The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras is a massive event on the Sydney local and international calendar. Members of the global LGBTQI community flock to the city for the yearly event, but if you can’t make it to Sydney then SBS is going to help people experience Mardi Gras first-hand using Google Cardboard.
SBS has partnered with Google and video production company Pixecase to capture 360° video from the event, which will be made available for playback on Cardboard after the parade has finished.
This will be the second year that SBS has broadcast Mardi Gras, and making video for cardboard offers viewers a unique experience for Cardboard users as well as the LGBTQI community. Hosted by Magda Szubanski, comedian Tom Ballard and Patrick Abboud from SBS 2’s ‘The Feed’, Mardi Gras will be on your TV from 8:30pm on Sunday March 8 – as well as made available online at sbs.com.au/mardigras.
Google has been building their Cardboard community since the quiet, somewhat throwaway launch at the end of the keynote at Google I/O last year. Partnerships with Telstra here in Australia earlier this year saw the Sydney New Years Eve fireworks display captured via drone, allowing users the ability to be up in the impact zone as fireworks detonated all around them.
A recent trip to the Sundance Film Festival saw Google showcasing the ultra-cheap to make headset’s ability to compliment the movie going experience, and later this year we’ll see a new partnership with toy manufacturer Mattel when they re-launch their iconic ViewMaster headset in the US.
SBS will supply a limited number of Cardboard headsets, offering the chance to win one on their website in the next week. If you’re not lucky enough to win a headset you can purchase them from a number of online sellers or locally from Gadgets4Geeks.
SBS has not yet announced how people will be able to access the video of the event, but will most likely announce further details on their Mardi Gras website.
Will you be attending Mardi Gras in person…or virtually?
No to both.
No way to afford the airfares, and find accom at this late a stage.
No sense in buying an N6 when all it would be used for is for a once-off Google Cardboard event.
Wait, why do you need a Nexus 6? Cardboard works with any Android phone.
I thought that the Cardboard headset was designed to only properly physically fit an N6.
Cardboard predates the Nexus 6, and the official units are better suited to a Nexus 5.
Thanks Jason
Still doesn’t change the finances waste in buying a Nexus device which would solely be used as a screen for Cardboard.
Jeni – you do not, repeat NOT need a Nexus phone to run Cardboard. You can use ANY – I repeat ANY Android phone running Android 4.1 and above and that’s only for the Google Cardboard app.
The requirements are less for apps like the Roller Coaster VR app which is a cardboard game works on Android 2.3 and upwards : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fibrum.roallercoastervr
Pay the $5 from a place like Deal Extreme and please try cardboard before you write it off.
Probably in person… though, with Sydney lock-out laws, who knows if it’ll even be worth it this year.