Samsung has announced a new storytelling app that will let you put your kids to sleep using virtual reality.
The app is called Bedtime VR Stories, and it’s a multi-user experience that sees parents guiding their children through an immersive cartoon story.
Samsung’s first VR story is called ‘Most Wonderful Place To Be’, taking kids on a journey from the bedroom to the arctic, then back in time to visit dinosaurs, and then finally into space.
Check out a family using the app below:
Buy Now: Google Cardboard at Amazon for £9.99
It’s worth noting that while the parent will use a Gear VR headset to run the app, the child will actually be using a Google Cardboard (or equivalent) headset.
That’s because Samsung’s own guidelines for the Gear VR say that the headset shouldn’t be used by anyone under the age of 13, due to the risk of negative impact to “hand-eye coordination, balance, and multi-tasking ability” – see Page 8.
And honestly, how many kids over the age of 13 are clamouring for their parents to read them a bedtime story anyway?
Samsung hasn’t given a release date for the app yet but, considering it will need to run on both the Gear VR and Cardboard-friendly devices, we’d expect to see it on both the Oculus Store and the Google Play Store.
“At Samsung, we’re committed to driving innovation to create technology that will make a different to the way people live their lives,” explains Conor Pierce, VP of Samsung Mobile UK. “With Bedtime VR Stories, we’re hoping that this prototype will show an important new exciting genre of virtual experience – and something that will define the use of virtual reality over the coming years.”
Pierce continues: “We’ve harnessed the power of VR to reunite parents and children for a unique storytelling experience, giving us a glimpse of what the traditional story time may look like in the very near future.”
You can try the first Samsung Bedtime VR story right here:
Buy Now: Samsung Gear VR at Amazon for £79.40
What excites you most about virtual reality? Let us know in the comments.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
