Prince of Persia and The Angry Birds

Finland: the world's biggest cruise ships are built here. It is home to Wartsila, Kone and Nokia. In summer, a quarter of the country basks in sunshine for 73 consecutive days and misses it for 51 days in winter. It is the land of 'a thousand islands and a hundred thousand lakes'. From this great country, comes yet another surprise! 'Angry Birds', a video game conceived by Rovio Mobile Inc. in collaboration with NASA.

Launched on 22 March 2012, the game has already crossed one billion downloads, rewriting the success story of the harbinger of all video games: the 'Prince of Persia', which was a rage among office-goers, twenty years back. Every one, from the boss to the office assistant knew that fingers were moving 'stealthily' to help a valiant hero save a damsel in distress. Neither a 286 PC with monochrome monitor nor the 'timid' animation technique of those days mattered much.

The euphoria created by Jordan Mechner just refused to fade away. A 3D format of the game appeared ten years after its launch. In 2003, another enriched version hit the market. Walt Disney Pictures even made a film on the theme. Today, 'Prince of Persia' can be played on iPhone, iPad and the Xbox 360.

The most striking thing was the eagerness, the game aroused in the players to impress. Most of them could not go beyond the fifth or sixth level. Hence, any claim to the climax sounded mysterious. The secret soon spilled out. It was a simple cheat code that let you play in a level of your choice. With that, like the fizz that pops out of a soda bottle, the game lost all its thrill.

Let us hope 'Angry Birds' does not fly away the same way.