Only for work, honest. See? (Photo from Julia Gillard's Twitterstream).Chillingo, the UK outfit behind hit iPad/iPhone game Angry Birds, has been bought by giant US publisher Electronic Arts, the company announced this morning.The pricetag: a cool $US20 m
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Only for work, honest. See? (Photo from Julia Gillard's Twitterstream).
Chillingo, the UK outfit behind hit iPad/iPhone game Angry Birds, has been bought by giant US publisher Electronic Arts, the company announced this morning.
The pricetag: a cool $US20 million.
Angry Birds - which involves catapulting birds into structures holding green pigs - cost less than £70,000 to develop (originally by Finland’s Rovio; Chesire, UK-based Chillingo is its publisher).
The game hit headlines when the UK’s Daily Telegraph revealed that prime minister David Cameron was a “huge fan” of the game who had completed all of its levels (probably news that will not amuse 170,000 public servants laid off in the black budget).
Shortly after, the Australian Daily Telegraph reported Julia Gillard had been photographed playing Angry Birds.
Does not judge
"The prime minister is not an avid player but in no way does she judge those that are. She dabbles in playing Angry Birds but is too busy to play it that much,' a spokesman for Ms Gillard's office told the paper.
An insider with John Key’s office – who cannot be identified, behind that his last name is Till and his first name begins with F – confirmed our PM has bought an iPad.
But asked if Mr Key indulged in Angry Birds, our man in Wellington went suspiciously silent.
Beyond prime ministers, 20 million fans
The free version of Angry Birds has been downloaded 20 million times; with seven million choosing the paid version ($1.29 to $6.49 for NZ buyers, depending on version).
Android version
A beta version of Angry Birds for Google Android phones was released last week, and has already clocked 1 million downloads.
Angry Birds II - sorry, Cut the Rope
And, proving it’s at least a two-tricky pony, an all-new Chillango title, Cut the Rope, has also sold one million copies over the past 10 days.
