The Angry Birds franchise will not go away proving to have the staying power that continues to attract more and more followers. For those of you who are not getting bored of this popular series we have news that Angry Birds Rio is now ‘Free App of the Week’, so why not experience their return visit to the magical city of Rio de Janeiro with this free available app.

Based on the same physics gameplay from the original Angry Birds Rio has some unique twists, and those getting stuck throughout their adventure can use the opportunity to buy the Mighty Eagle. This one-time in-app purchase in Angry Birds entitles unlimited use, although it is worth noting that the Mighty Eagle can only be used once an hour. Available through the iTunes App Store Angry Birds Rio features six enjoyable episodes with around 180 great levels including 24 new bonus levels, as well as new power-ups such as the Samba Burst and TNT Drop.

Accessible on iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch this game is part of Apple’s ‘Free App of the Week’ promotion and normally goes for $0.99 on the iPhone and $2.99 on the iPad, so why not make the most of this offer? For those of you unsure about another Angry Birds encounter, we have embedded a YouTube video below of the Angry Birds Rio new levels trailer just incase you want to see it in action, although we at PR don’t need much prompting to install another free title.

In addition, during the latter part of last year we spoke about Angry Birds Star Wars, which combines two popular franchises that many fans will find hard to turn down. Therefore, we have provided a link to that post as you might also want to see some gameplay of Angry Birds Star Wars from our previous article.

The levels situated between stars – you’ll find 60 standard levels with the launch version, although we’d expect more to be added in time via an update. Angry Birds Space is also ready to take more money from the moment you download the app, which is thanks to in-app purchases for 30 extra hard levels found in the Danger Zone.

We’ve included some videos below this article that give extra help to those of you a little stuck, and while we know some people think Angry Birds is simple with the only skill needed is to “shoot the bird at the pigs“, they couldn’t be more wrong. Obviously most of our readers don’t have any problems completing the levels in the latest version of Angry Birds, so if that’s you then feel free to share a comment below with your personal take on Angry Birds Space.

You’ll find the first video runs for just over 14 minutes and shows you how to walkthrough Angry Birds Space Pig Bang all levels at 3 stars. The second video gives you another look at doing the same thing for all levels, and in our third video walkthrough you’ll find all the harder Danger Zone levels completed with 3 stars again.

Do you love Angry Birds Space, and if so did you need a walkthrough? If there is anything missing from the videos below that you need help with then feel free to leave a comment, and we will add a video soon for it.

Developers Rovio have just confirmed that Angry Birds will finally be available on Facebook next month, and will become available for installation on February 14. The game was originally meant to land last Summer, but Facebook lovers won’t particularly care seeing as a date has now been set for the Angry Birds’ Facebook debut.

The good news is that the Facebook version of Angry Birds will come with one or two interesting additions as well that you may not have seen on your iOS or Android version. For starters, you’ll have Facebook leaderboards so you can annoy the living daylights out of your friends by constantly beating their score and the Facebook version will also come with power-ups as well.

One such power-up will be an instant earthquake that players will be able to bring up at their discretion, although you’ll have to pay to have this pleasure. Other power-ups such as different variety of birds including the mighty eagle can be unlocked during gameplay. According to a report from Joystiq, paid-for power-ups will cost you $0.99 a piece.

We’re glad that Rovio has kept this game a free one for all Facebook users. The option of microtransactions is a good one we feel as Rovio will not run the risk of angering their fanbase by making it a paid-for game from the start which they are well entitled to do.

Will you be trying out Angry Birds on Valentine’s Day and risk taking your frustrations out on your loved one afterwards, or are you getting a bit bored of the franchise now?

The game was first released for the iOS platform back in December 2009, and now Rovio has released version 2.0 of the game. According to Digital Trends there is a bunch of new levels, and existing ones have now been unlocked. Angry Birds has been downloaded a staggering 500 million times since it first made an appearance, with sales of accessories and toys giving the company a value of over $1 billion.

Available now on the App Store as a free update to existing users the new version has fifteen special birthday themed levels, and the 300 levels that already exist have been unlocked. So now if you get stuck on a certain level you can progress to a different one if you desire.

There are also a number of retailers in the US that are marking the event as well by putting on special events and promotions. Toys R Us are to offer 25% off the Angry Birds plush toys, while in the UK Forbidden Planet are offering Angry Birds products not seen in the country before.

The developer has revealed that 266 billion levels of the game have been played around the world since its launch. It has also been revealed that there will be several new games during 2012 as well. Are you still playing Angry Birds?

The Angry Birds Seasons edition of the game is the version that varies the most. It features themed scenarios depending on the time of year. These themes include St. Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, Halloween and Christmas. With the end of the year approaching Rovio has decided to launch a new festive edition of the game for 2011, Angry Birds 12 Days of Christmas, which is likely to be released 12 days before Santa comes to town.

As T3 explains it is uncertain whether the new Angry Birds app will be the latest edition to the Angry Birds Seasons app or an app on its own right. What is certain, however, is that the first day of Christmas is likely to begin with an Angry Bird in a pear tree. Other details that have been revealed about the game so far are three golden eggs, a fifth magic level and six bonus balls. With what we know about the game so far we can already tell its going to be a popular choice this Christmas.

The official release date is yet to be announced and the price is will depend on whether the game is an update to the Angry Birds Seasons app or an app of its own right. Will you be getting the Angry Birds 12 Days of Christmas app? What are you expecting some of the other days in the game to feature?

What does Halloween really stand for, and when you dress up should you not wear a costume that comes from a horror movie? Nightmares are funny things, we’ve all had one and it could’ve been you wearing a fruit bowl on your head, or maybe your hand on a cat and that scary feeling when touching them, and for the smartphone gamer that has just gone cold turkey on Angry Birds, seeing someone walk in to that Halloween party wearing an Angry Birds costume could be the most scary thing they’d ever see next month.

Last year we remember many of our readers wanted to find an Angry Birds Halloween costume for their kids, this year everything has changed. The children can forget about getting that costume, the adults want them now and dressing as a strange red bird or green pig could never be so cool, although those of us who spent those hours doing something more constructive rather than playing Angry Birds would think it’s a little crazy.

The fun part comes when you get to watch those people in the Angry Bird costume trying to drink their favorite juice at the party. Will you be an Angry Bird this Halloween? Product Pages here.

The device is already widely available to buy in most parts of Europe, but Samsung are now preparing to launch the highly popular handset in the US and other parts of the world, with three of the main US carriers each getting their own variants of the Galaxy S II, similar to what occured with the original Galaxy S smartphone.

Now here’s the part where Angry Birds work their magic into the launch of the device in other regions. Samsung has teamed up with Rovio to include a secret level which can only be accessed on the Samsung Galaxy S II, as reported from TechTree. The level will come in the form of the Angry Birds Pignic update and players will have to find a golden egg to unlock the level.

Rovio has made things easy for you though by releasing a video which explains how to unlock the secret level exactly, so perhaps it is not so secret after all. You’ll find the video below this post, and you can see that the hidden level contains some Samsung Galaxy S II-like features and even the logo is included there just to give Samsung some bragging rights.

For die hard fans of Angry Birds, we have a feeling that a hint of jealousy is going to creep in for sure, knowing that you can only access this level on the Samsung Galaxy S II. It’s a major coup for Samsung though and even though it’s hard to believe, we have a feeling that this exclusive feature alone is going to help to secure a few extra sales.

However, if you have a rooted device, we predict that it won’t be long until someone figures out how to get this secret level running on other Android handsets, as it doesn’t seem too hard a task to achieve. Check out the video below and let us know what you think of it.

As an owner of a different handset, does the idea of a new level of Angry Birds exclusive to the Samsung Galaxy S II frustrate you? We’ll let you know if Rovio make this level available to everyone else – we doubt it though.

The company has certainly been going from strength to strength, and this is a way for them to finally push away from their comfort zone. However, we cannot moan at them for how successful the game has become, with download sales now topping 200 million. They have already ventured out a little, although still based on the format with their T-shirts, speaker docks and plush toy range.

The Angry Birds cookbook will be based on egg recipes, and we have to assume that they will be based loosely on the game. So maybe we can expect fire hot-tempered recipes then? We are not too certain why anyone would want so many egg recipes, and we would not want to be in that house who cooks all the time from it?

Having said that, one would expect the cookbook to become the best selling recipe book, as we know that fans of the franchise will want to give them a try. Mashable has said that the book will be available in both paper and eBook form; so expect even more Angry Birds downloads then.

It’s being reporting that the new accessory range will be available from GEAR4 soon. The new range will include some pretty cool speaker systems, which will please the Angry Bird fans out there.

The company is already responsible for a range of iPhone 4 cases and these latest products increases the range further. To start with the new devices will be based on the green pig with military helmet, black and red bird. Some of the devices will feature a dock on the top as well as a 3.mm audio socket.

The red bird speaker does not have a dock, only a 3.5mm cable for compatibility with all music players, and retails at £49.99 and $89.99 respectively. The helmet pig speaker is made for iPod / iPhone and has a dock on the top but has no adjoining stand. It retails at £69.99 and $119.99.

The black bird speaker is made for iPod / iPhone / iPad and can be docked on the adjoining stand. It retails at £69.99 and $129.99. We’ve been informed by GEAR4 that the products will be available from September.

Do you still play Angry Birds?

Post updated after being contacted by GEAR4

This is possibly up there with one of the greatest carrier promos to date, and you’ll probably agree with us after watching it. The video shows a busy center square in Barcelona packed with people, all watching this Angry Birds game unfold..it’s even got a live band playing the theme music as well.

What happens, is unsuspecting members of the public are enticed by a ‘life like’ start menu of the game, and as they continue to play, real-angry bird toys are launched into the sky behind to the waiting Angry Birds-esque debris, it really is fantastic stuff.

The various different birds are all in attendance, even the small blue birds that launch into a cluster bomb on the game. Check out the video below for yourself as our description doesn’t really do it justice. Hats off to T-Mobile on this one, they win the ‘best smartphone ad of 2011′ award so far, we doubt anything will top that.

What are your thoughts on their Angry Birds promo?