Announced in February at the North American International Toy Fair, Google and Intel have released one of the highest end, mainstream Cardboard viewers yet – the View-Master. Fast-forward eight months and the familiar looking headset is now available for you to purchase.
Banking on the nostalgia of the original View-Master, you can grab the familiar looking headset, which like other Google Cardboard headsets requires you to use your phone inside as the screen. The price for the View-Master isn’t terribly cheap, but looks to be incredibly well-built and worth the US$29.99 price tag, but it’s the content you’ll be paying through the nose for.
There’s three View-Master titles from Mattel now available in Google Play: View-Master Destinations, View-Master Wildlife and View-Master Space. They’re free to install, but contain US$14.99 (AUD$20.93 per item) In-App Purchases. The traditional discs will be making a return though as digital content delivery systems with the three titles also available in-store.
The good news is that the content is top-notch, with companies such as National Geographic behind the scenes showing off what years of experience can do when it comes to creating educational experiences. The three titles look to be of amazing quality and I for one won’t be hesitating to grab one, or all three when the headset makes its way to our shores.
If you want to check it out, VRScout has done an unboxing and brief demo of the headset:
Currently the View-Master headset is only being offered for sale in the US through retailers Walmart and Target, where it seems to only be available in stores, but it will soon be available through on-line retailer Amazon. We’ll be talking with Mattel here in Australia about a local launch if you’re keen to get a hold of one, so stay tuned.
