I was reminded at how popular Angry Birds is when Rovio revealed that 6.5 million bought Angry Birds on Christmas. This is just insane, how does this game get onto so many peoples minds! I really don't even like the game that much, its far to based about luck and just does not entertain me at all.

It's addicting. And since so many people are on their phones constantly it's really simple to just pick up and play. Kind of a deadly combination.

@kmdrkul: But that are much better iPhone games to play and I do not find that game addicting.

@Hizang said:

@kmdrkul: But that are much better iPhone games to play and I do not find that game addicting.

Different strokes, different folks. Kind of obvious.

Its was free so i downloaded it. It a conpetetant game

Because it's fun. Get over the fact that it's casual

I don't understand it either. I don't find it fun at all and yet I see people walking around in Angry Birds clothing...

Java and Flash games like this have existed for years and years.. which is why it shocked me when it became so popular on the mobile platform.

The destruction appeals to me.

Because it's simple. Nobody wants to play complicated games on their iPhone while when they're waiting for coffee.

Because people get bored when they are on the shitter so they need something to play?

I honestly do not know, I tried it and was completely bored after 5 minutes, but that's just me.

It's simplicity is why it is popular. No one wants to play a 120 hour RPG on their iPhone. They want the opposite. They want to pull their phone out of their pocket on the bus, play something simple for 2 or 3 minutes then get off the bus at their stop.

EDIT: It's also worth noting that it was 6.5 million downloads, not purchases. Plenty of versions of Angry Birds are free, and since everyone knows what it is, it's no wonder people were using it as an opportunity to test out their new phone on Christmas day.

It's easy to understand, slightly challenging, but makes you feel smart when you get a 3-Star, they introduce many obstacles and bird types, and just playing one level is quick and easy.

It's pure evil.

I get why the game is popular, but the thing that is weird to me is all the merch and stuff that is being made outside of the game... 
Yea, I guess that's what happens when something becomes really popular, but still...

@MattyFTM said:

It's simplicity is why it is popular. No one wants to play a 120 hour RPG on their iPhone. They want the opposite. They want to pull their phone out of their pocket on the bus, play something simple for 2 or 3 minutes then get off the bus at their stop.

I wouldn't say no one wants a 120 hour RPG on their phone... I would totally be into that. A more accurate statement would be "an extreme minority."

Anyways, I've played Angry Birds on someone else's phone, and I didn't see the magic. I found it more frustrating than anything. However, that frustration lead me to try over and over again, which, really, is the magic of the game. I don't have it on my phone.

Everyone has different taste in gaming(like anything else).
I love Angry Birds while doing the laundry, before going to bed, early morning before getting out of bed, waiting for a meeting at work.

@MattyFTM said:

It's simplicity is why it is popular. No one wants to play a 120 hour RPG on their iPhone. They want the opposite. They want to pull their phone out of their pocket on the bus, play something simple for 2 or 3 minutes then get off the bus at their stop.

Matty's got it right. Angry Birds has the formula down. Quick levels, based on luck or not (Peggle and Bejeweled are luck based, those are pretty addicting,) with simple, intuitive controls. My mom would be able to play Angry Birds with a 5 second tutorial. It's easy to understand, easy to play, but challenging at the same time. You can play one or two levels to pass a few minutes or play it for 10-20 minutes straight (or longer.)

As for you not liking it... well, I don't either. There are also AAA $60 Game of the Year contenders that I don't like. That doesn't mean I write them off completely. Different strokes for different folks. Those better games on the platform are for us, not Angry Birds.

@MattyFTM: @kmdrkul: @nohthink: @D0tti: I can think of a few games that better fit that situation and that are overall better games. Doodle Jump for instance, or Bookworm.

It's .99 and it's a well made, casual phone game. I don't see what's hard to understand, it's a fucking dollar and everyone knows its name. Of course it's the first thing a fresh smartphoner buys.

It's charming.

It doesn't matter if you think Angry Birds is brilliant or terrible. What matters is that you know what an angry bird is.

What do I think of? I don't think about physics-based levels or how the game is basically a cuter Crush the Castle. I think of a red spheroid with feathers out for green pig blood.

@Hizang said:

@MattyFTM: @kmdrkul: @nohthink: @D0tti: I can think of a few games that better fit that situation and that are overall better games. Doodle Jump for instance, or Bookworm.

I'll go ahead and draw the required groan-inducing comment; "better" is subjective. Angry Birds is a zeitgeist bordering on being a full blown cultural phenomena. While I absolutely agree that "better" games exist on the iOS platform (Infinity Blade/Infinity Blade II/Jetpack Joyride/Puzzle Agent 2/MOTHER FUCKING Crono Trigger), none of those games possess the mainstream "watercooler" appeal that most consumers are drawn to.

See the early years of the Wii.

Addicting, simple, easy to just jump in and out of, one of the first iPhone games that came out etc.

Always thought the game was boring.

I mean, there were countless flash games that were practically identical to it already on the internet. I guess the fact there was so little games for phones helped a bunch.

Fruit ninja is much better game.

Angry Birds is a middling game; I'm generally not enthralled the way some people seem to find themselves. It's popular because it's easy, kid-friendly, cheap, and readily available. Something doesn't have to be good to sell lots, it just has to be the right product in the right environment.

I would say it's the ideal game to pull out while you're taking a shit, but you probably already have superior shit-taking games ready to mention.

@Hizang: It was one of the early examples of a "good" game for IOS. It's a very good value proposition (for 59p I got about 300 levels), it's fairly simple as others have said, it looks fairly good and is designed to work well on touchscreens. Those created a strong reputation and it quickly became talked about everywhere and everyone who had an iPhone seemed to be playing it.

I played it on other people's phones and like many other people didn't like it all that much. I still ended up buying it though. It's not a great game but I'm sure there are plenty of people out there who did the exact same thing.

I like this game the most on phones right now. Physics!

Was never a big fan of Angry Birds, I got bored after a few levels but then again I do with most touchscreen games.

I was reminded at how popular Angry Birds is when Rovio revealed that 6.5 million bought Angry Birds on Christmas. This is just insane, how does this game get onto so many peoples minds! I really don't even like the game that much, its far to based about luck and just does not entertain me at all.

It's a dollar. One dollar. To most people, it doesn't matter how good it is at that price.

As for the game itself: At least on the iPhone, it starts up fast and doesn't overstay its welcome. Easy to jump in and jump out.

That said, I'd take some PvZ, SpellTower, Jetpack Joyride, Words, and Tiny Wings over it any day.

its just a fad, people want to play what other people play

I realised I have bought Angey Birds 5 times...

Many of us reallly like the silly yet ridiculous fun game Angry Birds and I just read from here: Samsung launching OLED smart TV with Angry Birds that Samsung is launching a new line of HD smart televisions. They sure are quite and do lots of stuff. However, the most significant thing is really that they will come pre-loaded with Angry Birds.

It's fun, cheap and constantly gets updates. It is also easy to play by anyone and it's charming. Also Rovio has done a hell of a job with merchandise. That shit is on everything from shirts and backpacks to folders toys.

@Hizang: Simplicity. I absolutely refuse to touch it on principal alone but it appeals to people who don't game traditionally because it's simple and has cute pigs little animals involved

I don't understand why you people have so much trouble saying addictive

I find the graphics sloppy, and that they don't leave much room for precision in the game.
 
And I hate the fact that Rovio made tonnes of money from ripping off Crush the Castle.

@oasis789 said:

its just a fad, people want to play what other people play

This plus the simplicity and cute presentation. Popularity breeds popularity. Word of mouth is the best marketing available.

Snakes >> AB.

@mandude said:

I find the graphics sloppy, and that they don't leave much room for precision in the game. And I hate the fact that Rovio made tonnes of money from ripping off Crush the Castle.

This is the one thing that continues to bug me intellectually. I don't really have any feeling of hate on the game, but I can't help but wonder if it was just the idea of flinging cute birds instead of rocks that was the overall definitive factor as to why it became so popular with the masses instead of something like Crush the Castle. It sure wasn't for originality based on the already existing games that do pretty much the same thing. Also it would be quite a shallow reason if the definitive factor was just because it is either cheap or free and works in short bursts, because many other games before it did the same thing with the same amount of effort put into them (not much). Subjective thinking I know but still it's something I think about now and then.

God talking about this reminded me of the time when I was with some people who were 'kind of friends' of a friend of mine. Some guy in the group brought up an iPad and some woman near me got mildly excited to see it. The dude then ran Flight Control HD. I know what I'm about to say is mad subjective so don't think I'm trying to be objective here, but this game just looks so absolutely boring that I had no idea who would want to play such a dull game. But when I saw both the iPad owner and the woman smile and enjoy the simple act of randomly touching the screen, seeing stuff happen as they do just that, I found my answer.

All of my favourite things are other people's ideas, made better. Just going to put this out there with Crush the Castle: I hate anything medieval that is NOT done by Monty Python.

I just find it so depressing.

Oh and one other thing, Snake >> Snakes