ESPOO, Finland – Today Nokia has launched two new games developed by Rovio, the Finnish company behind the incredibly successful pig-toppling puzzler, Angry Birds. The games – Bounce Boing Battle and Ovi Maps Challenge – are for most of S60 v5 and Symbian^3 devices. The former is free; the latter is also free, but with optional paid-for add-ons. Read on to see what the games are all about.

Bounce Boing Battle is in the noble lineage of Pong, but with some radically modern twists. For starters, it’s a game for two people, doing battle across a Bluetooth connection. Instead of a static bat, the players draw lines to knock back the ball to their opponent. The position and angle of the line affects the trajectory and speed of the ball, allowing for some clever tactical play. Four different playing fields are included, each of which requires a different approach.

The second game, Ovi Maps Challenge, is a slightly less frantic affair, testing the player’s knowledge of Geography. Different tasks include matching countries with their flags, arranging countries by population and correctly identifying the location of countries on a map of the world. The global version is free, but there are also extra map packs for an in-depth look at the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia/Oceania.