Rovio is working on a version of Angry Birds with support for NFC, which will be available for users of Nokia smartphones. Called Angry Birds Free with Magic, the use of the contactless communication technology will be relatively basic. The game will have 20 levels, but only five will be available to users at the outset. In order to unlock the additional 15, users need to swipe their device next to another NFC-enabled Angry Birds user. Five additional levels will be unlocked for each contact. A number of NFC tags will also be deployed to provide access to the locked levels.

The game is described as “an exclusive offering with the Nokia C7,” a smartphone from Nokia powered by Symbian OS, which includes integrated NFC support. It will also be included on all of the vendor’s NFC-enabled handsets during 2011. It was not revealed if a similar version will follow for other platforms afterward, with several Android-powered devices from Samsung also including NFC, for example.