Facebook to acquire company behind Oculus Rift VR headset for $2 billion

[Frick]

Balls. Absolute balls. The last thing we need is a big money hungry corporation acquiring one of the few awesome things in this world. I know Fassbook have many monies, but seriously, OR was doing just fine as it was. I want my affordable 1080p VR headset for gaming, not your advert ridden, NSA prowled social networking.

God. Freaking. Damnit.

Oh god we know nothing about what it will be. As I see it it's mostly good. They get money, and if Facebook truly believes VR is the next big thing, they will need all the money they can get. And hardware. Facebook has money and hardware. And it's not like they can only do ONE VR thing for facebook and nothing else. They can, and now they have the money to do so.

So what about the NSA/equivalent stuff? Why should OR be left alone? They would have to deal with that shit no matter what, especially if they create proper virtual worlds. And the OR people seem to think they will be left douing what they are already doing, but with more money, and I assume they know more about their plans and goals than your avarage internet citizen. Obviously they will have to make something for facebook, but as long as they can do some cool game shit I'm all for it.

A lot of doom and gloom here, but it feels like people forget it wasn't like Facebook annexed them or something. Obviously they, including Carmack I'd think, see something good in it.

 

[Mindweaver]

This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill - the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland and Facebook will show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes. I'm taking the Red pill! The more I think about this the better I feel about it. I mean really where would they get the capital to build all the DK2's to ship out in July. Remember they lost money selling DK1 at $300. I think DK2 can only be possible with this deal or another Kickstarter to fund DK2. Even with out this deal I was expecting a delayed shipment due to amount of pre-orders. It will take the "Real world" to create VR and the "Real world" just kicked in..

 

[el etro]

Play social games in VR tech... what a waste of tech innovation....

 

[Frick]

Play social games in VR tech... what a waste of tech innovation....

You could also see it as the tech being mature enough for mass release.

BTW, this is what Carmack said: "I have a deep respect for the technical scale that FB operates at. The cyberspace we want for VR will be at this scale."

https://twitter.com/ID_AA_Carmack/status/448631430533246976

I mean if the plan is a full on virtual metaverse something like this would be inevitable.

 

[Vario]

except it will mostly end up as virtual laguna beach or the sims online or worse yet, second life

 

[Easy Rhino]

I mean if the plan is a full on virtual metaverse something like this would be inevitable.

That was the plan. Carmack said so back in 1999. If Facebook can give Oculus the resources it needs to build out a massive virtual world then you can bet it will be of epic scale. The problem is I don't want to be part of a virtual world. I just want virtual technology to play games. I don't think most people will want to wear a headset just so they can derp around with their facebook friends.

 

[Hilux SSRG]

The problem is I don't want to be part of a virtual world. I just want virtual technology to play games. I don't think most people will want to wear a headset just so they can derp around with their facebook friends.

So succinct!



This facebook acquiring occulus news and the half assed abomination that Sony is developing just killed VR.

If I was a kickstarter backer, I would be so pissed!

 

[MakeDeluxe]

Since Valve has been so interested in VR and they probably can't use the OR anymore, I'm pretty sure they'll make their own virtual reality thingies.

So even in death, a good thing can happen

 

[bubbleawsome]

Yikes! Panicking is now authorized, and even advised!

Read: The Matrix

 

[Frick]

That was the plan. Carmack said so back in 1999. If Facebook can give Oculus the resources it needs to build out a massive virtual world then you can bet it will be of epic scale. The problem is I don't want to be part of a virtual world. I just want virtual technology to play games. I don't think most people will want to wear a headset just so they can derp around with their facebook friends.

THen I don't see why people are upset about this if that was the original plan.

And again, you can use a high end PC to play games AND derp around with friends on facebook. I don't see why this can't be the same.

 

[Easy Rhino]

THen I don't see why people are upset about this if that was the original plan.

And again, you can use a high end PC to play games AND derp around with friends on facebook. I don't see why this can't be the same.

Because of the threat of Facebook integration. Want to play BF6 using OR? Sign into Facebook to start playing! Facebook is an AD agency which means if you use the Oculus your information will be spread to advertisers. Also, the NSA will back door it.

 

[Ahhzz]

Because of the threat of Facebook integration. Want to play BF6 using OR? Sign into Facebook to start playing! Facebook is an AD agency which means if you use the Oculus your information will be spread to advertisers. Also, the NSA will back door it.

The creator says that you will never be required to create or sign in with a faceinvasion account, a couple of times in that long-ass reddit link up there. Personally, I don't buy it. And somewhere this morn, I saw someone say that Mark Zuckerberg came out against the NSA spying... that doesn't mean his company isn't involved up to their eyeballs, just that he says he's against it. Hell, under that logic, why the hell did Richard Nixon get in trouble? Oh yeah... he got caught lying.....

 

[Easy Rhino]

The creator says that you will never be required to create or sign in with a faceinvasion account, a couple of times in that long-ass reddit link up there. Personally, I don't buy it. And somewhere this morn, I saw someone say that Mark Zuckerberg came out against the NSA spying... that doesn't mean his company isn't involved up to their eyeballs, just that he says he's against it. Hell, under that logic, why the hell did Richard Nixon get in trouble? Oh yeah... he got caught lying.....

Well if we know one thing as consumer from this news, it is that these people can change their minds whenever they want. Early adopters be damned.

 

[Vario]

We all know its gonna have facebook integration. Theres no way it wouldn't. Thats what people are upset about. I bet facebook will collapse though, the founder keeps blowing billions on shit. Why not just develop a VR headset inhouse? It has to cost less than the $2Bil for an OR alternative.

 

[Mindweaver]

Now this is funny..

 

[Devon68]

(I've been Facebook free since 2008)

Yeah I deleted my profile after using it for 6 months. F**c Facebook
Even the creator of minecraft back out of the deal about making a minecraft the supports OR.

 

[Ferrum Master]

Sony will obliterate them... Morpheus has more serious backend... there are not that much players in the world that can rival their tech team(ye Nippon banzai)... especially medical tech that still feeds Sony with great amount of dough. These wearables are created with serious look in that department too, rarely who sees it.

 

[Easy Rhino]

I can't believe I am backing Sony again... OR was supposed to lift us out of this pool of despair filled with massive tech companies tripping over their own incompetence. Fail!

 

[lilhasselhoffer]

As I read all of this, all I can think is Virtual Boy. No wait, was that 3d television. Nope, those crappy old blue and red filter glasses for 3d. Hmmm.... maybe I got side tracked here.

3d technology has been on a cycle since the 80's (and probably long before then, I can't speak to that era). Each time we run into the same issues (headaches, cost, and a lack of real benefits). Each time the concept is given up, and everyone forgets about the failure six months after a prototype massively under performs.

The Occulus could have had a much worse fate. Imagine EA requiring constant net connection, and then releasing a "free" version that requires you to view an add every three minutes. Perhaps you could have a consortium of fast food companies put the money forward, and have a constant barrage of "subliminal" advertising in any ARG. My particular favorite would be Amazon integration, which would silently scan barcodes, and pump your inbox full advertisements based upon what products you'd been looking at.


Facebook hasn't put enough money forward to completely buy out the Occulus. They've provided a capital influx to the project, while effectively making development a central focus for the people running the project. While Facebook is a cancer, it generally knows better than to screw around with what it bought. Instagram is still Instagram. Zynga has been allowed to flourish and die. Facebook may add its flourishes, but it has proven that it knows better than to monkey with a winning formula.

Occulus could have a far worse fate than Facebook. In three years we'll have to place these head sets next to half a dozen other gimick hardware pieces. They may still be used in hazing rituals though. Beer+Occulus=vomit.

 

[Ahhzz]

http://www.techspot.com/news/56135-...oculus-vr-following-facebook-acquisition.html

 

[lilhasselhoffer]

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/133305-Cliff-Bleszinski-Labels-Notch-a-Pouty-Kid

I guess Cliff (I am a person who has no common sense, and too much money) Bleszinski finally weighed in. He calls other people names for making a decision that he doesn't like. He does so after a career of console exclusive games, which regularly skipped releasing on new consoles because they wanted the financial incentives of being an exclusive developer. I might be wrong, but Minecraft has released on more consoles than any two of Cliff's games.

I'd say that Cliff is a hypocrite, but he's already thoroughly demonstrated either a lack of grip on reality or a deep and profound idiocy. I'd hope it's the former, because his comments generally have a few good nuggets in them. Kind of like a nice little kernel of corn in the river of crap that comes out of his mouth.

 

[Ferrum Master]

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/133305-Cliff-Bleszinski-Labels-Notch-a-Pouty-Kid

I guess Cliff (I am a person who has no common sense, and too much money) Bleszinski finally weighed in. He calls other people names for making a decision that he doesn't like. He does so after a career of console exclusive games, which regularly skipped releasing on new consoles because they wanted the financial incentives of being an exclusive developer. I might be wrong, but Minecraft has released on more consoles than any two of Cliff's games.

I'd say that Cliff is a hypocrite, but he's already thoroughly demonstrated either a lack of grip on reality or a deep and profound idiocy. I'd hope it's the former, because his comments generally have a few good nuggets in them. Kind of like a nice little kernel of corn in the river of crap that comes out of his mouth.

Mate... all due respect, but who cares who he is... ?

 

[lilhasselhoffer]

Mate... all due respect, but who cares who he is... ?

Guess I was remembering wrong, I thought someone made reference to him earlier.

Cliff was one of the people who defined Epic games. They put out that thing people talk about pretty often, the Unreal Engine...


If you weren't aware, he split from Epic a few months back. Ever since the break he's been saying basically anything that he wants, without regards for anybody. I guess the reason he matters is because there is some perception that he is saying what developers want to say, but can't because they've got to actually sell games. Considering some of the caustic things he's spouted, that conclusion leads people to believe AAA games are released in spite of corporate apathy, rather than to sell good products to consumers.

 

[Ferrum Master]

I know who he is...

Developers are douche bags... all of them... Gabe Newel is the biggest one currently not giving us HL3. Carmack is the second one... He should have concentrated more to ironing out his own rage engine that turned out into nightmare and utter failure with no storyline and a bunch of bugs and not being a social network pop star himself.

The moral of the story...

Please leave hardware development to engineering companies and software upper layer stuff = playing with finished SDK to software game devs... Oculus is an unfinished raw product in my opinion still, made by enthusiasts with vague experience in the hardware business.

The minecraft move is also a populist move, and I bet Sony is also behind it, as it gave a finished SDK now.

 

[xenocide]

Developers are douche bags... all of them... Gabe Newel is the biggest one currently not giving us HL3. Carmack is the second one... He should have concentrated more to ironing out his own rage engine that turned out into nightmare and utter failure with no storyline and a bunch of bugs and not being a social network pop star himself.

Yeaaaaa there's no sense of entitlement in that post. Developers don't owe you shit, sorry to say, they make what they want when they want, and owe us the consumers nothing. Valve is not a stupid company, and Gabe Newell is hardly a stupid man, there's probably a very good reason HL3 isn't out yet, and would you rather play a half-assed game that was put out just for the sake of being out (DNF says hello!) or deal with not having the chance to play a title? I'll take the prior 100% of the time.

As for Carmack, he's not a game devloper, he's basically an Engineer. He has no say in the plot of games, and only handles the game engine. And on that front, he is a good damn genius. There's a reason so many proprietary engines still have some idTech code floating around in them, because the work he has done even in the past is unbelievable. Rage's problems weren't entirely the engine, AMD's drivers were pretty awful through and through (Nvidia users by and large had no issues) and the people higher up than Carmack had dedicated themselves to releasing it on Consoles.