Any time my aunt is aware of a video game, that game has jumped that proverbial shark. Case-in-point: Angry Birds. The ubiquitous iPad and iPhone application has taken over the public imagination in a way no other app has, but the latest addition to the title may alienate more people than it wins over, even my aunt. Last night, Angry Birds HD added 15 new levels...and unskippable advertisements to the game.
When the iPad version of the game is paused or a level is restarted, the user must sit through a brief animated commercial for Angry Birds merchandise before resuming play. When you think of how many times you restart a difficult AB level, the ads would become an impossible nuisance, particular given the fact that you have to buy Angry Birds.
NEWS: Angry Birds coming to Wii and Nintendo DS.
Paying money for a game and then being forced to sit through commercials is beyond annoying, but becoming more and more common. As you'd expect, fans of the game are not happy. Some quotes from the Angry Birds comments:
- This impacts the time to restart the level and continuous fade-in animation is very distracting. Now we’re forced to wait until the news loads EVERY SINGLE time the game is paused before restarting. Serious players will now have to wait an extra second or so each time a level restart is required.
- “really gives you the feeling that someone lowered the quality control bar and chose to add a poorly placed… and tacky-looking… advertisement on the pause / menu screen to push Angry Birds gear.”
- “I buy apps to get rid of ads not to get bombarded with more”
Source: 9 to 5 Mac
Comments are Closed
Comments
Displaying 1–20 of 35
122
Criminal58369
I say no to ads!!! Save that B.S. For the ad free version!!!
Haymaker710
That's not what "jumping the shark" means. Jumping the shark is when a show has run out of ideas and starts doing ridiculous things to keep people interested. This is just plain profiteering.
BrendonAngelo
That is just ridiculous. Well, it happens to the best of us. Once you get a taste of the money, you only want more and more.
Jangalexis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v =12tek56tls0
jjfan1
I stopped playing Angry Birds a long long time ago. Rovio is slowly digging their grave and this is a perfect example. Why would you place unskippable ads on a game that people have purchased? makes no sense
BCouto
If the game was free, this would be understandable(as there are ads in the android version, which is free), but the fact that you already paid for this game and are still receiving ads, is disgusting. Rovio is the new a**hole of game companies.
People should request refunds if possible. This developer does not deserve to stay afloat.
JimboG
You G4 guys complain about companies adding advertisements to games, but you have no problem doing the same thing to every God damned video on your website. Some of your ads are even longer than the video I'm trying to watch!
Hayo-Lori
The birds aren't the only ones that angry any more =/
Aerindel_Prime
Of course its interesting to see an article about intrusive ads on a site that seems to add more pop ups by the week.
Blue_Vortex
The only time when ads are fine on an app is on the start up of a game and if it means the game is free. But if you have to pay for the game and there are ads after you fail then that's a rip off.
orangecrow
I'll go back to playing Angry Birds the old fashioned way, by throwing rocks at them. "that's not right"
OutlawFirebird
this is why I stopped playing it ony my droid, the adds are getting worse and worse.
bretthoof
I want Angry Bird dodgeballs..
DPsx72
I called this a crappy game a long time ago and am glad I never played it. Ads suck and so do any and all games that originate on non-gaming platforms such as phones.
theantigzus
i got it as a mini for the PS3 it was ok for like the 10 minutes i played but i prefer games with a story line so ill be sticking to bigger budget games
TromboneFanatic
This is an interesting antithesis to the creator of Angry Birds' speech last week at GDC where he stated console gaming is dead. If his point was that people want simpler, cheaper games, he may be preaching to audiences that want to hear how they can get something for free, but he forgot to mention that the people who make these quality games have to eat and pay mortgages too.
TromboneFanatic
This is an interesting antithesis to the creator of Angry Birds' speech last week at GDC where he stated console gaming is dead. If his point was that people want simpler, cheaper games, he may be preaching to audiences that want to hear how they can get something for free, but he forgot to mention that the people who make these quality games have to eat and pay mortgages too.
ganqzilla
And in an article earlier this week the creator of angry birds says that console gaming is dead because of lack of innovation.... what a idiotic thing to say btw. This "innovation" in (ie adding on annoying things to a game like extra advertisements, to a game that i would only play to waste time waiting for the bus or something) games like angry birds is a just another example of a fad of a game that will kill it self before it gets any bigger. i will vote with my wallet and never buy this game.
Twitchman5292
Will you listen to yourselves? Its a stupid ad in one game. I pay for TV, and I still have to watch commercials. "Oh no! Well I'll just stop watching, but continue paying. That'll show 'em!" It's Rovio ads in a Rovio game, no one complains when a console game advertises DLC, how is this different? If these were the annoying iAds, I could see where you were coming from, but they're not. It's a little scrolling ad for cheap stuff they want to sell. It doesn't effect loading time by that much, so quit your complaining. It won't do anything you sad, sad people.
Aerindel_Prime
I would rather pay more upfront than have to look at adds. I have literally restarted some levels a hundred times or more. If they do this to the iphone version I'm done with them, no question.
Apple should really crack down on this. I know of four people who bought iPads or iPods just to play Angry birds after seeing me play it. These ad's are a gamebreaker.
A little bit of triva, in Sierra Leone, west africa, they call the game F&ck birds, F#ck is how they say "flick" in the local language. I found this out when I pulled out my iPod and suddenly was surrounded by kids yelling F%ck birds!
Displaying 1–20 of 35
122