Rovio to slingshot 'Angry Birds' into an animated series

Angry Birds is about to join other such hit video games as "Pac-Man" and turn itself into an animated series. Anyone who remembers the horror that was the Pac-Man series just shuddered, as Rovio made the announcement on Wednesday.

Angry Birds is a hit on both iOS and Android. There are also stuffed animals, as well. Milking the hit, Rovio will produce an animated series for either television or the Web.

Rovio CEO Mikael Hed told the British TV industry site C21media.net:

"We have been looking at that for quite a while, and that is definitely one of my personal big focus areas right now -- to work on broadcast content for 'Angry Birds,'"

Meanwile, company spokesman Ville Heijari told AFP:

"We are planning a cartoon that would be interesting to the whole family, for both adults and children. We are seeking co-operation with the best scriptwriters and the best distributors."

An Angry Birds player uses a slingshot to catapult birds of varying types at various structures and pigs. who stole the birds eggs. It will be interesting to see if they can pull off a series that makes sense. Pac-Man was just silly, and you can watch a clip to confirm it yourself.

14-year-old's game ends up atop Apple's free apps list

A 14-year-old's first attempt at coding a game for the iPhone has landed atop the App Store's top free apps list. Since its launch on Dec. 29, Robert Nay's game, Bubble Ball, has been downloaded 1.5 million times.

The game is graphically simple, but that has nothing to do with its being fun (or not). In Bubble Ball, players try to move a ball across the screen using objects such as a stick or a triangle. The objects are wood or metal, and exhibit differing properties based on their material.

To code the game, the eighth-grader used Corona tools from Ansca Mobile. Corona uses Lua as a programming language, and allows programs to be written once for both iOS and Android devices. Bubble Ball hasn't taken off on Android, but that may change with all this publicity (note that there are two Bubble Balls in the Android Market, but look for the one by Nay Games).

Nay plans to add more levels to the free game and eventually add in-app purchases (to actually make some money). His mother, Kari, helped her son by designing most of the game levels. She also handles things such as submitting the apps to the App Store and Android Market. She said, “I do the grown-up stuff for him."

Watch a trailer below.

Angry Birds turned into a carnival game in Guangzhou, China

Angry Birds has been turned into an carnival game, in Guangzhou, China. You might remember those games where you throw balls at bottles or other things, in hopes of spending $50 to win something worth $5 for your sweetheart.

Just as in the video game, the object is to bust up the "pigs" by shooting Angry Birds at them, using a slingshot.

Unlike the video game, however, Rovio probably isn't getting any royalties from this, but it is China, the land where IP isn't necessarily as respected as it in in other parts of the world.