I don’t know about you guys, but I feel like I’ve been neglecting Angry Birds. I mean, our romance was so hot and heavy at first. But after a while I had seen all that it could offer me and I guess I lost interest. Plus, Words with Friends was so tantalizing with its new, sexy interface.
If you are a Nokia fan, plan on purchasing the new Nokia C7 smartphone and looking to spice up your relationship with Angry Birds, today is a good day for you. Nokia has announced on their official blog that the latest release from Angry Birds developers Rovio will be at this weeks WIMA conference. WIMA, if you were unaware, is the world’s largest conference dedicated to NFC (Near Field Communication).
The new edition of the popular game is called “Angry Birds Free with Magic.” The “magic” referred to is the NFC that is worked into the game. The game will come preinstalled in the Nokia C7 smartphone as part of the Symbian Anna update. It will also be included on all of Nokia’s NFC enabled devices this year. A full version of the game will come at a later date.
Here’s how it works: The game will initially have 20 levels of structure-crumbling pig-annihilating action. Only 5 of those levels, however, will be initially accessible to players. The other levels must be unlocked by “bumping” your phone with another phone that has the game installed. The rest of the new levels will be unlocked 5 at a time using NFC. That means players will need to find 3 people, either friends or strangers, to bump with to unlock the remaining levels.
Or, players can unlock the levels by finding objects embedded with NFC tags. Clues about locations of such objects are said to be forthcoming. Oh boy, I smell an ad-supported scavenger hunt!
“With Angry Birds Magic, friends can group together to combat the pig menace, in a new take on the game that so many people all over the world have fallen love with,” said Mikael Hed from Rovio. “This is an exclusive offering with the Nokia C7, a smartphone that really kicks off the NFC experience for developers. In time, the communal power of users with Angry Birds Magic could prove even stronger than the Mighty Eagle.”
Cute. Hopefully, new innovations in Angry Birds technology can find their way to other platforms. I really do miss that game – but once you get 3 stars on everything…I mean, what’s a guy to do? I guess I do have Angry Birds Easter to look forward to, but somehow it’s not really hyping me up.
You might recall the NFC technology has been in the news as of late, for a little more constructive reason. Many new smartphones such as the Windows Phone and iPhone 5 have been said to contain the NFC technology that would make mobile payments a common thing.
But this is a fun use of NFC indeed. And remember, if you are sad that you won’t have access to Angry Birds Magic with NFC or if you are still unbearably obsessed with 3-starring every level, then Mike Tyson will slap that addiction right out of your hands.