Posted: 01/25/2012

New Angry Birds balloons debut at Greetings & Readings For a limited time, the iPhone addiction has come to life at Greetings & Readings of Hunt Valley. Baltimore shoppers can still discover a few huggable versions of popular Angry Birds characters, while supplies last, but there's a new reason to visit and its the party-friendly Angry Birds balloons that just popped up in the Greetings & Readings Balloon Department. From $3.99 to $8.99, these mylar baloons feature graphics inspired by the Angry Birds iPhone game, and some of them are shaped just like the iconic characters themselves. Also in stock, check out the remaining adult Angry Birds tees, while supplies last. $19.99 Angry Birds began its life as a wildly popular application for Apple smartphones in 2010. When sales of the budget-priced game passing the 12 million mark, developer Rovio Mobile created additional versions for other types of smartphones. In the game, players use a slingshot to launch birds at pigs stationed on or within various structures, with the intent of destroying all the pigs on the playfield. As players advance through the game, new birds appear, some with special abilities that can be activated by the player. Rovio Mobile has supported Angry Birds with numerous free updates that add additional game content, and the company has even released stand-alone holiday and promotional versions of the game. Angry Birds has been praised for its successful combination of addictive gameplay, comical style and affordability. Its popularity led to versions of Angry Birds being created for personal computers and gaming consoles and a version for social media website Facebook is in development. With a combined 250 million downloads across all platforms and including both regular and special editions, the game has been called "one of the most mainstream games out right now", "one of the great runaway hits of 2010" and "the largest mobile app success the world has seen so far."