The movie will be completely developed, produced, and financed by Rovio, with John Cohen and David Maisel hopping on board to help out. Cohen is best known for his role as producer for Universal’s Despicable Me, and Maisel is the former Marvel Studios chairman and executive producer for the Iron Man series, as well as The Incredible Hulk, Thor, and Captain America.

Overall, Cohen isn’t a huge name in the movie business, other than his role in Despicable Me, but he did have an executive role in several animated movies, including two Ice Age films and the 2007 remake of Alvin and the Chipmunks. He also served as vice president of production at Twentieth Century Fox Animation, and he also contributed to Horton Hears a Who and Robots, the former of which is a classic Dr. Seuss children’s book.

This will mark the first time that Angry Birds has ventured out into the movie entertainment business. The series recently scored its own animated web show, and has passed out merchandise licensing to several companies to make T-shirts and even plush toys of popular Angry Birds characters. Needless to say, the movie is expected to bring in a lot of sales.

The Angry Birds film first came to light back in 2011 when Maisel joined Rovio, which hinted to the possibility that Rovio was in the act of acquiring movie-focused talent. As for the plot of the movie, we’re left without any details and how the levels of Angry Birds will tie into a full-length film exactly, but Rovio said it will retain “full creative control” over the project by working outside the traditional studio system.

SOURCE: Rovio

The new feature basically allows gamers to create an Account and save game progress to the cloud, with the ability to resume gameplay on another device that has the same game installed. It’s a feature that most games should have in this day and age, but many mobile games sadly don’t come with cloud support, so those who do include it in their games are a step ahead of the crowd.

Currently, Rovio Account is only available in the company’s new The Croods game, as well as in the classic Angry Birds title on iOS in Finland and Poland. Of course, Rovio will gradually be rolling this new feature out in more regions around the world, as well as introduce more features, but the company hasn’t given a timeline on that yet.

As for what this move does for Rovio, it could be a good business move for the mobile game developer, as it makes it easier to converse with users when they have a dedicated Rovio account. Plus, it’ll make it easier to begin playing new games when the company releases new titles or sequels in the future.

[via Android Community]

This is similar to the Facebook version of the game that you can play in your web browser, but the mobile game is standalone, meaning that scores won’t sync with the browser-based version. The new game has weekly tournaments, as well as the usual Facebook game features that you’d find elsewhere, such as sending gifts to friends and posting your achievements through a status update.

Unlike Rovio’s latest Angry Birds titles, there doesn’t seem to be any new physics concepts added on — it’s the same Angry Birds game that you’ve known and loved for the past few years, except you get to battle your friends in order to see who takes the crown for the ultimate Angry Birds nerd.

The game only comes in a free ad-supported version, but it’s available on both iOS and Android right now, so if you feel like rebooting your Angry Birds obsession from yesteryear, now would be a good time to do so and get some friends to tag along with you.

We’ve got a hands-on review of Facebook Home and the HTC first, as well as the run down of the differences between Facebook Phone and Facebook Home on the HTC handset. We’ve got a detailed piece on the Facebook Home lockscreen, and it seems advertisements will eventually be part of the system. You can check out what Zuckerberg had to say; we’ve detailed the Chat Heads messaging system, as well as how to get Facebook Home.

In non-Facebook news, AT&T has rolled out a Jelly Bean update for the LG Optimus G (and its CEO was spotted at the Facebook event today). Verizon has released a 4G LTE router for $99, and Samsung’s Galaxy camera with Wi-Fi has hit the US for $449.99. In addition, Qualcomm will be improving WiFi in MLB stadiums.

On the Apple front, a patent has surfaced suggesting a convertible Macbook is on the way, its spaceship campus is behind schedule, and age recommendations have been added to the App Store. Rovio plans to launch Angry Birds: Friends for Android and iOS, Diablo III’s patch brings multiplayer improvements, and Peter Jackson teased the Star Wars VIII script. And finally, there’s something for Arrested Development fans: Season 4 will be hitting Netflix on May 26. That does it for tonight’s Evening Wrap-Up, we hope you enjoy the rest of the night folks!

So far, Angry Birds Friends has racked up 60 million installs and around 15 million monthly active users. The game is pretty much the same as the mobile version, only there’s a social aspect involved, where you can challenge your friends. Details are rather scarce at this point, but Rovio says that Facebook integration will be the main talking point in the new game.

Rovio says that the game will be available on both phones and tablets, and players will be able to “challenge their Facebook friends in weekly tournaments for the coveted bronze, silver and gold crown on the levels.” Players will also be able to “gather daily rewards, send and receive gifts of power-ups with your friends and brag about your accomplishments.”

Today’s announcement comes hot on the heels of Rovio’s financial earnings report yesterday, where the company posted a revenue of $200 million for 2012, which is over twice the revenue that Rovio brought in during the previous year. They also profited $71 million for 2012, compared to $45 million in 2011.

Rovio has a huge selection of games to thank for its 2012 success. Its games were downloaded over 1 billion times by May 2012 (1.7 billion times by December 2012), and Rovio had 263 million active users by December 2012. It launched 4 new games last year, including Amazing Alex, Bad Piggies, Angry Birds Space, and Angry Birds Star Wars. Angry Birds Space reached over 100 million downloads within 2 1/2 months after it launched, and Bad Piggies, where you get to play the enemies in Angry Birds, reached the #1 spot in the App Store after only 3 hours.

A lot of Rovio’s success in 2012 also had to do with the acquisitions it had made. It acquired Futuremark, which Rovio is now using for its game benchmarking systems, and it also acquired Casey’s Contraptions, and rebranded the series to “Amazing Alex”. Rovio added a few enhancements to the game, such as graphical enhancements and more content, and launched the game on July 12th.

Rovio states that it has high hopes for 2013, and that it will definitely need to focus on new game launches in order to make this year even better than the previous years. It’s focusing on increasing viewership of its Angry Birds Toons series, and exploring to create new Intellectual Properties. One of the new games it plans on launching this year is The Croods, based on the movie with the same name. Rovio is collaborating with DreamWorks to launch the game on March 14th.

[via Rovio]

This update brings you to Cloud City, that being the gas-mining operation run by your best buddy Lando Calrissian – also a new fine feathered friend here in this new set of levels. Here you’ll not exactly be following the Star Wars plotline with lots of escape missions and tricks. Instead you’ll be running at those Imperial pigs full force – blasters blazing! And don’t forget Chewie to hammer away at their towers with full-on bulk.

These levels have you floating in the clouds through 20 regular levels and the full set of Boba Fett levels if you dare! You’ll be able to get to the Boba Fett levels by finding each of the five hidden rocket packs, by grabbing a promotion code (we’ll see soon where those come from), or with a bit of cash via an in-app purchase. And don’t forget to stay on target with the rest of the empire-hunting loftiness this expansions provides!

This update also brings on a connection to the Angry Birds cartoon series, if you’re so inclined to have a click. You’ll be able to update your iOS and Android apps starting today – immediately – right now! We checked! Both app updates are free, and as noted above, there is some in-game purchase bits and pieces available if you like to skip levels. Grab on with both hands and begin the battle once again!

And you can connect to Twitter now through the app as well – but don’t you dare brag about your accomplishments to us! We’re almost done already!

If you’re an ultra-nerd like some of the writers here at SlashGear, you know good and well that the Star Wars Collectable Card Game’s release schedule appears to have been a real simple directions list for Rovio in releasing bits and pieces to the Star Wars Angry Birds game. With the first release we saw several levels inside the original Star Wars movie’s environments. Next we saw one expansion inside that first movie, then another starting with The Empire Strikes Back.

Hoth came first in this set along with a tease for Dagobah, the planet where Yoda resides and Luke Skywalker does his Jedi Training. You were able to access that level with a bit of cash or some extremely powerful Jedi skill in all-three-star winnings of the rest of the levels throughout the game. Now we see Cloud City coming up next. And if we continue to follow this lineup, we can expect not only some fantastically heaven-like environments, but bounty hunters too!

They’ve got to get here some time, and what better place to arrive than at the home of everyone’s favorite scoundrel, Lando Calsquawkington! Have a peek at the teaser video above and let us know if you’ve beaten Hoth and Dagobah so you’re prepared for this next push!

In conjunction with today’s announcement of more Angry Birds Toons details, Rovio has announced that the Angry Birds series has racked up 1.7 billion downloads, which is absolutely unprecedented and it certainly made us do a double take. It’s not exactly said what counts as a download, but perhaps Rovio could be counting an update as a download in this case.

Because of the massive user base that Angry Birds has, bringing the Angry Birds Toons animated series directly to the game allows for “a far wider and more engaged global audience than traditional distribution would allow.” The show will consist of 52 episodes that will release on a weekly basis, and they will continue the saga about the battle between the Angry Birds and the green pigs.

Angry Birds Toons will also be available on Samsung Smart TVs, and on Comcast video platforms in the US. The show will make its way to Roku boxes and other devices eventually, but no timeline has been planned out just yet. And while the cartoon will be available on various devices starting on March 17, it will air on network television on March 16.

Rovio commissioned the guitarist, who is a self-professed fan of Angry Birds, for a cover of the Space theme song. Those with the newest update for the game will be able to hear the song in Space, but you can also check it out in the video below. The game is available in both the App Store and from Google’s Play Store.

Said Slash, “When Rovio approached me about playing my own take on the Angry Birds theme, it went back and forth a few times where I did the actual Angry Birds theme note-for-note the way it is in the game. Then they asked for something a little bit different, but they weren’t really specific about what they wanted, so I did a few different versions … it was something I would do in hotel rooms between shows.”

He goes on to talk about how he discovered Angry Birds, saying that someone introduced it to him while he was on the road for his first solo record in 2010. He says that he finds the premise of the game hilarious, calling it both addictive and genius, remarking on the physics of Angry Birds and calling himself a big fan.

[via Web Pro News]

This is the second DLC pack for Angry Birds Trilogy, the first of which was the “Anger Management” DLC pack, which added 130 levels to the console game back in December. It also added new cutscenes and new orange bird that inflates. Angry Birds Trilogy was released in September for the Xbox 360, PS3, and Nintendo 3DS, with versions for the Wii and Wii U coming later this year.

The new DLC pack is available now for the Xbox 360 and PS3 at a price of 400 Microsoft Points or $4.99 on the PlayStation Network. No word on whether or not the DLC will come to the 3DS, but seeing as how Activsion only released “Anger Management” for PS3 when it initially launched, we doubt that 3DS users will get this second pack.

While the console version of the game is still a paid game, Rovio recently made the iOS version of Angry Birds free. You can download the game now on iOS and save yourself a dollar (or a few dollars if you’re getting the iPad version). Rovio also launched Angry Birds Space on Steam today for $3.99.

[via One of Swords]

The game will be on sale for $3.99 (normally $4.99) until March 14 at 10 am PT. Of course, that’s not a huge discount, but it is 20% off, which isn’t too bad. The game has been previously available on PC via the Google Chrome web store, but this marks the first time that an Angry Birds game has made its way to Steam.

The Steam version also includes the same great features that you normally get with other Steam games, including Steam achievements, leaderboards and, Steam Cloud support, meaning that Steam will save your progress to the cloud, that way you can continue playing on a different computer if need be, a feature that should make any gamer happy.

Angry Birds Space reached 10 million downloads after just three days, and 50 million downloads within just over a month, which made it the hottest mobile game in history at the time. Eventually, the game hit 100 million downloads within 76 days of the game’s release. Of course, this isn’t too surprising, especially considering that the game was a collaboration with NASA.

Appsfire, a service that tracks apps and notices when they go on sale, was the first to notice the change in price, and according to the service, this marks the first time that the original Angry Birds title has been available for free. It’s said that once the app’s price updates for all users, Apple will promote the app as their “free app of the week.”

Rovio hasn’t announced the price cut yet, but they did announce that 15 new levels have made their way to the original game, so not only can you get the game at no cost, but you also get more for your buck (or lack thereof). Of course, the Android version of Angry Birds has always been available for free — one of the benefits of being an Android user.

The Angry Birds series has always been popular, with new sequels coming out all the time, but in order to give the older games a quick boost in popularity again, Rovio is giving the original game away. Of course, thanks to the newer titles, not many gamers play the original Angry Birds, but the 15 new levels and the lack of a price tag should change that.

Rovio and DreamWorks will be launching the new mobile game on iOS and Android, and will also be releasing an exclusive short animated clip to go along with the game. The game take place during the fictional “Croodaceous period,” and it features the Croods “breaking out of the Stone Age with the use of a new r-evolutionary tool: the IDEA!”

The movie will release in theaters on March 22, and it stars Nicolas Cage, Ryan Reynolds, and Emma Stone. Reynolds starred in The Green Lantern and Stone starred in The Amazing Spider-Man. The Croods is about “the world’s first family” as they embark on a journey and discover an incredible new world outside their cave that’s filled with different creatures.

The teaser trailer above shows us a short animated clip promoting the new game. It features the Croods going after what looks to be a fruit hanging from a tree, although we’re not exactly sure what it is. We do see a bit of actual gameplay towards the end of the teaser, but only for a split second before an angry fist come in to smash the smartphone and tablet screens.

Rovio released an update to the game today that adds 30 new “Flight in the Night” levels for gamers to tackle, as well as six new “Road Hogs” time trial levels. There’s also new sandbox and achievement features that users can play around with. The 30 new “Flight in the Night” levels include Angry Birds who will attempt to shoot down the Piggies if disturbed.

The game lets you build contraptions to help the pigs sneak by the sleeping Angry Birds as they hoard their stolen eggs. It’s a new take on the Angry Birds series, and it lets you go further into the lives of the pigs after they steal the birds’ eggs. The game puts you on the other side of the law, helping the pigs escape with stolen property.

Bad Piggies is available for iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac, and Windows. All mobile platforms offer both free and paid versions. The paid version get rid of the advertisements in the game. Mac and Windows users are only subjected to the $4.99 paid version, which is ad-free and allows you to play the game on your larger computer display.

We knew an Angry Birds cartoon would be coming at some point, but today it’s official. We’ll finally get a look into the lives of the Angry Birds, as well as the mean ‘ole pigs who stole all the eggs. We could find out what makes the Angry Birds so angry, and why exactly the pigs are stealing bird eggs. The trailer below gives us a little tease.

However, the cartoon series will have a slightly different vibe than most cartoons. First off, Angry Birds Toons will only be distributed through the Angry Birds mobile app, so you won’t be able to turn on your TV come Saturday morning and watch the new show. The cartoon was initially expected to launch back in November, but it had to delayed until the spring.

We first learned about an Angry Birds animated series in April of last year, and Rovio says they expect to air 52 episodes per year, and each episode will only be a few minutes long. Aside from the cartoon, there’s also going to be an Angry Birds movie as well, which is set for a 2016 release and will be directed by Despicable Me‘s John Cohen.

[via Kotaku]

Most notably in this update is the infamous asteroid field that was featured in the movie, where the gang had to navigate their way through the whole mess. In the game, you make your way through the asteroid field while trying to take down the enemies as well, which now include the “mynock pigs,” which are essentially pigs with bat wings that can float in mid-air instead of simply sitting atop rocks and other surfaces.

The video doesn’t show us a lot of the new update, so if you really want to find out what you’ll be getting yourself into, we suggest firing up the game and checking out the new levels. However, we ended up checking it out for ourselves and we have to see we really like what we see. The mynock pigs are especially cute, and navigating the asteroid field is definitely a new experience that we find both challenging and exciting.

The update is available for iOS and Android versions as we speak, and it should be hitting Windows Phone and BlackBerry here shortly. The update will also be available for the Kindle Fire version, as well as on OS X and Windows. The game is free on Android devices, while it costs $0.99 on iOS, and $4.99 on the desktop.

Of course, there were plenty of other headlines to cover throughout the day, with Dropbox announcing a new feature called Documents Preview. Speaking of Dropbox, Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer had some not-so-nice things to say about the service today. Zynga’s chief game designer has left the company after four years, while Twitter has improved photo and video viewing in its website interface. Nintendo slashed its Wii U sales predictions today, and the white Nexus 4 took some time to pose for the camera once again.

A trio of Galaxy Tab user agent profile worked their way into the spotlight today, and Toyota has recalled 1.1 million vehicles. Rovio was spotted teasing its new “Escape from Hoth” update to Angry Birds Star Wars, and Netflix is planning at least five new shows a year to compete with HBO. A giant asteroid will be zooming past the Earth on February 15, while Apple has secured a trademark for the layout and design of its stores.

Qualcomm shared quarterly earnings today, as did Facebook, Electronic Arts, and Lenovo. IBM’s Watson will soon be heading off to his first university, while a new trailer for INJUSTICE: Gods Among Us dropped today. Foursquare delivered a bunch of different Best of Foursquare lists today, while Ticketmaster has announced that it will be ditching CAPTCHA. Finally tonight, Cory Gunther spends some quality time with 2014 KIA Forte, Chris Burns delivers his review of the Acer Iconia W510, and Chris Davies asks if RIM even realizes what went wrong with its business. That does it for tonight’s Evening Wrap-Up, we hope you enjoy the rest of your night folks!

Rovio teased us about the possible update via Twitter, with a cute little graphic of the Millenium Falcon making its way through a cave. Rovio uses the hashtag #EscapefromHoth, indicating that we’ll see some pretty exciting stuff in the update that will deal with the icy planet and escaping from its tundra-like bitterness.

Other than that, we’re not given any more details, but of course, anyone familiar with The Empire Strikes Back will know that the cave is the one that Star Wars gang hide in while trying to escape from the Imperial Fleet. We’re not sure how this will tie in with Angry Birds, but we’re excited nonetheless.

Whether we might see new birds, new powers, or more features coming to the game, it’s almost guaranteed that we’ll be seeing some new levels, but either way, we’re interested in seeing what we’ll be getting ourselves into. If you still haven’t checked out the game, it’s available for the iPhone, iPad, and Android devices.

According to data from mobile app analytics company Flurry, December 25 saw approximately 17.4 million new Android and iOS phones and tablets being activated, and Rovio said its download numbers meant an Angry Birds game was downloaded on every other new device that day, meaning that the popularity of the game has yet to die down.

Unfortunately, Rovio didn’t provide a specific game-by-game breakdown of downloads. The newest addition to the Angry Birds family is Angry Birds Star Wars, which launched back in November on a variety of devices. While Rovio hasn’t released statistics on the new game, it has maintained its position at the top of the US iTunes App Store charts since its release.

While Angry Birds may have been one of the first games that new mobile users downloaded on Christmas morning, we can’t blame those who wanted to get away from the family for a little bit to slingshot birds at pigs for an hour or two. And these Christmas Day stats go to show that the series hasn’t slowed down one bit.

For instance, since this is on Facebook, you’ll be able to compare your scores to those of your friends, determining once and for all who is the best at knocking down shoddily-made structures put together by those evil-yet-adorable pigs. It doesn’t all have to be about competition however, as players can send in-game gifts to friends who are playing Angry Birds Star Wars as well. Rovio will be giving Facebook players five new levels each and every week, which should do a lot to keep people playing.

Not enough new stuff for you? No problem, because there will also be weekly tournaments you and your friends can participate in for the chance to win in-game goodies. Add to all of that three new power ups and one new ability, and those playing on Facebook have a quite a few extras to look forward to.

Of course, it also helps that Angry Birds Star Wars is perhaps the best Angry Birds release yet, which is saying quite a lot considering how addictive past installments have been. Facebook players are told that more bonuses are coming down the road, so it looks like Rovio has some future goodies in store. We’ll have to wait and see what those are, but for now, we’re sure that fans will be happy enough with the knowledge that Angry Birds Star Wars is now available on Facebook.

John Cohen isn’t a huge name in the movie business, but he did have an executive role in several animated movies, including two Ice Age films and the 2007 remake of Alvin and the Chipmunks. He also served as vice president of production at Twentieth Century Fox Animation, and he also contributed to Horton Hears a Who and Robots.

Cohen says that the “countless hours playing the Angry Birds games over the last few years” has served as his “research for the movie.” While the games are certainly a huge chunk of the Angry Birds concept, we’re sure that Cohen will do more than just play the games in order to get an expert feel for the Angry Birds vibe.

The Angry Birds film first came to light last year when Maisel joined Rovio. The company has said it will retain “full creative control” over the project by working outside the studio system, but we’re left without any details as far as what the movie will be like, and how the levels of Angry Birds will tie into a full-length film exactly.

The app has been updated to a coincidental version 3.0.0, and aside from the 30 new levels, there’s apparently a “birdday cake”, and “the bubbliest bird ever” called the Pink Bird. Rovio even squeezes in a Portal reference, mentioning to “watch out for the cake — it’s not a lie, but it packs a BIG punch!”

The 30 levels are split evenly between two different themes. 15 of the new levels are called “Birdday Party” levels, and they hint that the aforementioned cake looks to be somewhat dangerous it seems, as they note that it’s “EXPLOSIVELY delicious.” The other 15 levels are themed after Rovio’s latest game, Bad Piggies.

Once you complete these 30 new levels, we’d recommend trying out some of Rovio’s newest Angry Birds installments if you haven’t already checked them out. Angry Birds Space and Angry Birds Star Wars are probably our favorites, since they deal with the geeky side of things, but all of the games in the series are sure to keep you busy for hours on end.

[via Android Community]

We’ve seen a little bit of gameplay from the upcoming title, but this trailer gives us approximately one full minute of nothing but Angry Birds Star Wars gameplay. We see characters such as Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and even Chewbacca, as well as lightsabers and lasers galore. There’s definitely no shortage of Star Wars in this Angry Birds installment.

We also get to hear a little more of the game’s soundtrack, which includes a mashup of the classic Star Wars theme song with Angry Birds’ traditional upbeat goofy music. It’s definitely the most content-rich trailer we’ve seen yet from Rovio, and we’re frankly pretty excited for the release of the game this Thursday.

The Angry Birds series has come a long way since its original title, and while the gameplay and graphics have ultimately stayed the same throughout, the folks at Rovio have no problem coming up with different themes to keep the series going. Plus, they finally started to introduce new elements into the games, like Angry Birds Space for example, where the use of non-gravity and orbital pull play a huge part in the game’s physics.

We’ll call out a warning for spoilers right now if you’re not wanting to see any gameplay until the game’s release. Otherwise, continue on if you’re curious. The video is about a minute long, and it first features a cute scene with Angry Birds versions of Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia. We then get to see approximately 15 seconds of gameplay.

One of the levels takes place on Tatooine, which is Luke Skywalker’s home planet. The video demonstrates using the Luke Skywalker Angry Bird, and shows that it comes packing with a lightsaber to destroy anything in its path. Another level takes place on the ice planet Hoth, where AT-ATs make an appearance, and yes, you can destroy them in this game.

The Princess Leia Angry Bird is fairly interesting because it looks like you can shoot lasers out of its eyes to destroy structures and blocks. It almost looks too easy, but I’m sure Rovio will give gamers plenty of a challenge. Angry Birds Star Wars is set to arrive on November 8 on iOS, Android, Mac, and Windows.

We had a few Nexus-related stories hit this afternoon, with a new Nexus 4 leak giving us some details on the phone’s specs, and an internal Staples document telling us that the 32GB Nexus 7 model right be replacing the 8GB variant. The Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga will be launching in Japan as the NEC LaVie Y, and one expert is telling us today that there aren’t many visual differences between smartphone displays in 720p and 1080p.

Stanford Ovshinsky, who created the NiMH battery and helped developed many other products, passed away earlier this week, and YouTube launched Campaigns today, a feature that’s being called a “digital thermometer” for non-profits. Pricing for the rumored 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display could top $1,700, while the Skifta app for Android has been updated with support for Instagram and Dropbox. Moog unveiled its new LEV-96 “sensoriactuator” today, and we got word that T-Mobile is now requiring users to sign up for at least a 2GB data plan when taking home a new smartphone.

Microsoft unleashed the launch trailer for Halo 4 today, while EA CEO John Riccitiello was seen saying that social gaming isn’t dying. One unlucky Nintendo counterfeiter is likely headed to the slammer, Motorola has delivered a list of phones that won’t be getting an upgrade to Jelly Bean, and Rovio released a new teaser trailer for Angry Birds Star Wars today. Finally tonight, we have a new column from Don Reisinger for you to read through, in which he asks “How many tablets do you really need?” That does it for tonight’s Evening Wrap-Up, we hope you have an excellent weekend!

This new 23-second video features everyone’s favorite Star Wars female character commenting on how Luke is a little short to be a stormtrooper. The movie clip then cuts to Luke Skywalker in a stormtrooper mask, but instead of Luke, it’s an Angry Bird wearing the mask in Rovio’s version, and yes, he is a little short in this.

Once again, Rovio doesn’t offer any details about actual gameplay, which is what a teaser is in a way, but at least give us at least something to work with, Rovio — we’re gamers who happen to be starving for a Star Wars-themed title in which we fling birds with slingshots at pigs. That sounds like a fantastic combination.

If you missed the first teaser that went live a couple days ago, it featured the Millennium Falcon, with a short Star Wars clip that had Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, and Obi-Won Kenobi talking about the quick speed of Han’s ship. That teaser didn’t give us a lot of details either, but hopefully as launch day creeps closer, we’ll have more information.

The teaser features a short snippet from A New Hope where Han Solo explains to Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi that his Millennium Falcon “made the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs.” Then, we see an Angry Birds version of the Millenium Falcon which looks to be having a little trouble getting up to light speed, but with the help of a familiar slingshot, the ship eventually gets there.

Obviously, George Lucas failed to realize that a parsec is actually a unit of distance and not time (equal to 3.26 light years or approximately 19.2 trillion miles). We’re not sure if Rovio noticed Lucas’ mistake, but they seemed to just run with it anyway. Sadly, the teaser trailer is all the info we have so far.

However, it could mean the Millennium Falcon will play a critical role in the gameplay, and the slingshot on the back of the ship may suggest that we could soon find ourselves launching angry birds off of the ship’s deck, but we’ll mostly just have to wait until the game’s release on November 8 to find out.

[via Android Community]

Aside from the added levels, there are also a few new power-ups like “Super Seeds”, the “Almighty Sling King”, and “Birdquake”. Unfortunately, all of these are in-app purchases, so in order to really kick butt in the game, you’ll have to pay up a little. Then again, in-app purchases seem to be becoming the norm, so always be prepared to have your wallet out if you want any kind of advantage in a game.

In related news, the executive vice president of Rovio, Andrew Stalbow, announced that the Angry Birds series is currently getting around 200 million active users on a monthly basis. In any given day, Stalbow says that there are anywhere between 20-30 million users that are connected to Angry Birds.

Those are certainly strong numbers, and we don’t expect them to go down anytime soon, especially with the developer’s upcoming Star Wars-themed title about to hit the market next month. The popularity of Star Wars alone could bring in millions of Angry Birds virgins to play the new game. Look out for Angry Birds Star Wars on November 8.

[via Android Community]

NASA’s Curiosity rover has scooped up its first “handful” of Martian soil, while Verizon announced today that it will have 4G LTE in 418 US markets by the end of the day on October 16. Not only did Samsung announce the Galaxy Music smartphone today, but it also started teasing a “groundbreaking” Windows 8 device reveal for October 15. Microsoft has released a Windows 8 update ahead of its launch at the end of this month, while we heard that Windows Phone 8 pre-orders might open up on October 21.

Despite Apple’s best efforts, its Lightning chip has been cloned, and today the company was said to be in a long-running relationship with a carbon fiber manufacturer. We got to take a look at some snazzy new iPad Mini renders today, and were told that BlackBerry 10 might not launch until sometime in March 2013. Today was the day that Felix Baumgartner was supposed to attempt his record-breaking skydive, but at the last minute Red Bull had to pull the plug on the mission due to bad weather, with tomorrow’s jump called off for the same reason. Firefox 16 was released today, and Amazon filed a new patent for an online haggling system.

Ice Cream Sandwich finally hit the Motorola Atrix 2 today, while Jelly Bean was arriving on Galaxy S IIIs in Korea. Tens of thousands of Chrome users have fallen victim to a bogus adware app claiming to be Rovio’s Bad Piggies, and Valve has invited players to fill out playtest surveys for a chance to come into the studio to test new games and hardware. Gearbox released the Mechromancer DLC for Borderlands 2 a week early today, and the Humble Bundle is back, only this time it doesn’t feature any games. Skype users are being plagued by a trojan, so if you use the service a lot, it’s probably a good idea to check out our post to see what you can do to stop it from infecting your computer.

Finally tonight, we have a pair of original posts for your to read through. Chris Davies tells us why a Nexus 10 won’t solve Google’s problem with getting developers to make apps aimed at Android tablets, while Chris Burns has given us a review of the Acer TravelMate P243 notebook. That does it for tonight’s Evening Wrap-Up, enjoy the rest of your night folks!

Not only does the plug-in introduce you to a handful of pesky advertisements, but once you give the app permission to “access your data on all websites”, the plug-in can be used to steal personal information like email addresses and credit card information.

Security company Barracuda Networks discovered the fake app and have issued a statement and a report on the unfortunate situation. They suggest that those who are affected should uninstall the fake app immediately and change their passwords on other websites. Hopefully, the plug-in wasn’t able to do a lot of damage, but who’s to say what personal information it gained from the 82,000 users it affected.

The security company also discovered that some of the plug-ins are from www.playook.info, which is a maker of “free” flash games, but Barracuda Networks took a look at the site’s Whois records and it revealed nothing. They say that hiding behind Whoisguard is considered a very suspicious thing for a business to do. So, if you’re wanting to play Bad Piggies, be sure to go to the source to download and install it. Happy gaming!

[via Pocket Gamer]

We also had plenty of news about SpaceX’s Dragon capsule, which launched for the ISS yesterday. The launch went well despite a rocket blowout, and we learned that the capsule is carrying – among other things – ice cream and silly putty to the space station. Later on in the day, SpaceX released a statement about the minor problems on the launch pad, telling us that the mission should still go as planned. We heard that 10 million iPad Minis are on order, despite the fact that we don’t know for sure that it exists yet, and today Google started calling for more tablet-friendly apps.

The Samsung Galaxy S III was named T-Mobile’s best-selling device of all time today, and speaking of T-Mobile, the carrier received the LG Optimus L9 today as well. A 32GB Nexus 7 model was accidentally shipped to one lucky Japanese customer, and Microsoft has launched free Wi-Fi in both New York City and San Francisco. Windows 8 PCs started showing up early on HSN’s website today, and Microsoft released a Kinect SDK for Windows 8 too. Microsoft has apparently dropped its “Live” branding from its Windows 8 launch, and T-Mobile looks primed to receive iPhone 5 owners with a new NanoSIM delivery.

After being teased last week, Rovio revealed Angry Birds Star Wars today, an announcement that was quickly followed by additional details. XCOM: Enemy Unknown is available for pre-order on Steam today, while Blizzard told us that a World of Warcraft hack that allowed one player to murder others one city at a time has been patched. Pokemon Black and White 2 launched yesterday, and PETA has something to say about it, while Nokia announced that its new Lumia 810 will be bringing the Windows Phone 8 touch to T-Mobile.

That about does it for tonight’s Evening Wrap-Up, but before we part ways, we have one original story to cover: Chris Burns tells us why Nokia will need to push its graphic design abilities when it comes to making Windows Phone 8 a success. Enjoy the rest your night folks!

This game will be a giant release for Rovio as it continue to bash its way into the pop universe one movie at a time. Angry Birds Rio was their first big film adventure – after that they went straight to Space with NASA! Now they’re going beyond this galaxy with Star Wars in a cross-branding project the likes of which will surely set your socks on fire. Along with a whole new game will come merchandise – the mainstay of the Star Wars universe.

The trailer doesn’t tell you… basically anything. It looks like the lightsaber has turned into a slingshot but taking the already utterly flimsy physics of that device and flat out slapping you in the face by turning it into something that can propel birds through space – that’s just silly. What we’ve been able to find besides these Rovio-pushed items is a set of action figures and playsets that make it clear that we’ll be knocking down AT-ATs and a Piggy Death Star.

So here’s what we can take away from this exploration – we’ll be flinging birds like we have been for several games now in the Angry franchise, only this time it’ll be at Star Wars vehicles from the Empire. We’ll be using a variety of alternate-universe Star Wars characters – complete with weapons – to knock the Empire of Piggies to the pop zone. What’s not known is if this game will be its own entity or if it’ll take part in Angry Birds: Space – which would make a lot of sense.

[via Idle Hands]

Rovio included a short teaser trailer with the announcement this morning that extends on the animated GIF we were teased with on Friday that had a darkened figure with a robe on holding a light saber. Obviously, we knew what it was about right away, but the trailer still doesn’t give us a lot of details other than the fact that the game is launching on November 8.

However, the trailer does show off the fact that the light saber is what looks to be a slingshot. We’re not really sure how a light saber slingshot will play into this new installment, or what special powers a light saber slingshot will provide, but we’d be lying if we said we weren’t excited to find out.

In the description of the YouTube trailer, Rovio also announced that they’ll “have a whole host of toys, animations and other Angry Birds Star Wars goodness to enjoy”. They also mention to follow their Tumblr blog and to check back “every day” because it’s “just the beginning.” May the birds be with you!

The LG Nexus G has been tipped for a reveal later this month, and it looks like problems with component yields might mean that we’re headed for iPad Mini shortages (assuming the rumored tablet actually exists, of course). The Kindle Paperwhite has officially been jailbroken, and Rovio was spotted teasing a new Star Wars-Angry Birds tie-in earlier today, leaving us to wonder what’s in the pipeline. Sprint might be looking to rain on T-Mobile’s MetroPCS parade, and Anonymous is at it again, this time bringing down government sites in Sweden in the name of The Pirate Bay and Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

Wii U pre-orders are hard to find these days, but provided you’ve got the cash to burn, you can pick one up on eBay. iPhone cases were popping up left and right today, like this Loop Mummy case for the iPhone 4/4S and these Moshi cases for the iPhone 5. Xi3 has gone to Kickstarter to fund its new X3A and X7A modular computers, and one analyst is saying that HP’s stock should be worth negative $2. Ubisoft gave us a brand new ZombiU development diary, and we heard that increased iPhone 5 quality demands led to a strike at a Foxconn factory in China today.

New algorithms may eventually lead to cell phones that charge twice as fast, while NASA explained why Curiosity is collecting dirt from the surface of Mars. Motorola has managed to fight off Microsoft in a patent dispute over in Germany, while astronomers say they’ve discovered a new star circling a black hole at the center of our galaxy. Pokemon Black and White 2 launch in the US this Sunday (are you ready to be the best?) and we found out today that New Zealand authorities may have been spying on Kim Dotcom much earlier than they’ve admitted.

Finally tonight, we have quite a few original articles to share with you. Don Reisinger asks if Bill Gates will be remembered in the same way as Steve Jobs when he’s gone, Chris Burns explains why the iPad Mini will be free when it launches and what the iPad Mini needs to fix when it comes to Apple tablets, and Chris Davies has a review of the Synology DS213air NAS. That does it for tonight’s evening wrap-up – we hope you have a fun weekend!

Rovio first tweeted an extremely vague image and simply said to “check back tomorrow for a hint!”. Obviously, we had no clue what the image was, other than that it was most likely one of the Angry Birds covered in a robe of some sort, but that could’ve pointed to a number of different possibilities.

However, Rovio later tweeted a link to their official Angry Birds Tumblr blog where they posted an animated version of the original image. This time, it gives it all away thanks to the glowing light saber and the light that gets casted on the face of the Angry Bird. The Tumbler page says to head to Times Square in New York City on October 8 at 10am EST, and also to head to a Toys R Us at 8am EST that same day we’re guessing.

We’re not exactly sure what Times Square and Toys R Us will have in store as far as an Angry Birds sequel announcement. Our guess is that Rovio will have a launch trailer playing in Times Square on one of the big screens, while Toys R Us might possibly have collectible Star Wars-themed Angry Birds plush toys go on sale on launch day. Then again, we’ll just have to wait and find out on Monday.

[via Joystiq]

In February 2013, another Angry Birds activity park will be completed in Saariselka. By the fall of 2013, the third Angry Birds park will be completed in Saimaa, in Lappeenranta. The Activity Parks are aimed at children and are more like playgrounds that use Angry Birds themes than a theme park with rides.

As you can see in the photograph above, the rendering shows playground equipment that has shapes and styles from the video game app. I see a lot of design in the parks that goes along with the pigs and the blocky buildings the pigs build. I wonder if the birds and slingshot will fit into the design more than just sitting on the blocks.

The largest year-round activity park being constructed using an Angry Birds theme is being built in Vuokatti. This is an indoor park that will measure 8700 square meters. In addition to the Angry Birds section, this particular park will also have a sports world for playing different sports and a freestyle area for skateboarding and BMX bicycling. The Angry Birds section will be completed in December.

Intel has reintroduced a processor meant to run Windows 8 tablets, and speaking of the incoming operating system, Microsoft founder Bill Gates shared some thoughts on Windows 8 today as well. A couple more companies have been updating their apps to play nice with the iPhone 5 and iOS 6, with Netflix delivering a new widescreen update for iDevices and Foursquare updating its iOS app as well. Camera+ launched an update for its own app too, adding support for iPad and iCloud.

The AMD AppZone Player was announced today with BlueStacks support in tow, and you can now sync your iPhone with Google contacts thanks to CardDAV integration. Google also launched a new field trip app today, which is being described as “your guide to the cool, hidden, and unique things in the world around you,” and Dish Network announced that it will be launching satellite broadband for rural areas next week. A Google executive was arrested and later released in Brazil after the company didn’t cooperate with take down requests centered around a video that criticized a Brazilian politician, and sure enough, Rovio’s new game Bad Piggies has secured its spot as the top App Store app on the same day it was released.

In perhaps one of the biggest news stories of the day, NASA scientists are saying that Curiosity has discovered an ancient streambed on the surface of Mars, and Facebook has launched a new gifts service, allowing users to buy real life gifts for their Facebook friends. Steam will be kicking off a private Linux beta sometime next month, and European pricing details for the incoming Nokia Lumia 920 surfaced. Finishing up the news from today, Polaroid has announced a series of new sports video cameras for the more adventurous folks out there.

Finally tonight, Chris Burns interviews Dr. Edward Farhi about the time travel mechanics found in the new movie LOOPER (with the full review of the flick coming later on tonight), and we have a review of the Samsung Galaxy Stellar by yours truly. That does it for tonight’s Evening Wrap-Up. Go out and enjoy the rest of your night and start getting excited for the weekend!

In this new title, you play the pigs’ perspective as opposed to the birds. However, the gameplay is completely different. In Bad Piggies, you build different land and air vehicles that will get you from point A to point B as quick as possible. Overall, the mechanics are great and it has decent lasting appeal.

Of course, Rovio isn’t new to success. Their Angry Birds series is one of the most popular mobile games of all time. Their most recent Angry Birds installment, Angry Birds Space, hit a whopping 100 million downloads in two-and-a-half months. With Bad Piggies already having so much success within three hours of its launch, it wouldn’t be a shocker if it broke Angry Birds’ records.

If you still have yet to get in on the fun that is Bad Piggies, the game is available for free on Android (ad-supported), and is priced at $0.99 on iOS. You can also grab the game for both Windows and Mac. Both versions are $5 each. Rovio says that more levels will come to the game, and they hope to develop a franchise from it just like they did with Angry Birds.

[via TechCrunch]

Score three stars and the extra levels are unlocked, plus there are four sandbox levels beyond that, and finally an “ultra-special, ultra-secret, ultra-difficult sandbox level to unlock by collecting all the skulls” that Rovio makes somewhat less “ultra-secret” by mentioning it on its download page. Flying machines can be constructed from up to 33 different objects, and then must be navigated around an increasingly complex gamespace.

Rovio says there will be more levels – released at no extra cost – in the near future, and that the Bad Piggies characters are set to show up in several titles. Angry Birds has already been a lucrative franchise for the firm, and it’s obviously hoping to recreate that.

You can download Bad Piggies for iOS, Android, Mac, and PC. It’s priced at $0.99 for iPhone and iPad, and $4.99 for the HD version for OS X; the PC version is $4.95. On Android, it’s free and ad-supported.