Angry Birds HD Update Angers Fans With New Advertising

Angry Birds has reached the status where any minor tweak and fans take notice. So with last night's update for Angry Birds HD, which inserted advertising into the game, you can imagine the commotion. The update brought fifteen new levels, a new golden egg, and advertisements wrapped up nicely in the "news section."

Fans are mad because the "news" is played every time a player is paused before restarting and it can't be skipped. It forces the player to wait for the animation to load and run before they can play again. The advertisements push official Angry Birds merchandise and the move has backfired on Rovio as angry fans are leaving scathing comments on iTunes. One poster felt the update "really gives you the feeling that someone lowered the quality control bar and chose to add a poorly placed...and tacky-looking...advertisement on the pause/menu screen to push Angry Birds gear."

For the casual gamer this may seem like merely an annoyance because the advertisement only takes about 1-2 seconds to run and finish, but over multiple plays it could make anyone mad. Plus, many folks pay for games to avoid getting bombarded with advertisements as you would on a free ad-supported game.

[via 9 to 5 Mac]