The mobile games success story is now launching new barcodes, augmented reality and a new app.
Rovio had held onto the most popular mobile games spot for a long time, but as its top title started to fade it is now using gimmicks like an Angry Birds QR code as a part of a new free app it has launched to draw a whole new wave of downloaders.
The massively hyped Angry Birds Action! Has now been launched and, so far, players love it.
While it is clear that Rovio has gone all out by using an Angry Birds QR code as well as other tech features such as augmented reality points that place the user in an upside down three dimensional world, they haven’t sacrificed the experience in favor of bells and whistles. It’s true that they appear to have thrown a lot of gimmicky-seeming additions at the new mobile game, but players are already declaring their love for the experience and are clearly telling their friends about it. When all is said and done, it is being reviewed as new, different and very fun. What Rovio is certainly hoping is that it will also have the ability to keep up its popularity over time.
The Angry Birds QR code is a unique type of barcode that Rovio has named “BirdCodes”.
The BirdCodes work like traditional quick response codes but they do so in order to interweave the experience of the game, movie and even the brand as a whole. The mobile games app is now available to iOS and Android users and allows players to “dash” their 3D birds into various objects in a pinball-like smashing experience similar to the original game, but without the use of the slingshot.
The birds dash through objects and structures in order to be able to save their eggs. The birds still come in different sizes and colors in order to represent different abilities, though they are not the same as those that were used in the original games. Instead, the new birds have been designed to represent those that will be featured in the upcoming Angry Birds movie.
Beyond being able to simply play a game through Angry Birds Action!, the mobile app has also been designed to allow players to interact with a tremendous number of different types of merchandise. It is in that way that the Angry Birds QR code comes into play. A number of different companies such as Lego, McDonald’s, H&M and Pez, among others, will feature various forms of Angry Birds branded merch by way of BirdCodes. Mobile device owners simply need to scan the codes by using the app, launching a 30-second mini-game that shoots down sky pigs with a slingshot. The code must be scanned in order to play, incentivizing returns to the various store locations where they were found.
