NASA sent the Curiosity Rover all the way to Mars and now the U.S. space agency has partnered with Finnish game company Rovio to send their famous furious fowl to the Red Planet as well.
On Wednesday, Rovio launched a set of new levels for their enormously popular "Angry Birds Space" game. The new "Red Planet" levels come courtesy of a partnership with NASA designed to help shed light on the agency's latest mission.
In the Red Planet expansion, it seems the pigs have hijacked the Curiosity Mars Rover and taken it on a hunt for the birds' eggs. Players will slingshot the birds through 20 Mars-themed levels, exploring the pull of gravity as they try to dodge explosive volcanoes and asteroids.
There is a new astronaut pig and three hidden rovers and landers to find, which will open special bonus levels. The game also includes links to NASA Web content about the Mars exploration.
"Rovio is teaching huge new audiences about NASA's missions to Mars thanks to this collaboration," said David Weaver, NASA's associate administrator for communications. "It's a great way to introduce both kids and adults to the wonders of the planet in a fun and entertaining way."
But here, check out the trailer for the new Red Planet levels:
NASA partnered with Rovio when it first launched "Angry Birds Space" for iOS and Android mobile devices back in March. Needless to say, with recent events, Mars levels seemed inevitable.
"We're huge NASA fans, and we were all cheering the Mars Curiosity rover as it touched down," Peter Vesterbacka, Rovio CEO, said in Thursday's announcement." So, working together on the Mars update was a perfect fit."
Winda Benedetti writes about video games for NBC News. You can follow her tweets about games and other things on Twitter here @WindaBenedetti and you can follow her on Google+. Meanwhile, be sure to check out the IN-GAME FACEBOOK PAGE to discuss the day's gaming news and reviews.
