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Google shuts down Daydream VR's Play Movies & TV app
Google has pulled Daydream VR's version of the Google Play Movies & TV app. You can still view your rentals or purchases through the YouTube VR app, a Google spokesperson confirmed to Variety, while there aren't any current plans to remove other Google apps from the Daydream platform.
YouTube's VR app arrives on Oculus Go
Facebook's standalone Oculus Go headset is getting a huge dose of immersive entertainment courtesy of YouTube VR. Announced at the Oculus Connect 5 event in September, the app is now available for the entry-level device via the Oculus Store.
YouTube VR and casting features are coming to Oculus Go
Your Oculus Go is about to become much more useful for immersive viewing sessions. Oculus has revealed that YouTube VR is coming to its entry-level headset, giving you a chance to watch 800,000 360-degree videos in your own virtual environment. It's not clear when you'll see it, but this is big news if you didn't want to get a Daydream headset just to watch YouTube clips.
YouTube debuts 360-video app on Steam VR
There's a lot of VR content out there, but much of it is for one platform or another -- what works on Gear VR may not on Daydream, the HTC Vive or the Oculus Rift. Google just made it a bit easier to use one of its key Daydream VR apps by releasing YouTube VR for Steam VR on the HTC Vive. You can download it right now, but the app is an Early Access release and reviews are, to say the least, mixed.
YouTube’s heatmaps show where eyes linger in VR videos
YouTube's growing library of VR content is a definite asset in Google's struggle to dominate the virtual reality sphere. The video platform isn't just improving the consumer experience either, as it did when it added shared virtual viewing rooms and live voice chat back in May. To help content creators figure out which parts of their 360-degree videos are working, YouTube has introduced heatmaps to show where -- and when -- people are looking in the freeform movie format.
YouTube VR adds shared rooms and live voice chat
At its I/O keynote today, Google revealed more details about YouTube VR, part of its Daydream virtual reality expansion that will feature 360-degree videos. Rather than having an (often abuse-filled) comments section like the regular YouTube site, the VR version will instead be a "co-watching" experience, with limited groups watching videos together. Furthermore, folks will appear in shared rooms as customizable avatars and chat in real time using their own voices.
YouTube is Google's not-so-secret weapon in the VR wars
If virtual reality is going to take off the way Google, Facebook, Samsung, Sony and a host of other smaller players think it will, it's going to need great content. Video games, Oculus' first focus, are a logical place to start, but it's clear now that VR will also need mainstream video content if it's going to be a hit. That puts YouTube -- and by extension, Google -- in a pretty strong position of power. When the company's just-announced Daydream VR experience starts arriving in the hands of consumers later this year, a brand-new YouTube VR app will be front and center.
