VR Thread

[Purple Filth]

just saw the headline and WAT?

[Pringo]

Oh goddammit it. Kinda shocked to see this news to be honest. I'm not taking this acquisition as a good thing right now but I'm willing to wait and see what comes from it.  Now I'm curious if that rumour a little while ago about Valve looking to buy Oculus might have had some validity to it after all.

Best case scenario is that Oculus is given the freedom to continue doing what they were doing and it remains an open platform for development while having greater leverage with other hardware and software companies. One big thing I do see that Facebook could bring to the table is social type stuff for VR. Tackling the stigma of the Rift as a product for shut in loners was going to be a big problem, especially if it is primarily marketed towards the high end PC gaming segment, and this could be huge in addressing that.

I'm just praying that we're not going to be seeing forced Facebook integration with VR software in the near future.

[fistfulofmetal]

there are two concerns:

1.) the talent will be scooped up and the tech will disappear
2.) the tech will be scooped up and the talent will disappear

both scenarios suck.

[cool breeze]

I can see that, but Facebook will give then more exposure than they could have ever dreamed of.  Maybe I'm just bugged by the "oculus is dead save us sony" rhetoric floating around the internet.

Sony's headset is limited by the PS4 but if they opened it up to PC that sentiment might make sense.  Sony is aiming somewhere between consumer and enthusiast level while Oculus was going for enthusiast VR and being super anal about it.

The concern is ultimately that facebook's fat stacks will hinder oculus' previous attention to detail.  SO had oculus been bought in 2012, I wouldn't be surprised if that first dev kit was the basis for the consumer version.

[Great Rumbler]

"Thanks for giving us $2 million on Kickstarter, guys, but we found someone with $2 billion they were willing to give us. "

[a slime appears]

LOL

Adding a stretch goal to Frog Fractions 2. $2 billion dollars: buy Oculus back from Facebook.

https://twitter.com/mogwai_poet/status/448600566654959616

[Steve Contra]

One of the greatest neckbeard trolls of all time 

[brob]

[Yulwei]

Didn't they put up pre-orders for their next release just a few days ago? Guess they wanted to let those pre-orders come in before they bothered announcing this.

Gotcha! hahaha

[Huff]

Even before this, I think Sony's would have always done better. It will be worse but cheaper, plus riding on the ps4.

[Pringo]

good news for sony if true

How do you figure that? Oculus now has ~20x the funding to work with as they did before and now Sony has to compete head on with Facebook in VR rather than a startup targeting the high end PC market. I don't see how this is beneficial for Sony unless the assumption here is that gaming is now much less of a priority for Oculus with this move.

[Huff]

well i hope you learned your lesson

[Raban]

if there's any place in the world where it's okay to look like a weird distinguished mentally-challenged fellow, you found it

[Stoney Mason]

Revolt of the indie hipsters!

Markus "Notch" Persson has further clarified his thoughts on Facebook's recent Oculus acquisition on his personal blog.

"I definitely want to be a part of VR, but I will not work with Facebook," the Minecraft creator said. "Their motives are too unclear and shifting, and they haven't historically been a stable platform. There's nothing about their history that makes me trust them, and that makes them seem creepy to me."

He further added, "I did not chip in ten grand to seed a first investment round to build value for a Facebook acquisition."

"I have the greatest respect for the talented engineers and developers at Oculus. It's been a long time since I met a more dedicated and talented group of people. I understand this is purely a business deal, and I'd like to congratulate both Facebook and the Oculus owners. But this is where we part ways."

I'll be honest. The only part that really interests me is the divide now created between indie cred hipsters and how much they loath facebook and corporate interests.


http://notch.net/2014/03/virtual-reality-is-going-to-change-the-world/

[CatsCatsCats]

Whatever, VR wont be that cool until they can fit the processing on it too. Do that, have Facebook life on it, and boom unstoppable

[Great Rumbler]

Revolt of the indie hipsters!

Markus "Notch" Persson has further clarified his thoughts on Facebook's recent Oculus acquisition on his personal blog.

"I definitely want to be a part of VR, but I will not work with Facebook," the Minecraft creator said. "Their motives are too unclear and shifting, and they haven't historically been a stable platform. There's nothing about their history that makes me trust them, and that makes them seem creepy to me."

He further added, "I did not chip in ten grand to seed a first investment round to build value for a Facebook acquisition."

"I have the greatest respect for the talented engineers and developers at Oculus. It's been a long time since I met a more dedicated and talented group of people. I understand this is purely a business deal, and I'd like to congratulate both Facebook and the Oculus owners. But this is where we part ways."

I'll be honest. The only part that really interests me is the divide now created between indie cred hipsters and how much they loath facebook and corporate interests.

http://notch.net/2014/03/virtual-reality-is-going-to-change-the-world/

Notch is a cool dude.

[Stoney Mason]

According to a person involved in the deal who was not allowed to speak publicly because he was not authorized by either company, Facebook eventually plans to redesign the Oculus hardware and rebrand it with a Facebook interface and logo.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/26/technology/facebook-to-buy-oculus-vr-maker-of-virtual-reality-headset.html?hpw&rref=business&_r=2

[Cerveza mas fina]

Well PC had a good run

[Cerveza mas fina]

Is that an edited GAF repost Borys?

I think VR really needs hardcore early adopters to take off, soccer moms won't be buying that shit. By getting bought by FB they might have increased their cashflow but they lost street cred with the early adopters.

[radioheadrule83]

Is that an edited GAF repost Borys?

Yes. Mine.

  any good biters?

proper real talk truthiness in it too

[Great Rumbler]

the salty little piglet tears coming from the normally stoic pc crowd have been outstanding.

The PC crowd is stoic? Since when?

[Cerveza mas fina]

PC crowd has been invaded by 15 year old kids who's first console was the 360, Wii or PS3.

They are horrible.

[helios]

[Cerveza mas fina]

[magus]

PC master whining race

[archie4208]

[Brehvolution]

According to a person involved in the deal who was not allowed to speak publicly because he was not authorized by either company, Facebook eventually plans to redesign the Oculus hardware and rebrand it with a Facebook interface and logo.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/26/technology/facebook-to-buy-oculus-vr-maker-of-virtual-reality-headset.html?hpw&rref=business&_r=2

[Eel O'Brian]

What I'm getting out of this is Zuckerberg just got chumped out of 2 billion. Unless they can catch a Wii-esque fad wave and some Oprah-type promotion, no one except the google glass crowd is gonna want to wear this uncomfortable shit on their face while blindly flailing at the air.

[headwalk]

i'm actually relieved. there's nothing worse than a tail waggling sycophant for any device and i was uncomfortably on board with just about every noise that was coming out of the house of oculus.

this is a much better fit for me, once again sitting on the sidelines drowning in cynicism and crushed hopes, waiting to grudgingly get on board with whoever makes the best promise to fuck me gently.

oh look Francis is yelling

i've never got the appeal of this guy. when he's in character it's just an artless noise, when he's out of character he's the average luke warm middling copy+pasted youtube game dork. is it because adam boyes gave him a blowjob once?

[a slime appears]

What I'm getting out of this is Zuckerberg just got chumped out of 2 billion. Unless they can catch a Wii-esque fad wave and some Oprah-type promotion, no one except the google glass crowd is gonna want to wear this uncomfortable shit on their face while blindly flailing at the air.

It was a pretty stupid acquisition that seems like a move of desperation by a company/CEO who wants to appear relevant. At least Facebook is only out $400m in liquid and the rest is in stock options.

[Pringo]

http://www.oculusvr.com/blog/introducing-michael-abrash-oculus-chief-scientist/

Michael Abrash has left Valve and joined Oculus.

[Steve Contra]

The hits keep coming

[a slime appears]

Looks like Microsoft finally joined the game, if rumors are to be believed:
http://techcrunch.com/2014/03/27/microsoft-paid-up-to-150m-to-buy-wearable-computing-ip-from-the-osterhout-design-group/

[Huff]

what does everyone think the timeframe is before something hits the public?

late 2015 at the earliest?

[CatsCatsCats]

yesssssssss give me a VR arms race

[Pringo]

what does everyone think the timeframe is before something hits the public?

late 2015 at the earliest?

Oculus Rift: Mid to late 2015. Possibly 2016 if they want that new screen tech in CV1 and the R&D takes a long time.

Morpheus: 2015 or Q4 2014 if they just try to get it out ASAP.

[cool breeze]

somewhat agree, but I can see Morpheus releasing later as it's more shackled to software than the Rift.  I dunno.  I think the Rift can release as is, maybe with a "VR Store" stocked with cheap and novel apps like a virtual theater or space mountain the ride the experience the vr ride the experience.  If Sony is treating VR as its own platform it needs compelling software at launch, and it won't be 'saved' by third parties like the ps4.

[Pringo]

http://www.engadget.com/2014/05/30/samsung-oculus-partnership/

A new challenger appears. Looks like Samsung is going to use the Oculus Android SDK to power a headset that use their own phones as the display. I guess this is partly how Oculus managed to get Samsung to sell them their top of the line OLED panels.

[MCD]

Miyamoto: VR is one person putting on some goggles, playing by themselves in a corner:

http://time.com/2881482/interview-nintendo-miyamoto-virtual-reality/

[magus]

[Pringo]

Sumsung announced Gear VR aka an enclosure for the Note 4 that uses the Oculus mobile SDK. Looks like it will be primarily used for video, panoramic imagery and simple VR games.

http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/03/samsung-virtual-reality/

[Himu]

Miyamoto: VR is one person putting on some goggles, playing by themselves in a corner:

http://time.com/2881482/interview-nintendo-miyamoto-virtual-reality/

And 3d is fucking stupid so fuck off

[chronovore]

VR terrifies my usually pretty humble hardware purchasing habits. it's going to take a maxwell card to really get a decent experience given the ever increasing demands (what are we at now, 1400p+120hz to achieve "persistence"?).

the idea of people plugging these things into their playstations gives me a vicarious brain tumour.

i accidentally quoted myself.

take the time to read it again to really soak it all in.

The effects of that brain tumor are already becoming non-vicarious.