Angry Birds to spawn cookbook and textbook
Angry Birds are taking over the world.
If you aren't familiar with Angry Birds, don't worry, a swarm of Hitchcock-esque crows isn't about to attack your house. Angry Birds is actually an iPhone app, not a sign of the Apocalypse.
In the game, you slingshot various types of birds (some turn into bombs, others into boomerangs) and try to hit all the evil green pigs hidden around obstacles in each level. There is a basic plot line about the pigs stealing eggs out of the birds' nests, but the crackling green pigs with their metal battle helmets don't need much help to be cheeky and dastardly.
As you pass each level, the obstacles get more and more complex and the pigs become harder to destroy. Since the idea behind the game is so simple, the $0.99 app has over 100 addictive levels.
The app, created by gaming company Rovio, became an instant hit when it was released in 2009, and according to the Huffington Post, it has been downloaded over 200 million times.
Now Rovio is looking to capitalize on the popularity of Angry Birds by expanding beyond the gaming market.
There are already Angry Birds stuffed animals and Angry Birds t-shirts, but Fox News reports that we can look forward to Angry Birds-based textbooks, an Angry Birds cookbook, and maybe even a feature film.
An Angry Birds film may be a few years off, but the cookbook and textbooks are a very real possibility. The Huffington Post writes that Rovio is set to self-publish a family cookbook (in book and app form). The cookbook, to be called "Bad Piggie's Egg Recipes" according to Fox News, will feature egg-based foods such as egg salad sandwiches and egg sushi, as the pigs in the game steal and threaten to eat the Angry Birds' eggs. It may even be the first in a line of many Angry Birds-themed cookbooks.
Aside from popping up in your kitchen, you might find Angry Birds your child's classroom this fall. Fox News states that Rovio is planning to launch a series of textbooks based on Angry Birds, with interactive features, to teach kids about geometry and spatial reasoning. However, some teachers are way ahead of Rovio, and have already started using Angry Birds to help elementary school kids learn about angles with very positive results.
So by the end of the year, that addictive app might go from mindless distraction to cooking inspiration and elementary school teacher. Who would have guessed that a game about angry birds slingshoting themselves at pigs would be so, well, useful?
Megan Wasson is a Monitor contributor.
