From headlines in The Onion to commercial parodies on Saturday Night Live, the little cleaning robot known as the Roomba seems to have bumped, turned and swept its way into as many areas of pop culture as it has floors since its 2002 release.
Now, nearly 10 years later, the little-vacuum-that-could is starring in "Roomba Revenge," a new game developed by iRobot for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch.
So what can Roomba fans expect from the 99-cent iOS application?
If you guessed "cleaning," "vacuuming," or some combination thereof, you would be correct.
According to Mashable, the game is pretty simple: You control the ersatz Roomba 200 on its dust-eating quest around the house, navigating past furniture obstacles and going head-to-head with dust bunnies as they continue their mission to cover everything in sight.
Watch out though: one touch from a bunny and you'll drop all the dust you've collected.
In other words, there's a reason the game has earned the Apple Store's rating of 9+ for "Infrequent/Mild Cartoon or Fantasy Violence."
The verdict is clear: if Apple users expect to fire up a quick game of Roomba Revenge and be coddled like they would in a game of "Angry Birds," they are sadly mistaken. But as with any vacuum-centered third-person fantasy game developed for the iPad, users should still expect to have plenty of fun.
A representative for Roomba manufacturer iRobot recently explained the impetus behind the game's release to TechCrunch:
No, iRobot isn't becoming a gaming company. They did this just because having fun and making cool stuff is part of their DNA. In fact, the idea for a game featuring the world-famous robot was born via a casual text-message conversation between two iRobot employees.
Just another instance of two great vacuum-robot engineers thinking alike!
So if you have an iPad, iPhone or iPod touch and a hankering for some handheld competitive cleaning, head over the iTunes Store and drop a buck on "Roomba Revenge."
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