Angry Birds are everywhere

A while back a friend and I were looking at games on each other's iPhones. At that point I stumbled on Angry Birds, to which he replied, "that's a must buy!" I purchased it for 99 cents and then forgot about it. Fast forward to April when I randomly launched it and the rest is history.

If you're not familiar with Angry Birds, the goal is to use

"the unique destructive powers of the Angry Birds to lay waste to the pigs’ fortified castles."

You do this by using a sling shot and flying the Angry Birds into the pigs' castles, in hopes of eliminating the pigs.

As just about everyone who plays the game once will attest to, this game is addictive. So addictive in fact, that it's now sold more than 6.5 million copies, and has been downloaded more than 11 million times for free, according to variety.com, and that's just on the App Store.

What is it about Angry Birds that makes it such a success? No one knows for sure but it probably has to do with its great art, sound effects, and easy to figure out gameplay. That and the fact that it's priced right, and the developers are constantly releasing new levels.

As for pricing, according to AppShopper, the app itself has been available since December 10, 2009, and enjoyed a mere 10 days at $1.99, after which it promptly resumed its spot in the top 10 at 99 cents. Overseas it's a bit over $1, and there's also an iPad version that sells for $4.99. That version has sold more than 200,000 copies, according to variety.com.

So, where do you go after you've conquered the App Store? How about Hollywood, toys, other mobile platforms, and even consoles? According to CEO of Rovio Mobile, that's exactly where the company is taking Angry Birds.

Angry Birds has already landed on Palm, the OVI Store, and now Android, and it doesn't seem to be slowing down.

The most amazing thing to me is how faithfully recreated the game is on each mobile platform. For example, I played the Android version on the Droid X yesterday, and you would have thought I was playing it on the iPhone.

If this article has you wondering how Angry Birds could ever be a movie, check out the company's movie trailer below. It's already been watched almost as many times as the company has sold copies of the game.

As for toys, some fans couldn't wait for the toys to start shipping and created their own. I can only imagine how excited my kids would be to have these figures available to play with.

Do you play Angry Birds? If so, on which platform?