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Jul 19

Hands-on with Angry Birds Star Wars 2 and Hasbro’s Telepods (video)

Rovio recently announced a sequel to its Angry Birds Star Wars game, and the Finnish company was on hand to demo its latest title here at Comic-Con. Coming to Android and iOS on September 19th (and to consoles a month later), the app features more than 30 playable characters and — most notably — works with Hasbro-designed “Telepods.” If you’ve heard of Skylanders — not to mention Hasbro’s zAPPed line of add-ons for iPad games — the concept will be quite familiar: the Angry Birds Star Wars 2 Telepods give players access to additional characters and superpowers.

To get started with the Telepod figures, we simply had to place them (attached to their plastic stand) over the demo iPad’s camera. The tablet recognized the characters in just a second or two, and then we were able to play with new birds and their associated abilities (hint: more explosions). Rovio’s VP of marketing Philip Hickey says the Telepod collaboration with Hasbro allowed the company to make even Jar Jar Binks’ character interesting — and we have to admit, that’s quite an accomplishment. The Telepods will be available in stores for about $20 shortly before game launches in September.

The live-action telepods may be the upcoming title’s most novel feature, but that doesn’t mean the game doesn’t have several software-based goodies as well. You can choose to play on the dark side (“on the pork side,” as it were), and there are new two-player cooperative and two-to-four-player multiplayer modes. Be sure to check out our video hands-on after the break to see the sci-fi birds in action.

Gallery: Angry Birds Star Wars II Telepods

Filed under: Gaming

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Jul 16

Rovio announces Angry Birds Star Wars II

Posted in: Today's Chili

Rovio has made a name for itself in the mobile gaming industry with the release of Angry Birds some years back, and they have not looked back since. Angry Birds has more or less appeared on all of the popular mobile gaming platforms, be they tablets or smartphones, and have reduced the efficiency of workers at the office as they tend to sneak in a few minutes of Angry Birds from time to time while the boss is not looking. In fact, Angry Birds has also come up with its different merchandise to earn even more money, while working with the Star Wars before, where that game proved to be quite the hit, so much so that it warranted a sequel to this franchise via an expansion known as Angry Birds Star Wars II, which will launch later this September 19th in app stores worldwide.

Angry Birds Star Wars II will offer something new and old at the same time, where it will follow the story of the three prequel Star Wars movies, with the inclusion of never-before-seen Angry Birds Star Wars characters. Yes sir, for the first time, you are able to, in Rovio parlance, choose to “Join the Pork Side” and don the role as one of the villainous porkers.

We do know that some of the character additions will include versions of young Anakin, Mace Windu and Darth Maul, and there is one more thing which will definitely draw the attention of most folks – Hasbro’s TELEPODS technology, where it delivers an additional interactive layer of gameplay and content to Angry Birds Star Wars II. New characters and super powers can be unlocked for players as you place one of the collectible TELEPODS physical characters from the Hasbro range on the phone or tablet camera, followed by a scanning process to literally see that character enter the game. More than thirty figures will be available at launch in September. This is getting ridiculous, don’t you think so? Still, I think it looks set to be a winner (with parents becoming all the poorer for it).

You can check out a trailer of Angry Birds Star Wars II here.
[ Rovio announces Angry Birds Star Wars II copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]