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Virtual Reality Tech (formerly: "Oculus Rift")
https://gladerebooted.net/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=8941		 Page 1 of 6
Author:  Kaffis Mark V [ Sun Aug 05, 2012 9:18 am ]
Post subject:  Virtual Reality Tech (formerly: "Oculus Rift")
I need to share the most exciting Kickstarter with a non-digital product I've seen to date.

Some of you guys might've seen some video of John Carmack at E3 raving about this. It's an ambitious headmounted Virtual Reality setup that's seen functional prototypes (at E3, for instance) boasting a 110 degree diagonal FOV and low latency motion sensitivity. They're running the Kickstarter to raise some capital and get prototype (that is, not consumer-prettified and streamlined physical designs) kits into the hands of game developers and maker-type early adopters, with the goal to get a consumer product on the market, and get game developers working on integrating support into their products while the final design elements for the consumer product are finished and put into production.

John Carmack is already a huge proponent and proselytizer for Palmer (the guy who invented and designed it), and the Kickstarter video assembles some clear excitement from Cliffy B, Gabe Newell, and other established developers, as well. The developer kit (which is offered at a backer level of $300, which ought to be a ballpark barometer of the final product's price with the caveat that this is essentially assemble-it-yourself and lacking the final fascia molding type components) includes extension modules for the Unreal Engine and the Unity Engine, to give an idea of the breadth of games that could integrate support already...
Author:  Lenas [ Thu Jan 10, 2013 4:41 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Oculus Rift
It was at CES this year. Can't wait for this kinda stuff to start hitting the consumer market.

http://www.ign.com/videos/2013/01/09/oc ... r-ces-2013
Author:  Kaffis Mark V [ Thu Jan 10, 2013 5:08 pm ]
Post subject: 
Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. I backed for some swag and support, but am holding off on the consumer model.
Author:  Lenas [ Mon Jun 17, 2013 4:21 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Oculus Rift
First round of funding announced today and $16M is being aimed at putting this in consumer hands.

http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/17/ocul ... 6-million/
Author:  Darkroland [ Tue Jun 18, 2013 7:41 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Oculus Rift
Yep, the more I hear about this the more excited I get. Can't wait.
Author:  Lenas [ Tue Mar 25, 2014 5:10 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Oculus Rift
This is why we can't have nice things.

Facebook buys Oculus for $2B: http://www.forbes.com/sites/briansolomo ... 2-billion/
Author:  Darkroland [ Tue Mar 25, 2014 5:34 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Oculus Rift
Yep. That sound you hear is a billion geeks screaming out in terror.

I'm one of those.
Author:  Müs [ Tue Mar 25, 2014 5:39 pm ]
Post subject: 
Wow. That's literally the worst news I have heard all day.

Also:
BAHAHAHAHA!!

Pornhub
I guess that means we won't be making any Oculus Rift porn anymore :(
Author:  Darkroland [ Tue Mar 25, 2014 8:02 pm ]
Post subject:  Re:
Müs wrote:
Wow. That's literally the worst news I have heard all day.

Also:
BAHAHAHAHA!!

Pornhub
I guess that means we won't be making any Oculus Rift porn anymore :(


The outrage on the net is hilarious. "How dare we put our faith in this man and then he stab us all in the back like this for only 2 billion dollars!"

I admit, it's likely the death of the product. But still, he's just like this guy, you know? I'm hopeful this drives valve to release their own superior VR product.
Author:  Lenas [ Tue Mar 25, 2014 8:42 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Oculus Rift
Can you guys imagine how great the Facebook timeline videos are going to be now? You can walk through your friend's lives.

I mean, wow.
Author:  Amanar [ Tue Mar 25, 2014 10:33 pm ]
Post subject: 
Why would Facebook buy a company for 2 billion dollars and then destroy their flagship product? I don't think they're that stupid. They'll probably let Oculus do it's thing. If Facebook just wanted a VR product to use on their website, they could probably develop one for a lot less than 2 billion dollars.
Author:  Midgen [ Wed Mar 26, 2014 12:41 am ]
Post subject: 
It happens all the time... they might want some of their IPs (patents, etc...), they might want the teams involved.. who knows..

I can't really see a use for VR helmets on facebook...
Author:  Kaffis Mark V [ Wed Mar 26, 2014 7:55 am ]
Post subject:  Re:
Amanar wrote:
Why would Facebook buy a company for 2 billion dollars and then destroy their flagship product? I don't think they're that stupid. They'll probably let Oculus do it's thing. If Facebook just wanted a VR product to use on their website, they could probably develop one for a lot less than 2 billion dollars.

Well, let's run through a few scenarios. Facebook wants more "real" games to ping their social media, creating traffic and helping them link into things like Steam and Origin friends lists, perhaps, to grow their web of information. They buy Oculus Rift, a product many non-mobile, non-social games are hot and bothered to include support for, and can now add terms for developers to access the APIs -- like "you will include Facebook integration options in your game to post achievements to the players' wall."

That's not far-fetched and paranoid, by any means.


In other news, I wonder if this means I'll own Facebook stock in the near future. Dear God.
Author:  Lex Luthor [ Wed Mar 26, 2014 9:15 am ]
Post subject: 
It's very far-fetched to think Facebook would simply shut down Oculus Rift. I agree that kind of thing happens, but I highly doubt it will here.
Author:  Kaffis Mark V [ Wed Mar 26, 2014 9:38 am ]
Post subject: 
I don't think the fear is that Facebook will shut down Oculus Rift. The fear is that association with Facebook will cool a lot of developers' and customers' interest in becoming involved with Oculus Rift.
Author:  Lex Luthor [ Wed Mar 26, 2014 9:40 am ]
Post subject:  Re:
Kaffis Mark V wrote:
I don't think the fear is that Facebook will shut down Oculus Rift. The fear is that association with Facebook will cool a lot of developers' and customers' interest in becoming involved with Oculus Rift.


The most ridiculous aspect is that many people contributed to the Kickstarter for it, and now it's been acquired by Facebook. So like what was the point of contributing.
Author:  Kaffis Mark V [ Wed Mar 26, 2014 10:12 am ]
Post subject: 
Well, as one of those backers (and not one who backed for a Dev kit -- I threw a hundred bucks into the thing and got a T-Shirt because I wanted to support Palmer's ability to pursue promising tech on his terms and be taken seriously by developers by demonstrating a market), I feel a bit conflicted.

I don't want to play games on a hardware device closely associated with Facebook. I don't want my play to be tied to my social media accounts. I don't want to wonder if the Oculus Rift is gathering data about me.

As a backer, I don't expect any financial benefit from the sale, so that's right out. I do, however, feel somewhat betrayed by the sale -- when an independent developer or individual pitches something to a crowdfunding community, it's imperative (for the integrity and trustworthiness of the crowdfunding movement) that they be upfront and honest about their intentions. You can pitch a crowdfunding campaign to gain capital to develop a product and be bought out by somebody at huge personal profit -- but that's not going to gain a lot of support, generally. The support comes in from people who want to support your own passion and vision for a project, and want to ensure that you can complete or pursue it on your own terms to deliver something that doesn't have to conform to traditional risk assessment and/or can attempt to break the mold for traditional revenue streams.

And that's what backers of the Oculus Rift thought they were doing, and why they're varying degrees of angry at the sale. Nobody's begrudging Palmer's personal success, but at the same time, one can't help but feel a bit defrauded about the whole thing. Not in a legal sense, but in an interpersonal one.

As a stockholder (yes, when I saw the Rift went public, I bought some stock so that I *could* share in the potential profit of a sector that I think might be poised to explode), I'm also not particularly pleased. If the stock gets converted to Facebook shares (I haven't seen the financial details of the deal, yet), now I'm stuck with stock that is going to be primarily driven by Facebook's other interests. If I wanted to own Facebook (or other data brokering companies) stock, I'd have already done so. If they don't convert stock, and Facebook simply retains a majority share of Oculus stock, my voting power is now being diluted by somebody whose interests I don't trust and am likely to come into conflict with.

Ultimately, though? The point of contributing, Lex, was to sustain Palmer's development through a few iterative prototypes, distribute a bunch of devkits to developers who need something to work with in order to partner with Oculus, and to garner media and developer attention to grow interest in VR. That succeeded. It succeeded so well, in fact, that it also attracted interest from Facebook, to no benefit of the backer (and potentially to the backer's detriment as an interested party who doesn't want to be involved with a Facebook product). Like I said, I'm conflicted. The factual, matter-of-historical-record "point of contributing" may not be what the backer expected, but there it is.
Author:  Lenas [ Wed Mar 26, 2014 1:56 pm ]
Post subject:  Re:
Lex Luthor wrote:
It's very far-fetched to think Facebook would simply shut down Oculus Rift. I agree that kind of thing happens, but I highly doubt it will here.


No one is worried about that.
Author:  Müs [ Wed Mar 26, 2014 2:19 pm ]
Post subject: 
Simpsons Did It!

Image
Author:  Rorinthas [ Wed Mar 26, 2014 4:54 pm ]
Post subject: 
chalk up another victory to the "wait and see." Seriously though, There's been no declaration that Facebook is going to do any of the things that people are raging about. Maybe, perhaps unlikely, Facebook will let the Rift be and quietly collect the profits.
Author:  Lenas [ Wed Mar 26, 2014 5:26 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Oculus Rift
Yep, no changes happening here *whistle*

Quote:
The New York Times reports that "Facebook eventually plans to redesign the Oculus hardware and rebrand it with a Facebook interface and logo," sourcing a person with insider knowledge of the company's acquisition of Oculus.


http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/03/26/ ... culus-rift
Author:  Numbuk [ Thu Mar 27, 2014 10:48 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Oculus Rift
Wow. There are a lot of people out there who are really upset over this. Not just in the "I dislike Facebook don't think they will utilize the rift the way I envisioned" way. That way I can at least understand. No, there are people who are demanding refunds or expecting a cut of that 2 billion dollars.

Welcome to the world of crowdfunding/sourcing. These people are not investors. They hold no shares or stake in the company. The only thing they are entitled to is what was originally promised for their contribution. Sure the outcome wasn't what the backers were hoping for, but to demand money? Come on!
Author:  Kaffis Mark V [ Thu Mar 27, 2014 12:37 pm ]
Post subject: 
As I said -- anybody who thinks they deserve a cut is an idiot.

Anybody who feels they were defrauded and are angry over it, though, I can at least understand.
Author:  FarSky [ Thu Mar 27, 2014 12:39 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Oculus Rift
Numbuk wrote:
The only thing they are entitled to is what was originally promised for their contribution.

Legally, not even that, if I'm not mistaken.

I never quite understood the appeal of the OR in the first place (it's got the Google Glass problem), much less what Facebook would want to do with it.
Author:  Amanar [ Thu Mar 27, 2014 3:38 pm ]
Post subject: 
You... don't understand the appeal of virtual reality in games? Of seeing the world in 3D? Of being able to turn your head to look around in a game?

I don't understand your lack of understanding.
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