Angry Birds cartoon on the way

Angry Bird fanatic? And there are millions of you out there. Sick of tapping furiously on your handheld? Well, then you may be happy to learn that Rovio, the makers of the amazingly popular game (which stars a bunch of flying birds that... oh, we'll let actor Jon Hamm explain it) is bringing Angry Birds to television.

"We have been looking at [TV] for quite a while, and that is definitely one of my personal big focus areas right now – to work on broadcast content for 'Angry Birds,' " Rovio CEO Mikael Hed told the TV site C21media.net, according to the New York Post. Hed added that the Angry Birds cartoon is now ready for production, which could mean that the program will hit screens sometime this year.

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Angry Birds! On TV!

Of course, the Angry Birds cartoon is all part of what promises to be a burgeoning empire of Angry Birds paraphernalia. Mattel is currently making a $15 board game version of Angry Birds, and the game is expected to soon hit consoles such as the Nintendo Wii, the Microsoft Xbox 360. Meanwhile, Rovio is manufacturing its own line of Angry Birds plush toys.

In December, Rovio announced that it would unveil an in-game mobile payment system tentatively titled Bad Piggy Bank. The functionality will allow users to upgrade or purchase new items and levels with one tap of the finger (and without a credit card – the in-game charges will be applied directly to users' phone bills).