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New ads link Angry Birds back story to Bing

How did the Angry Birds get their eggs stolen? Blame Bing. Or at least that's the message a new ad campaign is trying to push.

Josh Lowensohn Former Senior Writer
Josh Lowensohn joined CNET in 2006 and now covers Apple. Before that, Josh wrote about everything from new Web start-ups, to remote-controlled robots that watch your house. Prior to joining CNET, Josh covered breaking video game news, as well as reviewing game software. His current console favorite is the Xbox 360.
Josh Lowensohn
2 min read
So that's how they find the eggs...
So that's how they find the eggs... CNET

A new set of advertisements portrays the bad guys in one of the most popular mobile video games as using Microsoft's search engine to do their dirty work.

Bing has sponsored four animated video advertisements that join the Angry Birds series' existing story. The ad spots feature the pigs, the villains of the game, who make use of Bing on a smartphone to search out bird eggs and have off with them. Two of those 15-second ad spots are up this morning, with the other two to be released later on down the line.

This is not the first time Bing has been a part of the Angry Birds world, with developer Rovio having partnered with the search engine as part of the Valentine's Day update in its Angry Birds: Seasons game. When users would fail a level, the software would offer up a way for them to do a search on Bing for a walk-through or strategy of that level.

In a post on the Bing Blog, the company says this same functionality is coming to the original Angry Birds game as well, in a slightly expanded form:

"For a limited period, Angry Birds will also feature search integration with Bing providing over a hundred clues to speed you through the levels and help squash the porcine thieves. Featuring Bing Image Search, Bing Maps, and Bing Shopping, the videos show Angry Birds fans how they can advance in the game, featuring the lovable Angry Birds characters."