New Google Daydream videos demo what shared VR experiences could look like

Following up on the debut of the Daydream virtual reality platform unveiled at Google I/O last month, Google posted on Tuesday two new examples of what it's cooking up at its Daydream Labs.

In each video, we see two users interacting in VR via their avatars, represented by three-dimensional Google Cardboard icons with googly eyes, along with disembodied hands. 

The first video shows a virtual user celebrating a friend's VR bowling skills as the bowler looks on holding a pair of virtual HTC Vive controllers.

The other video is even more fascinating, as it shows two users demonstrating shared presence in VR as they work together to solve a jigsaw puzzle. 

Each user is still represented by a VR headset avatar, but in this case each one is customized to the user, with one represented by what looks like either an HTC Vive or Oculus Rift headset and the other represented by a Google Cardboard icon adorned with a baseball cap.

"Avatars can be simplified to just a floating head with googly eyes and still convey a surprising degree of emotion, intent, and number of social cues," Rob Jagnow, a software engineer for Google VR, wrote on the company's developer blog showcasing the new VR videos. 

"Eyes give people a location to look to and speak towards, but they also increase face-to-face communication by making even basic avatars feel more human. When we combine this with hands and a spatially-located voice, it comes together to create a sense of shared presence."

Google's Android-powered VR platform is set to make its official debut in the fall, but in the meantime, these short glimpses of what Daydream is capable of are likely to continue to stoke interest in the the company's mobile VR play.

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