Today, Google, in co-operation with popular studio Aardman Animation (think Wallace & Gromit and Shaun the Sheep) has announced a new story for Spotlight Stories, called Special Delivery – and you can now watch it on YouTube as a 360-degree video.
The new story, is available now for free to users with access to Spotlight Stories on Google Play, but due to extremely limited device compatability of the app, Google has also extended the story to YouTube using the inbuilt 360-degree video technology they launched this year.
Aardman Animation is behind the actual movie, which they describe as ‘Pink Panther-esque’, and the plot sounds quite exciting.
A humble caretaker is surprised when a mysterious stranger causes mischief on the roof. He investigates, but can’t seem to catch even a glimpse of the troublemaker. And so the chase goes… room to room… up and down… The stranger remains just out of sight, leaving behind only a trail of gifts…
All-in-all, Google and Aardman have packed a lot of information into Special Delivery with ’10 subplots, three potential ways to view the ending, and 60+ moments where you can decide to follow the story in different ways’.
Spotlight Stories was born from the minds of the Motorola’s Advanced Technology and Projects group (ATAP), One of the divisions Google retained when they sold the company to Lenovo last year. The division is also responsible for Project Ara, Google’s modular phone project that’s expected to launch next year but Spotlight Stories has been a headline feature due to its availability in the market – though even that is limited.
The Spotlight Stories app is available to download to limited Android devices from Google Play, but once loaded most are advised that the app is not compatible. The list of devices officially compatible with Spotlight Stories includes:
- Nexus 5, 6
- Moto X Gen 1st, 2nd
- Moto G Gen 1st, 2nd
- Droid Ultra, Turbo, Maxx
- Samsung Galaxy S5
- Samsung Galaxy Note 3, 4, Edge
- LG G2, G3
- Sony Xperia, Z2, Z3, Z3 Compact
- HTC One M7, M8
- Nexus 7 (2013)
- Samsung Galaxy Tab S2
With Special Delivery available on YouTube as a 360-degree video, that means the video can be viewed through the YouTube app on Google Cardboard if you’re so inclined.
Spotlight Stories can be downloaded from Google Play or you can watch the video here to see what it’s all about.
How do I add to spotlight? I can’t see it anywhere.
Worked well on my Nexus 6, was expecting it to work on my Nexus 6P also but apparently not 🙁