This is your ABN News Roundup for March 12, 2014. I’m @dr-omega.
Rovio recently teased a new Angry Birds game with a medieval theme. Our sources on Piggy Island can now confirm what was suspected: the game will be a free Angry Birds themed RPG, called: Angry Birds EPIC!
Details on the new game are as follows:
Get ready for a bird-tastic FREE RPG adventure filled with “weapons” (whatever they could get ahold of), magic, bad guys and silly hats! Lead your feathery team into battle now – it’s going to be EPIC!
EPIC Weapons!
You’ll be able to, “Craft amazing battle-winning weapons like a wooden sword, frying pan or stick thingy with a sponge on top!”
EPIC Upgrades!
Gameplay will evolve as you, “Level up your characters, armor, weapons and potions to become a legendary hero ready to take on the mightiest pig warrior!”
EPIC battles!
Wage war with, “Turn-based battles between our heroic flock of warriors and those green snout-nosed scoundrels! It’s easy to play, but difficult to master!”
EPIC Worlds!
Adventure is out there as you, “Explore a fantasy Piggy Island with everything from tribal villages and frosty mountains to tropical beaches and mysterious caves!” In the image above we finally have our first glimpse of Piggy Island from above. It definitely looks EPIC!
We can confirm at least two character classes:
- Knight – Red Bird
- Mage – Yellow Bird
- … more to come
There you have it! So what do you think about Angry Birds EPIC? Let us know below.
If you are eager for a bit more information there is an excellent article in The Guardian from Monday, March 10:
When I meet Rovio’s ‘Mighty Eagle’ Peter Vesterbacka at the SXSW conference, he’s enthusiastic about the latter game [Angry Birds EPIC], which will be the latest expansion of Angry Birds into a new gameplay genre – although details remain under wraps for a few more days.
Angry Bird EPIC Soft-Launch?! What the heck is that?
The Angry Birds EPIC! teaser video noted that it is scheduled to soft launch in Australia and Canada. The Australia version of International Business Times also noted that Angry Birds Stella was also set to soft launch in Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Have you found yourself asking, “What is a soft launch?” We’re here to help!
Wikipedia describes it as:
A soft launch is the release of a website, hotel, or other product or service to a limited audience. Soft-launching is a method for gathering data on a product’s usage and acceptance in the marketplace, before making it generally available as a hard launch or grand opening. Companies may choose a soft launch to test the viability of a product or to fine tune a product before implementing a larger marketing effort.
Basically, it means releasing a game in a small market to test it and work out the bugs, before releasing to a larger audience (usually a full worldwide release).
Angry Birds 2014 Release Schedule
With all of the announced launches, it’s easy to get confused. To help, here’s a list of all the known upcoming Angry Birds releases for 2014 and beyond (some dates are not confirmed):
- Special Angry Birds Friends “Bomb Tournament” next week
- Angry Birds GO! Sub-Zero update – “Coming Soon” 2014
- Angry Birds GO! multiplayer update – Unknown, said to be coming in 2014, but not with the Sub-Zero update
- Angry Birds GO! Transformers – Telepods and other items to be released in September in the UK. Game/App unknown
- Angry Birds Stella – Fall 2014 (game and merchandise)
- Angry Birds EPIC! – 2014
- Angry Birds comic book from IDW – June 2014
- Angry Birds the Movie – July 1, 2016
I’m @dr-omega and this was your ABN News Roundup.
Holy Bird! No doibts Rovio knows how do to cool stuff!
I love role playing games and Angry Birds, so really looking forward to this.
Can’t really imagine how this will become when it is released later, this is totally different from Angry Birds, will it be successful?
I’m hoping it is a success! @theangrybird, this is probably why they’re doing a “soft launch” (like beta testing) at first to a few players to get feedback on what they like/dislike and if any bugs need to be addressed. After making the improvements/changes to the game, do an official release, and hope that it becomes as popular as the other AB games.
This is going to be EPIC, I hope it comes out after my exams in May or I am screwed. Really looking forward to this. I hope that it can be played without the influence of outside players. I’m not hard-core so wont be on it 24/7.
This EPIC! This new Angry Birds game is a good step for Rovio which choose RPG genre, rather than normal bird-flinging gameplay for their new game. :)
I like it too. I’ve always loved RPGs (especially the M&L series) and hope this will be as good as the others.
what is M&L?
Mario & Luigi
Yep.
I’m not into RPGs but I’ll check it out and try it when it comes out.
This is the first RPG I’ll play.
Waaooow! Awwwssommme! It’s best Angry Birds game.
Chuck bird looks like the Halloween jugglers!
Chuck seems like the Black Mage of the group. Can cast powerful magic, but lacking in health.
Oh no. I’m very disappointed. :-( A “free” game always means that there will be a lot of IAP.
Why not sell the game for 99 cents and leave the IAP away?
I am totally agree with you Cris.
I know. Just like Go! did. Now that Rovio made Rio free, they took away daily Power Ups. I don’t really use them but still.
No doubt that there will be IAPs, as so far that’s proven to be the most successful way for game developers to actually monetize their games. With that said, let’s give them the benefit of the doubt. We really have no idea what the structure will look like.
To quote a “friend”:
~(°▿°)~
I’d rather pay than have IAPs too. I don’t make IAPs, and if they are required to play, then I probably won’t.
I also don’t like it when you have to be on line to play, because unless I am at home, I don’t have internet or cell phone connection.
I’d love to have an AB RPG, but only if I can use it anywhere.
Freemium games can be played totally free at slowier pace, so what’s hurry. Play it free and enjoy. Thumbs up for Rovio.
I agree with you @cosmo2503 . I prefer free games.
I’m gonna try this out, but I wonder if this will be another successful title like AB Go!…
I personally predict that Rovio will also be using AB EPIC to squeeze the money out of our wallets…
What successful game over ABGO ; you are talking about.!!! Is not : if you visit often Forum you’ll see are very few players actively on this trend : maybe there are many thousands players playing the game but not MILLIONS. This Game was Designed to squeezed our money. But there are few players that they play on free mode not spending any penny . There is a System wrongly stablished to pay with a lot gems to Pass Missions or the Whole Challenge. And fir that you have to use Powers Ups. Which one are to expensive : very Very bad last update from ROVIO to us ( we the drivers that Love this Game) …!!! Sorry why you are thinking it’s successful Game tell us Why!!!
Please gives us an explanation.!!!!
Oh, seems that I was trying say that I liked AB Go, and wonder whether AB EPIC would really catch my interest in it.
Sorry for the confusion.
Isn’t money making true essence of any business? Why do people always complain about “greedy” companies who only want to squzee money out of their wallets?
This looks interesting. I just hope it will work on my device, unlike Go.
It likely will. Notice that the game isn’t 3D. Go likely didn’t work on your device because it has 3D graphics.
Is Chuck a Red-man? See that feather on his hat.
And Red’s hair looks like Anakin Skywalker’s. It’s beautiful. he is a Guard for their eggs.
What do you think about BOMB bird?
I think the ‘hair’ is part of his hat.
Bomb’s hat looks like Captain Panaka’s.
Oh, Matilda looks like Darth Sidious and has a cape.
In the picture, bottom left piggy looks like Tusken Raider and bottom right piggy looks like Zam Wesell!
Where are Hal and Stella?
@dr-omega Out of curiosity, where did you find all of this?
I’d prefer not to reveal my sources, for a number of reasons.
I think the new concepts they make to AB are different: GO and now Epic!
They might have their players. Not sure it’s for me though. I prefer the classic AB style.
But then again, let’s wait and see what it’s about.
Well, Angry Birds Stella looks like it will have something sort of like a slingshot.
There is information, that battle system will be turn-based, and here is the first screen – http://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/angry-birds-epic-game.png?w=1024&h=576
Also, several sites report, that game will soft launch later this week.
Here is even bigger resolution of the screen – http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/rsqn5vdiksaww5uhudbm.png
Also, bigger resolution of the title screen – http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/ushuakvfdwm31jfglpbc.png
That’s so cool
Matilda looks like she’s going to be the healer of the group.
The first thing that came to my mind when I saw this was South Park: The Stick of Truth. There are so many similarities between Angry Birds Epic and The Stick of Truth, I wouldn’t be surprised if Rovio just stole this idea from them. Although I don’t think this will be as good as The Stick of Truth, I still have high expectations for this game, and I hope that it will be a fun game to play.
I feel really stupid asking this, but what’s an RPG?
Role-Playing Game. It seems you must grow (or whatever) your characters and battle against the adversaries.
You mean like in Clash of Clans?
Yep, pretty much.You have a turn based strategy system and upgrade your characters to fight enemies easier. You also sometimes use items for various reasons (double health, stronger attacks,etc.).
Okay, should be alright. I like RPG games, but after a while I start failing and just stop playing. But, since its Angry Birds….. :l
I must say, that even though I doubt if this game will succeed, Rovio makes really good job with game art. Does any other mobile game have as talented drawn and coloured art like this? Maybe some, but it’s very limited. The toons are also quality work. Comics – well they need some more work with storyline and in finnish version of comics they need to speak in right grammar (that’s right – there is already Angry Birds comics in Finland! 3rd comic magazine is coming next week. The comics are drawn by popular Disney comic artist such as Ferioli, Rodriques and my favourite, Giorgio Cavazzano!) Even If i some day stop playing AB, I will follow their twitter an fb and admire their art. They are really talented!
I wonder if there will be telepods of this?
Likely. There are Telepods of every recent AB game, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they come in handy here, too. Don’t really see where they fit in, though.
I can’t stop saying WOAH..in my head
Well I’m not a fan of RPGs but I’m willing to give it a try.
Excuse me, but if the Angry Birds get to use Rocket-Propelled Grenades (RPG) against the poor piggies, how is that gonna be fun or even fair? Aloha.
I laughed hard! LOL
Me too!!
Can someone please answer:
Can I somehow get in trouble by creating a fake apple id?
You won’t get in trouble most likely, but its against the Terms of Service. I’ve got a Canadian app store id set up and download all the games that arent out here from there. You will have to switch between the ids every time the game updates though, but once you have it downloaded you can just log back into your normal apple id.
Most likely… I don´t know if I want to do this. I would really like the game as soon as possible, but I don´t like doing illegal things.
C’mon @bad-piggies-2 it is not anything against low, nothing really harful to society or any of companies involved in business (Apple and Rovio). I assume you are still teenager and will not encourage you to create fake account, but still it will not have any consequences.
Yeah, me neither, though it isn’t illegal.
hi, is there any news about p.c Version?!
It seems like it´s only coming to android, iOS and windows phone. But ABSW2 came first to mobile but also to pc after a while, so ABEpic might come to PC in the future. But it´s not so likely as it´s a free app with iap.
So can a First Person Flinger game be far behind?
That would actually be pretty cool, but I don’t see Rovio doing that anytime soon. I would be expecting a Toons graphic change to ABC (like they did with Rio).
Looks like a combination of various aspects of Angry Birds, AB Star Wars 2, GO and Icebreaker/Juice Cubes (maps). The ABN/Rovio information presents the anticipation of a great game. Looking forward to its release. Role playing games have been fun for the few that I have tried over the years.
I don’t like the sound of “free game”. Usually, to balance it out, they have an energy system. It happened with ABG, I certainly hope it won’t happen with this game.
Angry Birds Facebook comment: ‘It will be soft launching in Canada, Australia and New Zealand in the next few days, with further countries coming later.’
@josm that’s great news. Thanks for sharing.
In a FEW DAYS!? Wow! I can’t wait! Lets hope it comes soon.
It seems that Chuck as become the second most common bird next to Red.
… *puts shades on* B)
I see you’ve changed your avatar.
Wow
When I went in to epic.angrybirds.com it said that chrome couldn´t find the page but that it had a cached copy of it where you can find a lot of info about the game!
yeah me to, i think they are working on the page right now, its been like this since 8 hours now, but this info is there since last hour:
Main header
Get ready for a bird-tastic FREE RPG adventure filled with “weapons” (whatever they could get ahold of), magic, bad guys and silly hats! Lead your feathery team into battle now – it’s going to be EPIC!
EPIC WEAPONS!
Craft amazing battle-winning weapons like a wooden sword, frying pan or stick thingy with a sponge on top!
EPIC Upgrades!
Level up your characters, armor, weapons and potions to become a legendary hero ready to take on the mightiest pig warrior!
EPIC battles!
Turn-based battles between our heroic flock of warriors and those green snout-nosed scoundrels! It’s easy to play, but difficult to master!
EPIC WORLDS!
Explore a fantasy Piggy Island with everything from tribal villages and frosty mountains to tropical beaches and mysterious caves!
Yep. I got the same. And a few picture links that were not working
nope, looks like 3 characters are coming, red,chuck and one called back (is black?)saw this in the page source
Pretty sure that is shorthand for “background” as the Red and Chuck images were on scrolls. The image next to them was blank, showing the background used under the scrolls.
yes you may be right
off topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wrauQE3Hg0M