them put the finishing touches to the project. Under Rovio Stars we do a bit more than a traditional publisher does in helping with the game project, things such as lending our expertise in QA and marketing.

When looking for titles to publish, what are you looking for in these games? Rovio has been one of the chief faces of casual gaming--will Rovio Stars largely focus on casual titles as well?

We are looking for games that have engaging gameplay, memorable characters, offbeat humour, and which are fun and addicting to play. The term casual is a bit tricky in the sense that traditionally it has connotations of simplicity and a lack of challenge, but as everybody who has tried to three star their way through Angry Birds games knows, that certainly isn’t true. It’s safe to say that we won’t be publishing FPS shooters or survival horror in the future, so the Rovio Stars games will casual games in the sense of being suitable and fun for all ages, from kids to grandparents.

Why should people ultimately care about the titles that Rovio Stars will be publishing?

The sheer amount of games on the app stores is a challenge not only for the developers, but also for the gamers - how to find the great game amongst the multitudes? This is where Rovio Stars comes in. It’s the stamp of quality that tells the gamer that the game they are about to buy has the same level of polish, engaging gameplay and quality fun as Rovio’s titles.

Angry Birds developer, Rovio Entertainment, will begin publishing mobile titles under the name Rovio Stars. In a press release, Rovio’s EVP of Games Jami Laes says “Rovio Entertainment has positioned itself as one of the powerhouses of mobile entertainment, so moving into publishing is a logical step for us at this point”.

Icebreaker: A Viking Voyage will be the first game published by Rovio Stars. Pocket Gamer reports that Icebreaker has players slicing ropes and hacking big blocks of ice to help the Vikings return to their boat. Players will also face enemy trolls and traps throughout 95 levels. Release date has not yet been set, but it's expected soon.