Why are those birds so angry?

Well, as any Angry Birds fan would know, the evil green pigs have stolen their eggs!

In the popular game, Angry Birds, players use a slingshot to launch different colored birds at the evil pigs that are protected by various structures. Through this, the intent is to kill the pigs, either by hitting them directly or by causing the structures to fall on them.

Angry Birds was first released in 2009. Since then, the game has developed into a craze.

Twelve million copies of the game have been purchased from Apple’s App store and now the game is also available on most smartphones and computers.

“Angry Birds is one of the most downloaded games in the history of gaming,” said Angry Birds developer, Rovio.

And he’s not exaggerating.

Angry Birds has become the iPhone’s most popular app and has been downloaded 50 million times.

Each day, 30 million people play the game. From these 30 million people, the game accumulates 300 million minutes a day. This is the equivalent of a single player spending more than 570 years playing Angry Birds.

Clearly, people are becoming crazily obsessed and addicted to this seemingly simple game.

The addictive quality of Angry Birds is not unknown to Rovio. Rovio is trying “to turn Angry Birds’ worldwide popularity into an entertainment franchise that is as all-conquering as Mickey Mouse or Super Mario,” says a Fox News report.

The company has already taken several steps to accomplish this goal, developing a myriad of new accessories for Angry Birds fans.

Rovio isn’t stopping there either.

The company plans to develop the game for consoles such as PlayStation, Xbox and Wii. Rovio also intends to release an Angry Birds themed cookbook, as well as develop a cartoon series and maybe even a film.

Angry Birds is developing into a worldwide phenomenon, something that even the creators could not have predicted.

Yet, the question is why? Why is this simple, rather silly game so addicting?

The game is so addicting because “Angry Birds incorporates cute, warm graphics, amusing sound effects and a reward system to make players feel good,” said Nick Wingfield of the Wall Street Journal.

Mikael Hed, the chief executive for Rovio, seems to agree with Wingfield. The success of the game is “the sum of all of its parts,” which includes the “edgy-but-cute characters, amusing sound effects and simple rules,” he said.

The game’s wide range of fans including children, teens and adults, speak to its addictive quality.

U.K. prime minister, David Cameron, is said to play Angry Birds on his iPad. Recently, Conan O’Brien posted a YouTube video, to promote his show, in which he boasts about the level he has reached on the game.

And of course, Angry Birds has captivated the Iona College campus.

“Yeah, I’m addicted to Angry Birds,” said Iona College freshman Kaitlyn Richter. “It’s kind of embarrassing actually, but any time I’m bored or I’m just sitting around doing nothing, I end up playing Angry Birds. I don’t know what it is about the game, but it is definitely addicting.”

This indescribable sensation experienced by Richter seems to affect fans everywhere. Rovio and others attribute the game’s addictiveness to graphics, sound effects or any number of features.

It appears, however, that the game’s popularity is a little more allusive—more mysterious.

There’s just something about those angry birds.