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Google's Cardboard VR Kit Is Really No Joke
Google last week proclaimed AN updated app for its minimalist Cardboard video game viewer, additionally as software system development kits for each golem and therefore the Unity game engine.
It additionally revealed new building specifications for those fascinated by creating their own Cardboard viewers and proclaimed that it's hiring a lot of folks to figure on the project, with 5 new positions currently open.
More than 0.5 1,000,000 phone-based Cardboard viewers are shipped, Google same. Cardboard-compatible apps currently obtainable on Google Play embrace a live concert and totally immersive game.
Google Cardboard
First introduced at Google's I/O conference earlier this year following Facebook's multibillion-dollar purchase of optic VR, the open supply Cardboard viewer is additionally obtainable from many retailers, as well as DODOcase, i'm Cardboard, Knoxlabs and Unofficial Cardboard. evaluation on most is a smaller amount than US$30.
"Google's Cardboard video game viewer at first was introduced to laughs, with folks thinking it absolutely was a joke," same Susan Schreiner, senior editor and analyst with C4 Trends.
"Now, Google could also be having the victory with 3 key ANnouncements that have the potential for seeing an rising end-to-end VR scheme," she told TechNewsWorld.
Nowhere to travel however Up
It's easy to check however Cardboard progressed from "a tongue-in-cheek response to a 'thing,'" same Christine Arrington, a senior analyst for games with IHS.
"I suppose the school trade loves alittle of snark and fun," she told TechNewsWorld.
With 500,000 users up to now, it's arduous to mention whether or not Google Cardboard has enraptured on the far side its initial audience, Arrington same, however "it would not be shocking to check it do exactly that."
Mobile media "gets plenty of leeway from users that's not given to game consoles or computer content," she accessorial. "The expectations for any VR receiver connected to those devices are terribly high."
By the terribly nature of the Cardboard "joke," on the opposite hand, "the expectations area unit terribly low," same Arrington. "Google will build from there and therefore the solely direction is up."
A Viewer standardization Tool
The new Cardboard app will facilitate users launch VR experiences, discover new apps, and came upon a viewer.
Included with the app area unit many demos, as well as one that provides a tour of Versailles with an area guide.
Meanwhile, the new Cardboard SDKs for golem and Unity area unit designed to modify common VR development tasks.
Also, the new building specs were created with specific cutting tools in mind.
Google plans to feature a viewer standardization tool to the Cardboard SDK next year, in order that creators will tailor the viewing expertise to their viewer's specific optical layout.