Los Angeles — Squawk! After more than a year in development, the wildly popular game “Angry Birds” has finally found a friendly nest amongst Facebook’s humongous 800 million members hours before its official launch in Jakarta, tech site Mashable reported.
As expected, Finnish game developer company Rovio today announced Angry Birds for Facebook. In fact, the wildly popular game was supposed to make its debut on the social network tomorrow but was uncaged a day early: the Facebook Event titled “Angry Birds coming to Facebook!” is still scheduled for between 6:00 PM EST and 9:00 PM EST on Valentine’s Day (tomorrow).
Moreover, the game has long been available on a wide variety of mobile and desktop platforms, the Finnish game maker Rovio introduced features unique to the Facebook version, including power-ups intended to give users an advantage in the competition. You can play it now over at apps.facebook.com/angrybirds/.
Besides, the Facebook app is pretty much identical to the original mobile version, with the addition of social components, brand new power-ups, and new levels exclusive to Facebook, virtual prizes and the ability to send free gifts to your friends and compete for high scores.
In addition, the game now also has “new, enhanced special effects like lighting, smoke and explosions” and offers “amazing new power-ups like Sling Scope, Birdquake, King Sling, and Super Seed.” The game is free, until the game’s famous Mighty Eagle that lets you win difficult levels with just one click, but to enjoy those four new power-ups will cost you $1 for 20 uses.
Below is the official description from Rovio (and corresponding YouTube links for each of the new powerups):
- Sling Scope – Looking for the perfect shot? Use Sling Scope laser targeting for pinpoint precision!
- King Sling – Fling your birds with style AND speed. Upgrade to the almighty King Sling for maximum power and velocity!
- Super Seeds – Supersize your bird! Super Seeds turn any bird into a pig-popping giant.
- Birdquake – Rattle the battle! Use the Birdquake to bring pigs’ defenses crashing to the ground!
These added social element allows players to compete with their Facebook friends for gold, silver, and bronze crowns in any level. Players can also show off their scores on the social network and give their Facebook friends “mystery gifts” of power-ups.
And surprisingly–anyone who plays the game between now and Feb. 16 will receive 14 free power-ups as a special Valentine’s Day gift from Angry Birds developer Rovio.
Rovio said it is arranging even more capabilities and gameplay for the Facebook version of the game in the coming weeks.
“This launch is just the beginning for Angry Birds on Facebook,” Petri Järvilehto, Rovio’s senior vice president of game publishing, said in a statement.
The mobile version of Angry Birds has garnered more than 700 million downloads to date, making it one of the most popular games in history. And prior to Facebook, Angry Birds was released on the following platforms: iOS, Microsoft Windows, Symbian, Mac OS X, Android, BlackBerry Tablet OS, Windows Phone, WebOS, Maemo, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 3, WebGL, and Google Chrome.
In fact, the game’s Facebook Page has over 15.4 million Likes. The number is likely to explode as Facebook users who have never played the game may start playing the game.
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