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Check out Google's slick new VR gamepad

Tim Mulkerin   

Check out Google's slick new VR gamepad
Tech2 min read

google daydream virtual reality controller

Google/YouTube

This is the new controller designed to work with "Daydream," Google's new virtual reality platform.

If there was any doubt before, virtual reality is quickly on its way to becoming mainstream.

Google's answer to this trend is "Daydream," its own virtual reality platform that will be available on certain Android phones later this year. What really stood out about the whole presentation - including the ability to experience Google Street View in virtual reality and watching IMAX movies on your phone - was the slick controller that works with it.

clay bavor google io daydream virtual reality

Google/YouTube

Clay Bavor on stage Wednesday at Google IO, the company's annual developer's conference.

Simple and clean in its design, the remote only contains two buttons and a clickable touchpad (the large concave surface near the top). 

The remote also works as a motion controller, meaning that if you want to select something off in the distance while you're in virtual reality, all you have to do is point the controller at what you want to select.

For example:

In terms of its design, the Daydream controller looks almost identical to the one that comes with the Oculus Rift - Facebook's own virtual reality headset. After all, since you won't actually be able to see the controller with a giant screen strapped to your face, a pared-down design is probably the only way to go.

Daydream, along with its slick controller, will be available "this fall."

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