The three-year enmity between birds and pigs will soon be played out on a cosmic battleground. In cooperation with NASA, Finland-based Rovio Entertainment, creator of the Angry Birds franchise, formally announced its newest game, “Angry Birds Space,” on Thursday. NASA and Rovio are working together to teach people about physics and space exploration through the internationally successful puzzle game.
Available for iOS, Android, PC, and Mac starting March 22, the new game will take engage players with concepts of human space exploration, including weightlessness and the gravity wells of nearby planets, as the new avian-porcine battleground lends a cosmic twist to the physics of the game’s slingshot-based bombardment. Levels in the new game will be set both on planets and in microgravity.
“This collaboration began with a simple Twitter exchange about birds and pigs in space, and it has grown into a tremendous outreach and education opportunity,” said David Weaver, associate administrator for communications at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “This ongoing collaboration with Rovio and Angry Birds is an exciting way to get people engaged with NASA’s missions of exploration and discovery, and get students energized about future careers in science and technology.”
A video exploring the concept of microgravity with the help of Angry Birds characters was shown to a South By Southwest audience this week. In it NASA Flight Engineer Don Pettit, currently aboard the International Space Station, uses Angry Birds Space to explain how physics works in space, including demonstrating trajectories in microgravity by catapulting an Angry Bird through the space station. Here it is, in full:
Peter Vesterbacka, chief marketing officer and mighty eagle of Rovio Entertainment, spoke to the games development and the unique experience it offers. “We focused on every detail in development of Angry Birds Space to build a special experience for our fans,” said Vesterbacka, “I believe we have succeeded well with the game, and we wanted to create something as unique around our launch events. NASA has been the perfect partner for our Angry Birds Space program, and we can’t wait to work with them on creating more compelling educational experiences.”
The formal announcement of the Angry Birds Space launch follows just a day after NASA announced the evolution of its successful Tweetup program into the more inclusive NASA Social.
