Rovio Launching Angry Birds Star Wars II on September 19

As we posted about over the weekend, Rovio teased us all with a image for an upcoming game, and it might just have been the easiest one to guess ever - after all, an angry bird projecting a Darth Vader shadow isn't too subtle. Today, Rovio confirms that its ultra-popular Angry Birds Star Wars game is getting a sequel. This comes as no surprise, of course, given the original scored over 100,000,000 downloads. Numbers like those still never cease to blow my mind.

In the aforementioned post, Paul suggested that this game could tackle the franchise's prequels - and it appears he was spot-on. Given that, we're sure to see characters like Darth Maul and Anakin Skywalker - but what about Jar Jar Binks? Rovio comments: "At this point we will not comment on rumors or speculation that Jar Jar Binks will be in the game." That sounds like a guaranteed "yes" to me.

The video above shows the interesting route Rovio is taking with character selection in ABSW II. In collaboration with Hasbro, 30 collectable "TELEPODS" figures will be released. Purchase one, place it on your phone, and ding, you'll gain access to that character. This suggests that this particular Angry Birds game could be the most expensive ever, but let's hope that not all of the characters are actually required. Given the fanbase the series as a whole has, there's little doubt that the "best" characters will become known rather quickly.

Rovio doesn't end things here: "Stay tuned for more news on Angry Birds Star Wars II over the coming weeks; we have some really cool reveals planned! Also, look out for Return of the Jedi in the original Angry Birds Star Wars!"

Angry Birds Star Wars II is due out on September 19th, with pricing to be revealed later (we'd assume it'd be on par with the original, starting at $0.99).