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Join the Pork Side: 'Angry Birds Star Wars 2' prequel comes with action figures

Rovio is bringing another installment of its popular
Rovio is bringing another installment of its popularRovio


Rovio is bringing another installment of its popular
Rovio is bringing another installment of its popularRovio

Rovio Entertainment announced plans on Monday to release "Angry Birds Star Wars 2," a new installment in its wildly popular series of physics-based bird-chucking video games that will follow the events of George Lucas's prequel trilogy.

Yes, "Star Wars" fans, that means that, come September 19, you'll soon be able to see adorable little "Angry Birds" version of Darth Maul, Mace Windu, and even young Anakin Skywalker. Rovio didn't make it clear which of these will actually be playable (or, more accurately, throwable) characters versus enemies, but the prospect of being able to play as an "Angry Birds"-ified version of Samuel L. Jackson as a Jedi Knight is almost too good to pass up.

As a follow up to last year's "Angry Birds Star Wars," Rovio's new game also features a new gameplay mode known as "Join the Pork Side" that allows players to step into the shoes of the series' traditionally antagonistic pigs.

Rovio also announced that "Angry Birds Star Wars 2" will debut alongside a line of Hasbro action figures known as "Telepods." As with the wildly popular kids toy/video game hybrid franchise "Skylanders," "Angry Birds Star Wars 2" players can enter a Telepod's likeness into the video game to unlock new in-game characters and special abilities. Of course, you have to buy the toys first, which is where Rovio's unique approach to monetizing a freemium mobile app comes in. So far, the company said it already has more than 30 Telepods action figures that it will debut at launch along with related cross-merchandising efforts like clothing, books, and other less-virtually-animate toys

The original "Angry Birds Star Wars" was downloaded more than 100 million times across the many platforms it appears on (iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Microsoft Windows, Windows 8, OS X, Facebook, BlackBerry), Rovio executive vice president of games Jami Laes in a press statement Monday.

Rovio will show off "Angry Birds Star Wars 2" for the first time at this week's Comic-Con convention in San Diego. Watch the reveal trailer below.