Facebook buying Occulus Rift for $2 Billion

[Subyman]

Obviously they are expanding their portfolio.

Nothing is obvious. Mark is talking out both sides of his mouth. He's appeasing oculus fans by saying Oculus will stay "independent" but then says he is looking to "fuse" both technologies (social and vr) together to investors. Everything is up in the air at the moment.

 

[MongGrel]

Going to be irrelevant to me I guess.

I'm not buying one any time soon.

 

[Phynaz]

Michael Abrash just signed on as Chief Scientist.

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

 

[tential]

lol @ the kickstarter chumps haha. Just made these dudes 2 billion and they will probably never get to game with the stupid thing now. Facebook was just making sure no one else used it in a way that could hurt their market share. I'll never give a dime to any kickstarter garbage ever. Its just a way for the public to kiss epic ass by handing over money for nothing. Shame about Occulus. Could have been fun at some point.

Kickstarter is a business owner's wet dream come true. People invest into your company but own zero stake in it. It's literally the best invention ever for business owners. I have dreams sometimes about how great is to sucker people over kickstarter when instead they could have actually invested for a stake in your company.

Nothing is obvious. Mark is talking out both sides of his mouth. He's appeasing oculus fans by saying Oculus will stay "independent" but then says he is looking to "fuse" both technologies (social and vr) together to investors. Everything is up in the air at the moment.

I never really cared about OR or VR gaming in the first place. Mostly due to a lack of keeping up with the tech to see if it'd even be interesting. But with the Facebook acquisition there is just no way I can see OR going forward htiting only a small gaming niche the way it would have if OR was independent.

I agree with you completely, we really don't know what direction OR is going and Mark is just talking to appease everyone. But there is ZERO indication that facebook is a "gaming" company so it's hard to believe that facebook would acquire OR, then let them do something completely different than the core company interest.

With M$ use of Xbox there is a clear goal. One M$ has been trying for a LONG time. To get Windows/Their software to be at the center of your living room. M$, Intel, Apple (AppleTV), everyone wants to be in the living room. With Facebook acquisition of OR there really is only ONE clear way virtual reality fits into a SOCIAL NETWORKING portfolio. It's supposed to make social interaction online more real. Gamers by nature aren't the most socially integrated people, so there is no wonder that Gamers have a backlash vs Facebook and it's OR implementation. Miranda, the popular girl at school, will NOT wear the Oculus Rift to promote her online Facebook status. She won't it's NOT HAPPENING. I can't see any of the main facebook demographic using Virtual Reality at all. Taking a selfie and posting it online and getting tons of likes is acceptable by most chicks I know who are socialites. Wearing a Virtual Reality headset and going online to see how many guys will flirt with you and your online avatar? That just isn't going to pick up in today's age.

I just don't see OR hitting ANY demographic that Facebook cares about. Soon, the person who spearheaded this deal will be expected to show some results. When that doesn't happen, he'll be crucified in the Facebook lobby as a warning to all other employees to never spearhead a deal again without a VIABLE plan to make it profitable.

 

[TreVader]

Oculus is dead, although frankly I think VR is stupid to start with. I think it's pretty hilarious that people lost all that money on Kickstarter and now claim they've been "wronged" by Carmack and company.


When you contribute to a kickstarter campaign you're giving a GIFT, the money is theirs to do what they please. Nobody has a right to complain about a kickstarter not doing what they wanted it to do. You are supporting an artist and the artists' vision, and by contributing to a kickstarter all you're doing is saying "here is my money, I think you can do more with it than me".


It's pretty hilarious that FB, of all companies, bought it. They bought it because it's one more company that will keep them afloat when facebook itself is dead.

 

[cytg111]

although frankly I think VR is stupid to start with.

VR is about to get a second coming of friggin awsome, a paradigm shift is coming.. 3D TV's .. with glasses? Forget about it. Gaming will never go back and it will pretty much be a death blow to the cinemas over time. Put AR into that mix and it is going to blow our minds - AND it is happening soon.
My only regret is that I dont know where to invest my money, was sorta waiting for Occulus to get listed .. even if Valve has something up its sleeve, valve aint listed either. Aint gonna put money on facebook or sony.. So whos left?

edit : oh yea, where is microsoft in all this? Are they just super late to the party as always? Apple?

 

[cytg111]

I just don't see OR hitting ANY demographic that Facebook cares about. Soon, the person who spearheaded this deal will be expected to show some results. When that doesn't happen, he'll be crucified in the Facebook lobby as a warning to all other employees to never spearhead a deal again without a VIABLE plan to make it profitable.

So, facebook is a pretty successful social app.
Second Life .. is a pretty successful app.

I think suckerberg is going 3D, either buying a secondlife 'app' or creating one himself. If you think about it it sorta is the 'next step' social app ... secondlife and associates were just too early to the party.

I call namecalling dips, suckerberg will name it ... "FaceLife(tm)".

 

[TreVader]

VR is about to get a second coming of friggin awsome, a paradigm shift is coming.. 3D TV's .. with glasses? Forget about it. Gaming will never go back and it will pretty much be a death blow to the cinemas over time. Put AR into that mix and it is going to blow our minds - AND it is happening soon.
My only regret is that I dont know where to invest my money, was sorta waiting for Occulus to get listed .. even if Valve has something up its sleeve, valve aint listed either. Aint gonna put money on facebook or sony.. So whos left?

edit : oh yea, where is microsoft in all this? Are they just super late to the party as always? Apple?

VR has been around for 30 years and nobody cared before, if it was such a promising field then why haven't I seen a single person buy a VR anything ever? The closest thing to VR I ever saw was that travesty nintendo made, I forget what its called but it bombed hard and disappeared.


The problem with VR is nobody even has any experience with it. If you ask people whether they think the future of gaming is VR a lot will say yes, but have they ever even used a VR headset? Of course not.

Your basing your conjecture on zero experience. Do you own a VR headset? Then how would you know if its any better than a regular PC? You don't, you just see stuff in movies and TV that makes it look cool. So you want it.

 

[TreVader]

So, facebook is a pretty successful social app.
Second Life .. is a pretty successful app.

I think suckerberg is going 3D, either buying a secondlife 'app' or creating one himself. If you think about it it sorta is the 'next step' social app ... secondlife and associates were just too early to the party.

I call namecalling dips, suckerberg will name it ... "FaceLife(tm)".

This is the real application of VR: pr0n. OR is just going to be a glorified porn distribution system. Look foreword to Facebook announcements saying your friend carl is watching "Asian milf sluts 9" on his Oculus Rift, would you like to join him?

 

[S.H.O.D.A.N.]

I think suckerberg is going 3D, either buying a secondlife 'app' or creating one himself.

Even if that was true, 2bn for something a quarter of that sum could have bought is not what I'd call a sound investment.

Either Facebook knows something no one else is privy to, or they're just burning money for the sake of watching the flames go sky high.

This is the real application of VR: pr0n.

I see people mention that, yet the problem with VR pornography is the same sport VR would face. You either have a highly constrained cam setup, or a digital equivalent of the performer(s).

And let's be honest, uncanny valley is not going anywhere for the time being and I doubt you'd find enough people turned on by polygons to make it a viable business.

I think.

I hope

 

[cytg111]

Your basing your conjecture on zero experience. Do you own a VR headset? Then how would you know if its any better than a regular PC? You don't, you just see stuff in movies and TV that makes it look cool. So you want it.

- On zero *personal* experience yes, yet so many people, knowledgeable and rockstars in their own right is jumping this bandwagon that you just know it is time.. For me, when Carmack resigned at ID to do Occulus at full time plus the backing from Valve ... point of no return man, this is it, it is coming. Ask Sony?
I was eyeing the hmz from Sony some time back .. again a little too soon to the party, tech wasnt quite ready. It is now.

 

[cytg111]

This is the real application of VR: pr0n.

- Pr0n, driving the internet since 1990.
Well, "To deny our own impulses is to deny the very thing that makes us human"..

Also, that long distance-relationship might just get a second chance

 

[DeathReborn]

I was never going to buy OR after trying a friends one and getting a migraine worse than 3D films gives me but I will be trying out maybe OR 3/4 & Sony's effort to see if they can iron those issues out or not.

"Pr0n" still needs VR body suits to go with it, for full body sensation...

 

[Phynaz]

Your friend has dev kit?

 

[cytg111]

I was never going to buy OR after trying a friends one and getting a migraine worse than 3D films gives me but I will be trying out maybe OR 3/4 & Sony's effort to see if they can iron those issues out or not.

"Pr0n" still needs VR body suits to go with it, for full body sensation...

Word is that those issues have been ironed out in devkit2 (shipping now?).

 

[DeathReborn]

Your friend has dev kit?

Yea he buys all the latest "gaming" gadgets, he's had the OR1 Dev Kit since it became available in the UK.

Word is that those issues have been ironed out in devkit2 (shipping now?).

I'll probably get to try that out in a few weeks/months but I am not holding out hope yet.

 

[flexy]

VR has been around for 30 years and nobody cared before .

It was around for 30 years and "nobody cared" since VR sets were super-expensive and at the same time VERY crappy with a very small FOV. IMMERSION is everything and with a tiny view where you only see something like a window/aquarium in front of you immersion is not possible. 90, 100, 110 FOV is a HELL of a difference.

I also predict that once those new VR kits take off (which they WILL!) it will entirely revolutionize a lot of what we do on computers, gaming, social interaction etc. I am happy that some gurus in this field have the same vision as I have. With negative nancies like you we would've NEVER gotten such cool tech. (I for myself am waiting for this literally for several decades already)

 

[cytg111]

Yea he buys all the latest "gaming" gadgets, he's had the OR1 Dev Kit since it became available in the UK.



I'll probably get to try that out in a few weeks/months but I am not holding out hope yet.

Another thing, the level of immersion that this generation of VR is offering, expecting it to be something you can flip on and off like a pair of sun glasses is problary naive.. Give it a few minutes to dive in and problary more important a few minutes to get back out and adjust yourself.

 

[flexy]

The problem with VR is nobody even has any experience with it. If you ask people whether they think the future of gaming is VR a lot will say yes, but have they ever even used a VR headset? Of course not.

This is the real application of VR: pr0n. OR is just going to be a glorified porn distribution system.

You're like one of those guys back in the mid 80s who looked at people who bought a "home computer" like they're out of their mind. What happened? Today, everyone and their grandma, literally, owns a "home computer".

Your negative stance doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

VR obviously and naturally WILL also be a medium for p0rn, there you are absolutely correct..but it won't be any different as compared to that photography, TV/movies, computers etc. also have become "mediums for p0rn". Because humans are humans and it so happens that people like to see naked bodies of the other gender, some even of the same So what? What you do with VR (or with your PC or big screen TV etc.) is on you.

Back to the other subject again, I *can* say with certainty the "future of gaming" or whatever else we'll do will be with VR since VR is one of the only few things (aside from a super-huge screen) which can create a wide FOV (field of view) which is necessary for immersion and realistic 3D, for a true "I am there" 3D experience. Even a 60" 3D TV cannot even remotely do that for you, forget ANY normal consumer TVs since NONE can do that. This is why even modern 3D TVs will only stay a gimmick.

So..NOW we have halfway passable and most importantly affordable VR sets which don't cost more than a high-end monitor. The rest is technicalities like reducing screen door effect, higher resolutions and miniaturizing VR sets, making them more comfortable to wear etc...and MOST IMPORTANTLY the content. Maybe in 10, maybe in 15 (I don't know) years we will have VR sets which might be worn like and look like Google glass so that this last hurdle of "comfort" will also be mastered....but as said it's only a matter of technology. The concept, and here you are right is THERE for 30 years already but only in the last 5 years or so things like high resolution OLED displays exist. Go back 10, 15 or so years. VR kits existed but they literally cost an arm and a leg, they had little FOV/immersion and content basically didn't even exist at all.

 

[Subyman]

I think the people taking an extreme stance either way aren't basing their opinion on the real world. VR can certainly be a huge success and change the way people communicate, interact, and enjoy entertainment. It could also be a massive flop like 3D. The key is timing and holding back the technology until it is completely ready otherwise it will go dormant for another 10-20 years. The major problem I see is that we can't physically move far right now in VR since there are wires. Haptic feedback needs to progress further as well. Looking at a 3D scene and moving your head around is the first step, but VR has a long way to go.

I'm definitely excited to see what happens next.

 

[bystander36]

I think the people taking an extreme stance either way aren't basing their opinion on the real world. VR can certainly be a huge success and change the way people communicate, interact, and enjoy entertainment. It could also be a massive flop like 3D. The key is timing and holding back the technology until it is completely ready otherwise it will go dormant for another 10-20 years. The major problem I see is that we can't physically move far right now in VR since there are wires. Haptic feedback needs to progress further as well. Looking at a 3D scene and moving your head around is the first step, but VR has a long way to go.

I'm definitely excited to see what happens next.

If you believe that, then VR has no hope either. 3D is awesome, but only if the media supporting it is properly done. In games, when 3D is properly supported, is amazing. The problem is, most developers do not try to support 3D. VR has the same exact problem to over come.

And as someone who plays in 3D often, it is very much a stepping stone for VR. If you pull your monitor right up near your face as you play, your whole vision is taken up in 3D. The only thing you lack is the head turning the Oculus Rift has. In the right games, it looks very impressive.

 

[flexy]

I think the people taking an extreme stance either way aren't basing their opinion on the real world. VR can certainly be a huge success and change the way people communicate, interact, and enjoy entertainment. It could also be a massive flop like 3D. The key is timing and holding back the technology until it is completely ready otherwise it will go dormant for another 10-20 years. The major problem I see is that we can't physically move far right now in VR since there are wires. Haptic feedback needs to progress further as well. Looking at a 3D scene and moving your head around is the first step, but VR has a long way to go.

I'm definitely excited to see what happens next.

Today's 3D TV, although it had a little renaissance is a flop and CAN only be a flop mainly because of what I said earlier. The reason (amongst some) really is lack of "FOV", field of view.
Look, I can get me a nice 3D monitor, say a 22" or a 24" even and the effect will NEVER be anything beyond a certain "aquarium" or what I call a "doll house" effect...which nothing has really to do how we perceive a real, 3D world but is just a silly attempt doing it.

Ok, let me try to explain this a bit: Say you stand in front of a real person in the real world, that person since it's close will fill out a huge FOV, you would actually have to move your head up and down if you would like to inspect the person. IMPOSSIBLE with a normal sized monitor or TV like a 22" monitor on your desk.

Or picture a simple effect like you holding your own hand about 5" in front of your face. If I do that right now my hand seems to cover almost twice the vertical size of my 22" monitor which means that my monitor, simply because of the size and therefore limited FOV can never produce such a "real" 3D effect.

And this is exactly the problem I also saw back then when I was experimenting with what he had available, say with Nvidia 3D Vision etc. where I tested with World of Warcraft (back that time when I was still playing). All the 3D effect did was that it turned WoW into sort-of a "miniature world" which I was looking into like sort-of an aquarium in front of me, with one MAJOR problem that the "3D size perception" of objects, players etc. was totally off. Objects did not seem to have the correct size but are way too small, you had the impression to play with a "doll house" yes, 3D, but FAR from anything remotely of a real virtual world.

Add the fact that most games etc. did the 3D entirely wrong.

And this is why this current 3D CAN never be anything more than a gimmick.

VR will be different since this is the first time that the right FOV can be achieved. PLUS it requires a different game design/programming philosophy (something the Rift guys fortunately realized!) and not just what we had in the past "converting" existing content with 3D vision etc. into 3D. So what VR needs is obviously the right hardware (VR googles etc.) but also the right way to do it, NOT just converting content into a "3D aquarium" which seems to be the case today with 3D Vision/limited screens/FOV etc.

 

[bystander36]

^ much of what you experience with the "doll house" effect does not have to be. With proper convergence and depth levels, with the monitor no more than a foot away, in 1st person view, that effect no longer exists. 3rd person games, like WoW, don't do 3D the same justice as 1st person does either.

Anyways, games have to be made with 3D in mind for it to really shine. WoW is not such a game.

 

[Revolution 11]

I understand flexy's optimism. VR has just not been good without recent techs. I think VR will be very big this decade.

But what type of big? I want a open, inclusive platform like the IBM PCs of the 80's, not a locked console-like environment where players like Facebook and Google control the doors of entry.

That is the biggest concern with OR now in Facebook's claws. If OR stays "independent" for 5 years, that will be a big help in avoiding the latter outcome.

 

[bystander36]

My biggest concern is having proper media to support it, having the tech easily setup for proper effect, and people willing to set it up for their own personal use. This tech, like 3D Vision, requires some setup, which by many peoples responses here, clearly is not something most people will learn to do easily.