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Angry Birds lovers who happen to have a Magic Leap One on hand will be thrilled to hear that the hit mobile game is being remade from the ground up for the AR platform. The controller you use with the Magic Leap system becomes your slingshot. Pace around the pigs’ hideout to find the best angles of attack, then use the controller to launch your birds and spring their special talents on the unsuspecting swine, all in a detailed 3D environment that integrates with real-world objects around you. Rovio is reportedly looking to get the game out the door some time this fall.
For all intents and purposes, this is essentially an entirely new game built on the standard Angry Birds base. All of the birds, special powers, and conventions of cartoon physics that made the original mobile games so addictive are here in force, and are more lovingly rendered than ever before. Towers and fortresses for the pigs have to be thoughtfully designed around the fact that players could cheat most of the old-school designs by just firing a bird or two from above, below, or the other side, and this game presents players with a 360 degree pig-blasting playground. You’ll be able to walk around in the real world to get a better look at the pigs’ stronghold and figure out the best angle of attack.
Rovio is an early development partner for Magic Leap, and this is the first thing that the company has made for the new platform. It’s quite likely that other Rovio hits like Bad Piggies and Battle Bay could make their way over in some form in the future, as well as the themed AngryBirds games that have proven fairly popular on Android and iOS. Early Magic Leap One adopters are paying a serious premium for what’s considered a development machine, so if you have one or want one, expect to see the release rate of games and other entertaining apps like this one skyrocket in the near future. Presumably, there will be a similar model released at some point that’s meant to be consumer-facing, which will spur releases by providing a wider audience. Still, mixed reality is a fresh frontier, so with even VR still experiencing growing pains, don’t expect anything near the level of developer fervor seen on phones and game consoles.