With the all of Google’s fingers in various VR Pies there can be little doubt that this is a platform that Google want’s to get in on the ground floor with. Between tilt brush, Cardboard and Daydream to name just a few of Google’s recent VR efforts they are trying to both developer their own platform whilst developing experiences for other platforms.
Today’s announcement of Google Earth VR Google is delivering the entire planet, well they bits they have digitised anyway, to the HTC Vive, just in time for its Australian retail release. Google Earth VR will be exclusively available on the HTC Vive, like Tilt Brush before it, via the Steam Store.
Check out the demo video below, warning mild motion sickness may ensue.
If that didn’t get you this may.
Why no Daydream compatibility you ask? Our guess is the computational power required to get Google Earth VR working is either too much for current mobile processors or would use too much power/ output too much heat for the Phone based system. It may also be that those working on their product are from the Vive VR team and not the Cardboard VR team, stranger things have happened in large companies.
Will it ever come to Daydream? Who knows, ‘ever’ is a long time and Google’s VR team look like they have dug in for the long haul.
Word is current phones have a habit of thermally throttling within the tender embrace of all that Daydream fabric; somewhat limiting it if you really need the GPU to be pushing some serious pixels.
You get the feeling this was supposed to be in the launch of Daydream, right up until until they put pixel phone in daydream headset and …….. oh.