Considering how much of a phenomenon "Angry Birds" has become -- you not only have the games themselves, but all kinds of merchandising tie-ins, including toys and apparel -- it's a surprise that there isn't already an animated series on the market.
Well, one is finally arriving, in autumn of this year, Rovio says.
According to a report by The Guardian, 52 episodes are currently in production. Each will be animated shorts, about two-and-a-half to three minutes long. Because of its low profile, Rovio is hoping that the show will arrive on a variety of devices, which will be distributed via an app that the game’s developer is also engineering.
Nick Dorra, Rovio's head of animation, says: "We're looking at building a video app for that, and we're also looking at partnerships and so on. ... We want to be on all screens."
As for those wondering what the show will be about, or for those skeptical that 52 episodes worth of exploits can be extrapolated from a game in which the premise is bare bones, even for a video game (use slingshot to catapult birds into structures built by pigs), Rovio has that covered.
"Angry Birds is not just about the gameplay, and will be in the future less and less about the slingshot, actually, and more and more about the characters," explains Dorra. "It's about telling more engaging stories ... and deeper thoughts, deeper feelings of the characters, such as why are they always angry?"
Matthew Hawkins is an NYC-based game journalist who has also written for EGM, GameSetWatch, Gamasutra, Giant Robot and numerous others. He also self-publishes his own game culture zine, is part of Attract Mode , and co-hosts The Fangamer Podcast . You can keep tabs on him via Twitter , or his personal home-base, FORT90.com .
