Angry Birds launches on Android for free [update: on Android Market now]

@PlatinumSkeet Are you looking at Madden? I am.

@thrustbucket because its open source

@thrustbucket

The problem is you don't understand what Android is. Applications usually run in the Dalvik VM which is best called "inspired by Java". The language is Java, but the VM is not the actual Java VM. Applications can also run native code outside of the VM if it's really needed, but the days of VMs and interpreted languages being an automatic performance hit are long behind us.

The OS itself is Linux which is written in C and Assembly.

@TheOtherJames

That's great. It still doesn't spell a good gaming platform. And WebOS is. WebOS is also a million times easier to root, modify, and patch with support from Palm.

I just hope in Q1 with Palms new hardware that WebOS starts gaining ground and more people realize how far much further ahead it is than Android.

@thrustbucket You're kidding, right? The technology is irrelevant; it all basically works and nobody really cares.

The reason people want to make games for Android is the same reason everyone previously wanted to make games for iOS; Android is almost certainly going to become the #1 US smartphone platform, a position it will probably hold for quite some time. (Obviously it is already #1 *selling* but there are currently more existing users in BlackBerry and iOS). Worldwide stats are probably in a similar position. #1 platform = money.

Palm may be hoping to carve out a niche for themselves, and they might manage it, but the chance of them becoming a mainstream platform is, you know, zero. If you're looking at a potential competing platform, well, hello Windows Phone. And next year, maybe hello MeeGo (Nokia still have massive global market share after all). Neither of these look particularly likely to unseat Android but they're both in with a better chance of becoming somewhat mainstream than Palm.

Android 3.0 is supposed to include better game support, if that makes you feel better about the situation. But that isn't why people are making games for Android. They're making games for it because that's where many of the people who might buy games are at.

@thrustbucket

Wait wait wait. You actually made a claim that something is easier to root then android?

Does WebOS come with a button on the home screen that says "Root My Phone"?

If not that you've obviously never 'rooted' an android.

@This Little Man Says His Name Is

How to root a WebOS phone:

1: type leftrightleftrightupupdowndownbastart
2: press enter

No I'm not kidding. Google it. Google will help you find out how to root a pre easier than they will openly support patching, modding, and overclocking their OS while also hosting events for the homebrew community and supporting homebrew app stores - which palm does.

@Shockwave

It's impossible to get the download to go through!

@Shockwave

I've been trying for hours and can't seem to get through either from the computer or my phone.

@AwesomeTown I have the apk hosted on my dropbox public site, http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6715149/AngryBirdsLite_1.3.5_lite_beta2.apk.apk

@tdrwiega

That's the beta. They've released a full retail game now.

@waterhand

Apparently according to Kotaku commenters its because the developers had a falling out with Microsoft

@zefur

I hope you mean Google as MS has nothing to do with the Google App Store.

@Scape3d
Not sure what the frame cap release is, but I just discovered Angry birds two days ago and have been playing the beta and it is great very smooth. I do have firm update and and htc update. Hope this helps

@Scape3d

Somewhat related: I have a Samsung Moment and this game flat-out doesn't work. I get the initial launch screen and then it kicks me back to the home screen. That's it. It sucks...I've heard such good things about this game :(

@Crippleb

The frame rate on the Evo was originally capped/limited to 30 frames per second. The latest HTC firmware (released in late September) fixed that, allowing the Evo to run at 60 frames per second. If you have your Evo up to date, then you should be seeing 60 frames per second.

The demo unit I tried Angry Birds on seemed to be fully up to date but the game still didn't seem super smooth. The Epic on the other hand, was ridiculously smooth.

I was just wondering how Evo owners (ones that have an up to date Evo) were seeing Angry Birds running really well or not.

@Scape3d

After they removed the frame rate cap, the beta ran silky smooth on my EVO.

@TheOtherJames

Ok. Great to hear. I'll be getting an Evo November 1st so I can't wait to try all of this myself.

@Scape3d

I only had problems on my Evo were with the first version of the beta, it crashed on launch every time. Second version of the beta ran fine.

Full version runs great so far.

@shadowhowl1900

Yes, I'm sure the iOS users are angry they wasted what amounts to 3 minutes of their salary on a great game.

Dumbass.

@shadowhowl1900

How about being happy about spreading the gaming love on Joystiq and leave the phone flamewars to other sites?

@Lbhocky19

Then pay the dollar for it.