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Eggulus Rift: Leaked docs suggest Rovio is working on its own Eagle Eye VR hardware

Wanna sling-shot yourself over Piggy Island?

Eggulus Rift: Leaked docs suggest Rovio is working on its own Eagle Eye VR hardware
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| Angry Birds

[Yes, it's an April Fool....]

In a leak that's likely to prove embarrassing for Rovio, Pocket Gamer has been passed documents indicating that the Angry Birds developer is preparing to jump on the Oculus Rift bandwagon.

Following the virtual reality gaming company's $2 billion acquisition by Facebook, and Sony's announcement of its own Project Morpheus, VR is now the hottest subject in gaming, and it appears that Rovio is going all-in.

Entitled "Eagle Eye VR headset with Angry Birds Simulator!" the email is an internal-only draft brand guide which has been mistakenly cc'ed externally.

Here's looking at you, birdie

Labelled "confidential" and "brand guidelines; version 2B", the guide gives details about the Eagle Eye hardware.

This appears to be part of a wider move from Rovio to release a complete Angry Birds simulator.

Apparently, the Eagle Eye headset comes bundled with the simulator and will make it, "possible to sling-shot yourself over Piggy Island and cause destruction like never before!" - says the marketing text.

No pricing is provided, but the press release is forward-dated June 1st 2014, while the hardware is said to be available on July 1st.

Flying through the air

There are also some diagrams indicating how the Eagle Eye logo should be used and, more interestingly, a single press photo of someone wearing an Angry Bird-themed VR headset.

From this it looks like Rovio's Eagle Eye hardware is following the same sort of design concept as the original Oculus Rift development kit, only with bigger eyebrows.

Of course, whether Angry Birds is a suitable game for virtual reality remains to be seen. While the franchise has expanded in many surprising directions since finding success in 2009, the VR appeal of colliding with a pig and being buried under rubble is unproven at best.

You can read the full internal email below.


------------------------ ***** Draft: Eagle Eye VR headset with Angry Birds Simulator! Presenting Eagle Eye – Rovio’s first virtual reality headset! asdfasdf Status: draft 1, needs to be cleared by ops, marketing
To be published: June 1st 2014 12:00 EEST Get ready for Eagle Eye, the brand new virtual reality headset from Rovio! The headset comes bundled with the new Angry Birds Simulator, making it possible to sling-shot yourself over Piggy Island and cause destruction like never before! The crisp and clear full-HD display immerses you in the ongoing struggle between the heroic birds and those mischievous pigs. Feature list here?: Full-HD display
WiFi (game updates and browser)
Dolby virtual surround (v2) “black box” flight recorder (records in HD MP4)
Battery life (standby TBD; gameplay TBD)
120 GB flash storage
FB & Twitter (ready at launch?) embed demo video Eagle Eye and Angry Birds Simulator will be available at (check availability from ops!) on July 1st this year! **** Notes Resolution 4096 × 2160 Brand guide (internal only): LINK ------------------------

Normal Mainer
Normal Mainer
American author and journalist Normal Mainer was born in Ketchum, Idaho. He's written widely about the computer games industry, although in a manner often described as being "hesitant, disorganized, and confused". He won the IMGA's Best Game Journalist Award Ever for the fifth time in 2012.