Angry Birds dev catapults into Asia

Whether gamers like or hate it, they cannot deny the huge impact Angry Birds has on mobile gaming culture. According to a recent article from Digital Life, the bird-flinging puzzle game creator Rovio Mobile will be opening offices in Hong Kong and Shanghai, China. The announcement was made during the Asia Online Games Summit in Hong Kong.

The company's senior vice president Henri Holm said that due to the game's popularity, the company plans to expand into other fields apart from mobile gaming, possibly naming itself Rovio Entertainment in the future. Specifically, the company plans to push out books, official merchandising, and retail distribution services. One example cited from the article is a cookbook "written" by the game's antagonists, the green pigs.

Furthermore, Holm said that Angry Birds' gameplay has not been fully explored and that there are "still a lot of things that can be done," with examples being a social arena and a level editor. On a related note, Rovio Mobile recently bought Kombo, a Helsinki-based animation company, paving the way for animated shorts based on the franchise.