It’s always interesting to see a popular mobile phone game jump to consoles. Xbox 360 has already received Fruit Ninja Kinect (which turned out pretty well other than the crummy menus), and Doodle Jump is coming with Kinect controls too. That only leaves one other major casual franchise to make the jump: Angry Birds! Well, just as Angry Birds Space is coming to Windows Phone eventually, so too are several Angry Birds games coming to Xbox 360 in the form of Angry Birds Trilogy.
Rovio’s popular bird-flinging series will be published on consoles by Activision (best known for their Call of Duty franchise). Angry Birds Trilogy contains the first three series entries: Angry Birds, Angry Birds Rio, and Angry Birds Seasons. For those keeping score, only the first game made it to Windows Phone, where it has languished with only a single title update and no Mango support. A patch for 256 MB devices is supposedly coming, at least. But hey, at least it only costs 99 cents nowadays!
With the Xbox 360 being the number one console as opposed to the current third-place position of Microsoft’s mobile OS, we can certainly expect Trilogy to receive much better support as far as content updates go. However, free updates are extremely scarce on the 360 (Minecraft: XBLA Edition had to get special permission for regular updates), with PDLC much more the norm. Rovio and Activision haven’t commented on exactly episodes (sets of levels) are included in Trilogy or their DLC plans, so these things remain to be seen.
Head past the break for more detals, screenshots, and pricing info!
Building a better bird
We do know some of Trilogy’s new features though, and they certainly sound worthwhile. First off, the graphics have been completely redone in high definition, making for a superior and yet familiar look. New artistic details include animated backgrounds and lighting effects, according to a Rovio VP who spoke with IGN. Other bonuses include cinematics (should be cool), character profiles, and more.
As for the controls, like Fruit Ninja Kinect and Doodle Jump, Angry Birds Trilogy will make us of Microsoft’s Kinect motion-sensing peripheral. We’ve already covered another Angry Birds-like Kinect game: Wreckateer from Iron Galaxy Studios, first announced at E3. Wreckateer is due out on July 25 as part of the Summer of Arcade XBLA promotion, and you can bet we’ll be reviewing it. It will certainly be interesting to see how they stack up and which feels like a better fit for consoles.
Coming to stores near you
Angry Birds Trilogy differs significantly from Fruit Ninja Kinect and Wreckateer in one major way: it will be released at retail rather than as an XBLA game. The reasons are clear: first off, the volume of content (both new and existing) is fairly large for a single downloadable title. Second, Activision is probably banking on less online-savvy customers picking the game up in stores and as holiday gifts. Folks like that are usually oblivious to Xbox Live Arcade releases, though a handful of retail establishments like GameStop do sell XBLA vouchers in-store.
Now for the news that might make cost-conscious birds angry: Angry Birds Trilogy will cost $39.99 when it debuts in the fourth quarter of 2012. That’s about $13.33 per game. The retail release and overhauls explain the price tag, but it’s still a vast difference from the mobile games’ common pricing of $0.99 apiece. What do you think, dear readers? Do you love Angry Birds enough to pay a bit more for the ultimate Xbox 360 edition?
Source: TrueAchievements
