Fans of the furious feathers can rejoice as Finnish game developer Rovio, the brains behind the hugely-successful Angry Birds franchise, has announced the roll-out date of its upcoming game "Bad Piggies." The company's latest venture will release on Sept. 27.

Earlier this month, Rovio had hinted at the launch of a new game and released a teaser video, which seemed to indicate that the new gameplay would, in a departure from the past, be from the pigs' perspective. The thieving green pigs, who were previously the villains, will now become the protagonists and will be seen exploring and pursuing adventures in a bid to steal more eggs. Since "Bad Piggies" has distinct gameplay mechanics, Rovio asserts that it is a new franchise and not a spin-off of its iconic Angry Birds.

"As far as the gameplay goes, Bad Piggies and Angry Birds are complete opposites," said Petri Järvilehto, EVP of Games at Rovio. "Angry Birds smash things up, Bad Piggies build stuff. The pigs are all about making plans and building things, even -- and especially -- when they don't work!"

Additionally, in the new Rovio offering, players will be required to craft vehicles from flying machines to rickety jalopies to complete the levels and achieve the "three-star". This building mechanic, drawn from Rovio's Amazing Alex, will test their creativity and engineering skills. The upcoming game also has an intuitive blueprint mode which lets players drag and drop parts speedily and with ease.

In 2011, Rovio's Angry Birds franchise generated over $100 million in revenue, making it one of the richest media properties in the world. Over 1 billion copies of Angry Birds have been downloaded since its release and even a feature film is in the works. With such a precedent, "Bad Piggies" will have a lot of expectations to live up to. However, Rovio feels that the game will be able to sail through the litmus test and hold its own.

"This is a long-term commitment," said Ville Heijari, VP of franchise development. "This is the sibling of Angry Birds, and it will get a lot of push over time."

"Bad Piggies" releases on Sept. 27 for Android and iOS users. Rovio also intends on bringing the game to PC and Windows Phone users. For additional information check out the official Bad Pigges site.

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