The Angry Birds Empire is preparing to strike again, but this time, the target is the ho-hum Star Wars prequels rather than the classic films digitized in the first Angry Birds Star Wars game.
Monday, Rovio announced that Angry Birds Star Wars II will touch down on September 19, complete with more than 30 new playable characters and the ability to "Join the Pork Side," which will presumably allow you to fling Imperial pigs at rebellious birds, rather than the other way around.
Darth Piggie's lackeys are getting physical this go-round, though—literally. Along with the usual slew of shirts, plush animals, and other marketing riff-raff that accompanies all Angry Birds releases, 30-plus in-game characters are becoming personified in the form of Hasbro Telepods toys. Scanning a code on the base of those toys instantly unlocks the character in Angry Birds Star Wars II, letting you "select new characters on the fly." Mashable reports that those Telepods packs will start at $5.99 for "a few figures."
Sound familiar? That's because Activision's smash Skylanders series also blends its digital world with tangible toys in a similar fashion. The upcoming Disney Infinity game also plans to merge the physical with the virtual. While hardcore gamers were busy whining about the occasionally nefarious nature of normal in-app downloads, publishers figured out a way to push both additional in-game purchases and promotional merchandise. Clever, clever.
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