Image: samchills/Flickr
The Old Grey Lady will soon be wearing a virtual reality headset.The New York Times said Tuesday that all home delivery print subscribers will get a free Google Cardboard VR headset the weekend of November 7-8. A "selection" of digital subscribers will also receive a promo code for a free Google Cardboard VR headset.The promotion was announced alongside the news that the Times has created a "virtual reality project" called NYT VR that will create movies that give "the viewer a unique sense of empathic connection to people and events."The first VR film is called The Displaced and details "the resilience of three extraordinary children uprooted by war." Two more VR films are set to be released before the end of the year, according to the press release, with an unspecified number also set for 2016.Google Cardboard is the company's attempt to make VR more accessible to the average person; it's made, as the name suggests, out of a folded up piece of cardboard and some lenses. Users then place smartphone inside the unit, and can then watch VR videos using a special Android and iOS app that in this case was developed by the Times and a studio called IM360. VR headsets compatible with Google Cardboard start at around $20—a far cry from the $1,000+ you'd have to spend to use Oculus Rift when it comes out early next year.Now let's hope the Times' films are more compelling than watching a bunch of people speak into microphones in an auditorium.