Angry Birds Star Wars II intros Skylanders-like toys

Angry Birds is the latest brand to jump on the Skylanders bandwagon, as Rovio has announced Angry Birds Star Wars II will have an accompanying line of Hasbro toys that interact with the game.

Set for a worldwide release September 19, Angry Birds Star Wars II will use phone and tablet cameras to capture Hasbro's "Telepod" figures and unlock the characters for use in the game. The toys will hit stores the same month, alongside another wave of new Angry Birds merchandise that won't interact with the game. Where the first game focused on George Lucas' original sci-fi trilogy, the follow-up will bring the prequel movies to the fore. It will also give players a new campaign option to "join the pork side" and ally with the series' porcine antagonists.

This will be the second Disney-linked iteration on the Skylanders concept. Next month's Disney Infinity will give players a sandbox mode where they can purchase a variety of toys based on Disney and Pixar properties and play with them together in the same virtual world. The developers have also expressed an interest in expanding the game to include other Disney-owned properties like Marvel Comics and Star Wars, but haven't confirmed such a move yet.