An update to Angry Birds for Android means HTC Heros can now join the feather-flinging fun, despite earlier claims by Rovio that the Hero can't handle the frame rate of the game.
Today's free update to the free app also supports QVGA graphics, so phones with a paltry 320x240-pixel display, such as the HTC Wildfire, can get in on the pig-pokin' robin rage.
But that's not all! There's also a new episode called 'The Big Set', in which the narrative takes a literary turn with a doomed romance between a bird and a pig. Just kidding -- you fire birds at stuff in this one too.
If you've had problems with Les Oiseaux Enrager, you'll be happy to hear there are some bug fixes in this release. Rovio says it's fixed the blank screen issue on Android 1.6 phones, and the white textures appearing on certain devices.
Angry Birds is also available for the iPhone, Palm phones and Nokias -- but BlackBerries are still being left out in the birdless cold. Why, for the love of God, why? Hath not a BlackBerry games? If you prick it, does it not bleed? Sort it out, Rovio.
We took the new Angry Birds on the HTC Hero for a spin, while wearing our Angry Birds cosplay, cradling our Angry Birds cuddly toys, and eating our Angry Birds cake. In our tests, the game required a reset right after installation, and although it was playable, the frame rate was indeed shockingly bad. Perhaps it's best to stick to throwing actual birds and real pigs for now, Hero fans.
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Comments 6
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anonymous 9 November, 2010 18:17
angry birds is not on blackberries because not all blackberries have a touch screen, the game wouldnt work right unless they made a virtual pointer controlled by the trackpad and even then that would take away from the fun of the game.
Anonymous 9 November, 2010 20:24
Shocking! Been waiting ages, downloaded the Getjar version (didn't install because of no memory), and now completely let down :(
Nearly 17mb, all for a juddering frame rate, a portrait mode that messes the screen up, and stupidly slow running :( Thanks Rovio
anonymous 10 November, 2010 00:43
Despite wanting to be able to play the game on my hero, I was probably happier when it wasn't available for it. Far too slow and juddery. Irritating.
Anonymous 10 November, 2010 19:36
Yep, I'm with anonymous, here. ;P Just tried it for Hero. I appreciate the effort, but heck, may want to have tested it first, before releasing it. At least it was free... it was still a free waste of time, though. :P Maybe a scaled down version for our ageing smartphones? I don't mind losing some of the cool value to be able to play the game! Unplayable in present condition.
Anonymous 11 November, 2010 13:31
Can we have the option to download the old version?
I have a Hero and at least it was playable before upgrading! It was pretty smooth, but just had white terrain.
Now I can see the terrain, but it's as sloooow!
Surely just showing STATIC TERRAIN can't slow it down that much?! The physics calculations should be the demanding part.
It's got to be a programming problem.
anonymous 12 November, 2010 14:48
Downloaded Angry Birds to my Hero. It works - just about. But it doesn't prevent the phone from sleeping, and when it wakes up again the screens messed up by the switch to portrait mode. And the whole thing is just so painfully slooooooooow.
What exactly is it doing that requires so much horsepower? I mean, the graphics aren't that complicated, and the shouldn't be any more demanding than many of the other games I have on my Hero (Space Physics comes to mind).