Last week, WeChat officially release its latest 5.1 version for iOS and Android in Malaysia, and I was invited to the launch event. WeChat 5.1 packs a few new features including social games that the user can challenge their friends.

As one of the leading social communication apps in China, WeChat is gaining tremendous growth in South-East Asia as well. In Malaysia, WeChat has gained 90% of smart phone penetration in recent years and was in the Top 10 Google Trends of 2013.

With this new release of WeChat 5.1, WeChat is aiming to enhance the users’ social life with the introduction of 4 new social games, a new camera app (StoryCam), and the ability to host up to 100 friends (previously max. 40) in a single chat room. All these new features are of course free of charge and are currently available in iOS and Android. Furthermore, we were informed that a new thrilling speed racing game, Wreckless Racer, will be available in the app very soon.

WeChat 5.1 can host up to 100 people in one single chat room

Download all the free games under Discover > Games

• Pencil Pilot – a simple scrolling shooter game.
• Gunz Dash – Choose your favorite hero and embark on an exciting adventure in a fantasy universe. Speed through worlds and collect coins for a high score in this thrilling 2D animated, endless running game.
• Craz3 Match – An easy-to-play but addictive game! Line up animals of the same kind for spectacular effects and move on to the next level.
• 2Day’s Match – A brand new casual puzzle game. Match two tiles of the same kind to clear them.

WeChat Pencil Pilot Game

WeChat Gunz Dash Game

WeChat Craz3 Match Game

WeChat 2Day’s Match Game

Besides these additive games, WeChat 5.1 also comes with a new camera app called StoryCam. Users can add text as description into the photo with this exclusive app. Festival watermarks, filters and real-time location based information are available in the app so the user can further personalize and share any moment.

WeChat is not stopping here, now the app has more new features that make connecting even more enjoyable such as :-

• Edit ‘Favorite Messages’ – Save your favorite text and voice messages, photos and videos to ‘Favorite Messages’. It’s the first cloud-based storage service on mobile social communication apps so the user can view and share again anytime.
• Register with Email Address – Users have more choices to connect with WeChat now. Just register with a valid email address to start chatting with friends.
• Gmail Contact Integration – Link to Google account, find out who else is using WeChat and add them to the friends list.

Now I would say WeChat has become a more complete messaging app that not only lets you text and chat but also have more fun sharing pictures and playing games. If you haven’t got it installed in your smartphone, visit www.wechat.com for the more information.

Rovio Mobile just released the much anticipated Angry Birds Star Wars in all major platforms including Android, iOS, Windows Phone, Mac, PC and more! Get the game in the download links below and enjoy smaching the pigs.

Mobile Phones & Tablets:

• Android – Google Play – Free
• Android HD version – Google Play – US$2.99
• iPhone – App Store – US$0.99
• iPad – App Store – US$2.99
• Windows Phone – Windows MarketPlace
• Windows 8 Tablet – Windows Store
• Kindle Fire – Amazon

Desktop:

• Windows PC – Angry Birds Online Store – US$4.95
• Windows PC via Intel AppUp – Intel AppUp – US$0.99
• Mac PC – Mac App Store – US$4.99

Don’t forget to view the awesome Angry Birds Star Wars cinematic trailer too.

There’s a golden egg in Angry Birds Seasons to unlock a secret Samsung Galaxy S II level. This special level was dedicated to only Samsung Galaxy S II user but I think it’s now available to Galaxy S users too as I managed to unlocked it on my Galaxy S. You may want to check it on your mobile if you have Angry Birds Seasons installed.

Playing secret Samsung Galaxy S II level on my Samsung Galaxy S

This secret level has a totally different gravity pull than other Angry Birds level. It’s a different playing experience altogether. Below are the steps to unlocked this Golden Egg :-

• 1. Go into Summer Pignic episode in Angry Birds Seasons.
• 2. Play Level 3.
• 3. Shoot the white bird to the left, drop its explosive egg at the edge of the platform.
• 4. If the egg hits the edge of the platform, a golden egg is found.
• 5. Enjoy playing the secret Samsung Galaxy S II level. :)

Check my video tutorial to see how it is done.

This secret level was used in the recent Asian Angry Birds Challenge. Details of the competition will be coming up in the next post. :)

Two weeks ago I was in Helsinki, Finland, as one of the finalists for Asian Angry Birds Challenge organized by Finnish Airlines Finnair and Rovio’s Angry Birds. Asian Angry Birds Challenge is a campaign to promote Finnair’s new route to Singapore and in conjunction with Angry Birds’s business strategy to focus in Asian markets. Anyway, I’ll leave the details and what was happening during the contest in the upcoming post because this post is all about Angry Birds! :D

A day before the Asian Angry Birds Challenge contest, we were invited to have an exclusive tour to Angry Birds Headquarters located in Espoo during the 2-day stay in Helsinki.

In this Angry Birds Headquarters tour, I got to meet some developers behind the famous Angry Birds game, hear the latest Angry Birds news and get the some insider information of Angry Birds future plans.

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My Trip To Angry Birds Headquarters In Helsinki