Barnes & Noble in the US is hoping that Angry Birds fans will be lured into its high street bookshops with the promise that it will help them complete any level they are stuck on opening up a new future for mobile gaming.
Customers who have got the Android game on their Nook Color tablet come eBook reader will be able, when they are on the Barnes & Noble Wi-Fi, to enlist the help of the Mighty Eagle for free once every hour.
That might only be worth 99 cents, however the company is hoping it will encourage people to come to their stores so they can offer them the latest deals on books, coffee, and other gifts.
If Barnes & Noble can do it we suspect more geo-targeted games to start appearing soon on other platforms and in other stores. Imagine if you could only complete a game by going to a specific shop, town, or Wi-Fi hotspot. Or that only certain levels were only available in certain places. That’s easy if there is a huge chain involved like Barnes & Noble, but how fun would it be if it was a single shop in the far reaches of the countryside. Would you visit to complete the game?
The Angry Birds service is available at more than 700 bookstores across America from Tuesday, however is only available to those who’ve got the Angry Birds app on the Nook Color rather than any old Tom, Dick or Harry with an iPad or other device.
Barnes & Noble worked closely with Rovio, the creator of the global blockbuster, Angry Birds, to offer the first-ever exclusive “Magic Place” experience to NOOK Color customers and make Barnes & Noble stores the first real-world locations where Angry Birds fans can magically receive in-game rewards and unlockables.
We took a quick trip to the Barnes & Noble on 5th Ave and 46th Street to try it out. We can happily report that the service works as promised.
You can use the Mighty Eagle as many times as you like, however are restricted to using the "get out of jail free card" character on new levels once every hour with the timer continuing to work after a quitting the app and restarting it.