R.I.P. Oculus Rift (bought by FaceBook)

[Karnak]

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2014/03/facebook-purchases-vr-headset-maker-oculus-for-2-billion/

Zuckerberg's statement:

Mark Zuckerberg:

I'm excited to announce that we've agreed to acquire Oculus VR, the leader in virtual reality technology.

Our mission is to make the world more open and connected. For the past few years, this has mostly meant building mobile apps that help you share with the people you care about. We have a lot more to do on mobile, but at this point we feel we're in a position where we can start focusing on what platforms will come next to enable even more useful, entertaining and personal experiences.

This is where Oculus comes in. They build virtual reality technology, like the Oculus Rift headset. When you put it on, you enter a completely immersive computer-generated environment, like a game or a movie scene or a place far away. The incredible thing about the technology is that you feel like you're actually present in another place with other people. People who try it say it's different from anything they've ever experienced in their lives.

Oculus's mission is to enable you to experience the impossible. Their technology opens up the possibility of completely new kinds of experiences.

Immersive gaming will be the first, and Oculus already has big plans here that won't be changing and we hope to accelerate. The Rift is highly anticipated by the gaming community, and there's a lot of interest from developers in building for this platform. We're going to focus on helping Oculus build out their product and develop partnerships to support more games. Oculus will continue operating independently within Facebook to achieve this.

But this is just the start. After games, we're going to make Oculus a platform for many other experiences. Imagine enjoying a court side seat at a game, studying in a classroom of students and teachers all over the world or consulting with a doctor face-to-face -- just by putting on goggles in your home.

This is really a new communication platform. By feeling truly present, you can share unbounded spaces and experiences with the people in your life. Imagine sharing not just moments with your friends online, but entire experiences and adventures.

These are just some of the potential uses. By working with developers and partners across the industry, together we can build many more. One day, we believe this kind of immersive, augmented reality will become a part of daily life for billions of people.

Virtual reality was once the dream of science fiction. But the internet was also once a dream, and so were computers and smartphones. The future is coming and we have a chance to build it together. I can't wait to start working with the whole team at Oculus to bring this future to the world, and to unlock new worlds for all of us.

[ReVo]

Welp.. my excitement level has dropped from 11 to 1. 

[Volron]

 

[Dragon Tamer]

They can't even decide what they want their main website to look like, let along get it to work properly. Then they go and pull this crap?!

I was going to buy one when the production version came out, looks like I'll need to go buy a PS4 instead...

[Latrobe]

Good thing I still have my TrackIR! 

[Fish42]

 

I just hope SONYs new VR is good. After they way they launched PS4 I feel a spot of hope for it in my heart.

And here I was thinking of picking up an Oculus as soon as it shipped. Ha not anymore.

[Gman]

I was wondering when that would be posted here.  I saw it over at PC Gamer, and thought pretty much the same thing everyone else did.  BOOOOO!  BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!  BOOO!  I can't boo loudly or long enough.  Sellout land FB is now going to ruin it.  I'll bet that the new OR headsets will have an add bar in the middle of the display window, advertising "Farm game" or whatever from FB.  

When John Carmack, who invented Doom, Quake, and is a legend in the gaming/programming/creating world came on board at Occulus, I was SO excited and hopeful, and thought they must really be squared away, picking Carmack as a leader - he would ensure things didn't "suck" for gamers, and would apply all his insight and ability to create new ideas to an already great idea.

Somebody at OR sold out for the $, I don't know this, but it's easy to make that assumption.  Boooo!

[Hoplite]

I guess I won't be giving up triple-screens and TrackIR after all...


A complete disaster.....

[Karnak]

I get the feeling that many people don't realize how detested Facebook is.  The reactions in the comments section of the SF Chronicle mirror those here and at Ars Technica.  This is even with Facebook people saying some of the right things such as the gaming is the focus for now and that they hope to get it out perhaps even sooner than before.  The CFO saying that the purchase made sense even if nothing beyond the gaming ever came from it.

Despite that all the comments I see from gamers are massively negative.

[Hoplite]

I get the feeling that many people don't realize how detested Facebook is.  The reactions in the comments section of the SF Chronicle mirror those here and at Ars Technica.  This is even with Facebook people saying some of the right things such as the gaming is the focus for now and that they hope to get it out perhaps even sooner than before.  The CFO saying that the purchase made sense even if nothing beyond the gaming ever came from it.

Despite that all the comments I see from gamers are massively negative.

I've been around IT as a professional for over 25 years....and I can say without hesitation that Facebook is easily the most overrated and least innovative technology companies I've ever seen.  Piss poor leadership with over-inflated egos, uninspiring technology, where do I stop?

I can see where they would like to head with this...integrate virtual communities and real communities, even the gaming aspect makes sense when you consider the natural interface between online gaming and social media which hasn't completely been explored.  Dispite all this, I have zero confidence in Facebook being able to leverage these points and execute.  I may be wrong...but somehow I doubt it.

[Ack-Ack]

Best thing that could have happened to the OR team, kudos to them.

ack-ack

[Gman]

If anyone here is good at photo shop could they grab a pic of the OR device and morph in a picture of that stupid Facebook farm game you get adds and crap from all the time?

[Karnak]

Best thing that could have happened to the OR team, kudos to them.

ack-ack

Financially it was a very, very good move for the OR team, no doubt.

I doubt very, very much that it will prove to be a good move for consumers.

If anyone here is good at photo shop could they grab a pic of the OR device and morph in a picture of that stupid Facebook farm game you get adds and crap from all the time?

That relates to one of my concerns.  Even if the hardware is absolutely spectacular, I wouldn't trust getting drivers from Facebook to not spam ads at me while I was using it and I can think of nothing more immersion killing that trying to fly a WWII airplane or a far future spaceship than having ads splashed in my face.

[Hoplite]

Best thing that could have happened to the OR team, kudos to them.

ack-ack

I hope you are right....I really do. From everything I've heard and read the team deserves the support.  Hopefully the new management will just pony up cash and get the hell out of the way...leave the "vision" stuff to the actual visionaries.

[Easyscor]

The product has a disappointingly long development history. I suspect and hope that it was only because they lacked funds to develop the ergonomic consumer hardware components to go with what they created. If that's the case, then money can help bring it to market, so I'm still hopeful.