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Rovio set to put social spin on Angry Birds with rumours of freemium mobile version in 2012

One of four games currently in development

Rovio set to put social spin on Angry Birds with rumours of freemium mobile version in 2012
Building on the franchise's exploits on the likes of Facebook, Chrome and Google+, Rovio has revealed to sister site PocketGamer.co.uk its plans to put social spin on Angry Birds' adventures in 2012.

Speaking at the Social Gaming & Virtual Goods World conference in London, senior game designer Jaako Iisalo stated that, of the four new Angry Birds games due next year, one of which will be exclusively social.

Social starIisalo stopped short of explaining just how such social threads will be implemented, but it's likely they'll follow a similar approach to the Friends Playing and Friends Stars sections implemented in Angry Birds' run on Google's platform.

Said modes require players to team up with friends to unlock exclusive levels, while additional content is also awarded when users invite new players to the game.

The Rovio man also neglected to mention any specific formats, but clearly we'd expect a proper freemium version of Angry Birds to be spread across the likes of iOS, Android, the Windows Phone at the bare minimum. 

The other three Angry Birds releases on the cards remain a mystery, though it's possible one of the releases could refer to the franchise's forthcoming splash on Nokia's Series 40 powered Asha range of handsets, primarily aimed at developing markets.

The Finnish studio revealed back in October that total series downloads have now passed the 500 million mark, with Rovio looking to add another half a million to its total before 2014.

[source: Pocket Gamer]

With a fine eye for detail, Keith Andrew is fuelled by strong coffee, Kylie Minogue and the shapely curve of a san serif font.