Now you can eat -- Angry Birds mooncakes

The popular mobile game, which was first launched for Apple's mobile operating system in 2009, features cartoonish, wingless birds that the player must slingshot into enemy pig territory to reclaim stolen eggs.

Its huge popularity has prompted a restaurant chain in Hong Kong to strike a deal with its creator and turn the bird into mooncakes -- a pastry eaten to mark the Chinese mid-autumn festival, which falls on September 12 this year.

"The Angry Birds game is a world phenomenon now, it is well-liked by people from three-year-olds to 80-year-olds," said Stephanie Chan, marketing manager of Maxim's Group, which released the bird-shaped mooncakes.

The mooncakes come in two flavours, chocolate, and mango and pomelo, and sell at HK$38 ($4.90) per pair, making their debut at the Hong Kong Food Expo on Sunday where they were immediately snapped up by fans.

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Bags containing newly released 'Angry Birds' mooncakes are seen at the Hong Kong Food Expo on August 14. The pastries are named after the popular Angry Birds mobile game and feature cartoonish, wingless birds.

Angry Birds' popularity has led to versions of the game being released for all major smartphone brands, personal computers, and game consoles. It currently has at least 120 million active users on mobile devices.

Its creator, Finland-based software developer Rovio Mobile, launched merchandise sales of its own last year, including Angry Birds soft toys, and said in January that it is developing a cartoon series based on the game.

China's mooncake tradition is said to have started after the people were rallied to revolt against the country's Mongolian Yuan dynasty rulers by pieces of paper calling for an uprising on the mid-autumn festival inserted in each cake.

(c) 2011 AFP