AUSTIN, Texas – Our staff was able to view and shoot a demonstration of “Angry Birds Rio,” a take-off of the hit original game “Angry Birds,” at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Festival today. According to game developer Rovio, the app will debut exclusively on Amazon.com’s curated Android Appstore on March 22.
“More of the same (and) completely new,” said Ville Heijari, bird whisperer for the Finnish Rovio Mobile Ltd. “Really refreshing change for us and we can’t wait to see how it does in the market.”
The game was formed in collaboration with the Twentieth Century Fox and Blue Sky Studios movie “Rio,” which is slated for an April 15 theatrical release. Amazon.com has yet to confirm when the Android Appstore will launch officially, but it should be expected in the next few days. The game will also be available for iOS players and sold in the Appstore.
The storyline for the game follows the same plot of the “Rio” film, which revolves around a macaw named Blu and his journey from Minnesota to Rio with Jewel, a fellow macaw he hopes to impress. The game has 60 levels but will change with additional content as app updates will supply additional levels and features.
Versions of Angry Birds and Angry Birds Seasons with ads are available free of charge on the Android Market and versions without ads will be available on the Amazon Appstore at a low-cost, likely to be similar in price to its Apple App Store counterpart, which charges $1.
