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Google stops selling its Cardboard VR goggles after seven years
Google has stopped selling its low-cost Cardboard smartphone-based virtual reality goggles on its online store.
Google's 360-degree tours will live on in the Arts & Culture app
Moving forward, you won’t need to be a student to access Google's 360-degree Expeditions tours — nor will you need a VR headset, for that matter.
A few Nintendo Labo kits drop to $20 each on Best Buy
Best Buy is offering discounts on select on Nintendo Labo kits, including a VR starter kit.
Google open sources Cardboard as it retreats from phone-based VR
Google's decision to back away from phone-based VR may have an upside for creators. The internet giant is releasing a Cardboard open source project that will let developers create VR experiences and add Cardboard support to their apps. It covers basics like head tracking, lens distortion rendering and input, but also includes a QR code library to ensure that you're not dependent on Google's Cardboard app to pair viewers. Between this and existing open source tools for making viewers, companies and homebrew teams alike could create all the hardware and software they need without asking Google for help.
Build your own cheap drum machine from cardboard and arcade buttons
Even the most inexpensive drum machines still tend to be not-so-trivial purchases, but you may have an easier time rationalizing this one. Rhythmo has started a crowdfunding campaign for the Beatbox, a build-it-yourself MIDI drum machine kit aimed at making beat production more affordable. It's not exactly your typical drum machine between the cardboard body, Japanese arcade buttons (for both drum pads and function controls), four knobs and a gamepad-style analog navigation stick, but it'll also be available to the earliest backers for $99, or $150 at retail. That promises to be a serious bargain, even if it'll take you roughly an hour to build.
Now Nintendo's cardboard Labo controller works with 'Mario Kart'
If you have the Nintendo Labo cardboard Variety Kit and a copy of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, then you can play the game in a new way. Build yourself the Toy-Con Motorbike controller, and you can use it as a steering wheel. It should work whether you're playing on the TV or with your Switch inserted directly into the controller and, assuming you have enough kits and Joy-Cons, can be used by up to four players at once. We already thought the game was basically perfect, but if what you really needed was a motorcycle-style pair of handlebars, then this is exactly the upgrade you were looking for.
Nintendo knows you will destroy Labo's cardboard
It's fair to say that the first reactions to Nintendo's Labo kits were...mixed. Did it usher in a new era of DIY fun, or was the veteran video game company making bank off selling expensive stacks of cardboard? Once we got our hands on it, some of our fears were put to rest -- except for the durability issue. What happens when kids tear through the less-durable material, or a parent accidentally throws pieces away? The Labo launched publicly today, but lucky for us, Nintendo is selling replacement sheets in its store.
This DIY cardboard piano syncs with your favorite MIDI music apps
From an interactive booklet that helps you build six different electronic toys to Nintendo's own Labo cardboard gadgets, DIY cardboard gizmos and musical instruments are all the rage. Now a company headed up by a former Konami and Sony game developer has taken to Kickstarter for its own folding paper piano, called the Kami-Oto.
Nintendo Labo: Overpriced or innovative?
Weird Nintendo is often the best Nintendo, or so it is said. After all, two of its biggest successes (the Wii and the Switch) are far from ordinary consoles. Now, with a year of huge Switch sales behind it, Nintendo is getting even weirder with Labo -- cardboard accessories that kids can build themselves and use to immerse themselves in a game's world. So far, Nintendo has shown off a mini piano, fishing rod, robot fighting suit, remote-controlled robot walkers ... and what amounts to a cardboard house with your Switch screen built right into the middle. All of these are controlled in some way by the Switch Joy-Cons. It's incredibly unusual and rather expensive (the initial sets start at $70), but it's also the kind of thing that only Nintendo would dream up. Of course, the company's imagination sometimes takes it to places that don't work as well (Wii U, Virtual Boy, the list goes on). Many of Engadget's editors had immediate reactions to Nintendo's Labo, ranging from disgust to extreme excitement -- here are some of the things we've been thinking in the day since Labo was made official.
Google’s latest VR series takes you to the set of ‘Austin City Limits’
While Apple continues to expand its library of exclusive music documentaries, Google is now bringing a little music to its slate of VR series. Austin City Limits: Backstage takes you behind the scenes of the legendary music show and gives you backstage access to the performances, the crew and the artists that take the stage.
Google Earth VR gets new Street View images
Google announced today that it's adding Street View to the Google Earth VR experience. With a new update, users can check out Street View images from 85 countries provided by the Street View team as well as pictures shared by others from around the world. To get there, while in Earth VR, zoom down closer to the street level and see if your controller says there's Street View imagery available. If so, you can then view the area within a 360 degree photo.
Take a VR trip with Google Expeditions all by yourself
In 2015, Google launched a pilot program of its Expeditions software that let teachers take their students on VR explorations of various sites around the world. A few months later, it released a beta version of its Expeditions app for certain schools to try out, which was then released for anyone to use in June of last year. Today, Google announced that its now releasing a solo mode for the app that makes it easier for users to take tours outside of a classroom setting.
YouTube made VR gaming videos for Google Daydream and Cardboard
You might have come across a few 360-degree gaming videos on YouTube since last year. Chances are, those are some of the results of the platform's partnership with creators and publishers formed in an effort to experiment with the production of VR gaming videos. They transformed all kinds of content into 360-degree experiences, from trailers to Let's Play and even gaming-themed live action videos. YouTube has now collected all of them in a playlist aptly entitled "Step Into The Games." As you can see, they include familiar names like Minecraft, Super Mario Bros, Psychonauts, Need for Speed and Call of Duty.
First Unity-built cartoon proves the engine isn't just for games
As the NBA's eSports league proves, video games are quickly becoming mainstream. Games are having a moment, and so are the tools used to make them. Case in point, the Unity game engine recently reached a big milestone. French animated show Mr. Carton just became the first cartoon TV series made with Unity.
Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody' is now a virtual reality music video
We've all heard the dramatic faux-opera that is Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody -- but have you ever wondered what a song like that might look like? The folks at Google did. In a new collaboration with Queen and Enosis VR, artists and developers at Google have created The Bohemian Rhapsody Experience -- a virtual reality experiment created to take viewers on "a journey through frontman Freddie Mercury's subconscious mind." That's a fancy way of saying they turned the iconic song into a 360-degree virtual reality music video.
Google offers 360-degree tours of US National Parks
To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the US National Parks Service, Google has put together a collection of virtual tours combining 360-degree video, panoramic photos and expert narration. It's called "The Hidden Worlds of the National Parks" and is accessible right from the browser. You can choose from one of five different locales, including the Kenai Fjords in Alaska and Bryce Canyon in Utah, and get a guided "tour" from a local park ranger. Each one has a few virtual vistas to explore, with documentary-style voiceovers and extra media hidden behind clickable thumbnails.
Homido's V2 headset shows mobile VR doesn't have to be basic
Virtual Reality's main players might be household names (or owned by them), but scratch under the surface, and there's a bustling bevy of lesser-known names jostling for your attention. Usually these fall into two camps, those with quirky features, or deluxe versions of Google Cardboard. Homido's first headset was more the latter, with the distinction of having its own app hub for VR movies and games, and IPD (Inter Pupil Distance) controls, something even Gear VR doesn't have. The French company's back with a new version (called V2) that's sleeker and compatible with more phones. What makes it interesting is the "family" of accessories that will complement it, including a Kinect-like motion sensor -- making Homido's little slice of virtual reality more than just a bourgeois take on bare-bones VR.
Google's virtual reality field trips are available to everyone
Have you been slightly envious of kids going on Google's virtual reality field trips? Don't be. As part of a broader educational push, Google is making the necessary Expeditions app available to everyone. So long as you have an Android device (iOS is coming soon), you too can pay a VR visit to the Great Barrier Reef and other wonders of the world. You don't need Cardboard or another VR viewer to make it work, but this might give you an incentive to get one.
Google's Android-powered VR platform supports Unreal games
Yesterday during Google's annual I/O keynote, the company made a point of mentioning that Electronic Arts and Ubisoft -- two of the biggest third-party game studios -- were working on projects for Google's new virtual reality platform, Daydream. Now the company is ready to announce another: Epic Games. The latest version of the company's powerful and ubiquitous game-design toolset, Unreal Engine 4, is coming to Google's next-gen mobile VR system. For developers it ensures easy porting of existing apps to Daydream with little extra work required. For consumers, it means higher-quality mobile VR experiences, and maybe more of them too.
YouTube for iOS now works with Google's Cardboard headset
You no longer have to pick up an Android phone to watch YouTube videos with a Google Cardboard headset. YouTube has updated its iOS app to introduce Cardboard support, so you can watch any clip (not just virtual reality videos) using your iPhone and a low-cost paper box. You've already had 360-degree video support before, but this is a big deal if you'd rather not swipe the screen to view footage from every conceivable angle... or if you'd just like to immerse yourself in 2D. There aren't any other big upgrades here, but Cardboard support may be all that matters if you've been itching to try VR without spending a fortune or switching phones.
