BBC Earth: Live in VR launches alongside new standalone Daydream VR headset from Lenovo and Google

BBC Studios today announced that they have teamed up with Google and Lenovo to launch BBC Earth: Live in VR on the new Lenovo Mirage Solo with Daydream headset.

Allowing the user to enter a real-time world and witness first-hand the creature behaviors and relationships that sustain the ocean’s rich and diverse ecosystems, BBC Earth: Life in VR moves the user from a passive viewer to an active participant and provides VR-only moments that have never before been experienced by audiences.

Designed for the Lenovo Mirage Solo with Daydream headset, BBC Earth: Life in VR represents the first generation of titles using WorldSense, a new technology from Google that understands your movement in space without the need to set up any external sensors allowing for a heightened sense of presence. Other features include:

A real-time behavior system, for example, this enables the otters within the game to be aware and respond to the player and one another, as well as move dynamically based on their respective positions.

A dynamic and spatialized sound and music system allowing users to maintain emotional resonance and relevance to what is being experienced.

A GPU instancing technique to bring 16,000 krill to life in a reactive and swarming experience, making the user feel as though they are really there.

More about the game

The journey begins on the Californian Pacific Coast, following a mother sea otter as she forages in the coastal waters. After exploring kelp forests the player can plunge into the depths of an oceanic trench, experiencing this unique environment and behaviour of the animals who live there. Along the way they meet and can interact with a range of animals from microscopic plankton to giant squid and a gargantuan sperm whale.

Created by BAFTA award-winning game studio Preloaded in collaboration with BBC Studio’s VR team, the game is available now from Google Play as a free downloadable app. Users will need a Lenovo Mirage Solo with Daydream headset to experience BBC Earth: Life in VR with six degrees of freedom.

Bradley Crooks, Head of Digital Entertainment & Games, BBC Studios said,  “It’s extremely exciting that BBC Earth content has been chosen to launch the Lenovo Mirage Solo with Daydream headset. Working with Google to bring BBC nature content to VR allows us to provide our audiences with a fresh, exhilarating level of immersion and is an evolutionary step in natural history storytelling.”

Kellee Santiago, Sr. Producer for Daydream Apps said, “BBC Earth’s experience on Daydream makes exploring the wonders of our world more immersive and accessible than ever before. It allows audiences to guide themselves, based on whatever takes their interest. The experience truly showcases the unique capabilities of the interactive and immersive format of Daydream to provide a platform for deeper understandings of our world.”

Jim Smale

Gaming since the Atari 2600, I enjoy the weirdness in games counting Densha De Go and RC De Go as my favourite titles of all time. I prefer gaming of old where buying games from a shop was a thing, Being social in person was a thing. Join me as I attempt to adapt to this new digital age!