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Atman Binstock joins Oculus VR [ex lead engineer on Valves VR project]

C

chadskin

Member
We’re thrilled to introduce Atman Binstock, Oculus’ new Chief Architect!

Atman was one of the lead engineers and driving forces behind Valve’s VR project, creating the ‘VR Room’ demo that garnered so much excitement at Steam Dev Days. Prior to Valve, Atman led several projects at top companies in the industry, including RAD, DICE, and Intel.
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Atman and the Valve VR team helped prove simulator sickness could be overcome and a true sense of "presence" could be delivered. He helped set the bar for consumer virtual reality and is dedicated to making sure Oculus delivers the highest quality VR experience.
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Atman will be spearheading the new Oculus R&D team based in the Seattle area.
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Woo!
 
RAD, DICE, Intel, Valve and Oculus? That's some resume.

Any good VR news warms my heart. Luckey's got it in the bag.
 
Another great engineer joins the oculus team. I honestly don't see how competitors will compete against this team of superstars. Exciting. Looking to buy a PC just for this!
 
God damn. No wonder Oculus are so confident the consumer version will be just as good as Valves. Epic level team over there now. Give it to me this year guys, lemmie at it.
 
Heh... this is why you shouldn't doubt Oculus. Anyone that's big and involved in VR is drawn to Oculus - they can see its potential, and the zeitgeist that's brewing in that company. If you could, and were interested in the field, you'd be crazy not to want to work there.
 
StuBurns said:
There's no way the consumer version is coming this year, it very well might not make it next year.
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Not this year, possibly, but not making 2015 would be awful. People are already clamoring for it, another two years for even more R&D revisions would be a bit overcooking. Crystal Cove alone seems 'good enough'.
 
BlueTsunami said:
Not this year, possibly, but not making 2015 would be awful. People are already clamoring for it, another two years for even more R&D revisions would be a bit overcooking. Crystal Cove alone seems 'good enough'.
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Luckey has claimed CV1 will exceed the quality of Valve's prototype, and Valve say consumer grade production of their prototype is about two years away, and considering they're collaborating, I imagine that means Oculus is targeting that window.
 
StuBurns said:
Luckey has claimed CV1 will exceed the quality of Valve's prototype, and Valve say consumer grade production of their prototype is about two years away, and considering they're collaborating, I imagine that means Oculus is targeting that window.
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I seem to remember a quote from Luckey stating that what they currently have but haven't shown is equal or better than the Valve prototype (I may be misremembering). Either way I hope they give a better roadmap to the CV1 release this GDC or E3.

I have a feeling that Valve was either very conservative as to the timeframe of a CV1 release, or their minimal specs for a CV1 product are a little higher than the crew at Oculus are aiming for.
 
BlueTsunami said:
I seem to remember a quote from Luckey stating that what they currently have but haven't shown is equal or better than the Valve prototype (I may be misremembering). Either way I hope they give a better roadmap to the CV1 release this GDC or E3.
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At Valve Dev Days he said Valve's prototype was better, and Valve took some credit for CC being a big improvement because of their influence.

But yeah, GDC I'm sure we'll know what's going on. Sony too. It's VR's coming out party.
 
StuBurns said:
There's no way the consumer version is coming this year, it very well might not make it next year.
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There's definitely a chance it won't make this year. However Oculus said at CES this year if it wasn't out by the end of 2015 then something has gone horribly wrong.
 
I really don't see any way that CV1 won't be out in 2015. I still think a release date towards the end of the year is possible.
 
With the sales of the DK1 pretty much ending this week (already have in many regions) and GDC next week, it's pretty safe to assume they are prepared to announce and launch DK2 in the near future. Palmer has also said in the past that DK2 will not be vastly different from CV1 as they really want devs to be able to develop and test for all final features. I think there is still a possibility of a late 2014 release, but if DK2 isn't announced for a spring/summer release at GDC then it definitely isn't happening.

At this point the main thing that would push it to a late 2015 release is purely game content. Are enough developers going to have finished VR projects by the end of this year? Doubtful, but who knows. May end up being a case where technically the hardware is "good enough" but they let it cook a little longer purely to let developers catch up.
 
YuShtink said:
At this point the main thing that would push it to a late 2015 release is purely game content. Are enough developers going to have finished VR projects by the end of this year? Doubtful, but who knows. May end up being a case where technically the hardware is "good enough" but they let it cook a little longer purely to let developers catch up.
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Does this really make sense? There will be a dozen or so commercial games with good VR support by the end of the year, shouldn't that be enough to launch such a transformative product? I mean, the Wii sold millions just based on Wii Sports.
 
Durante said:
Does this really make sense? There will be a dozen or so commercial games with good VR support by the end of the year, shouldn't that be enough to launch such a transformative product? I mean, the Wii sold millions just based on Wii Sports.
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So far there has only been one actual made-for-VR game announced for launch. What are the other 11? There are some good existing games with added support, but is that all you really want to launch a new platform with? Lunar Flight and Hawken? They'll be old news by end of year. I'm really excited for the Rift, and I've even gotten plenty of enjoyment out of the current crop of demos and mods, but as time creeps on I worry more and more about what the actual software lineup would look like with a 2014 release.
 
YuShtink said:
So far there has only been one actual made-for-VR game announced for launch. What are the other 11? There are some good existing games with added support, but is that all you really want to launch a new platform with? Lunar Flight and Hawken? They'll be old news by end of year. I'm really excited for the Rift, and I've even gotten plenty of enjoyment out of the current crop of demos and mods, but as time creeps on I worry more and more about what the actual software lineup would look like with a 2014 release.
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If I wasn't so darn lazy I'd go through my Kickstarter history but let's just say there are plenty of upcoming games with proper Rift implementation. Not much in the way of AAA (that we know of anyway), but promising games nonetheless.

Fake edit: Okay let me check my pledges:

- Star Citizen
- The Gallery: Six Elements
- Kingdom Come: Deliverance
- Obduction
- The Long Dark
- Among The Sleep
- XING - The Land Beyond
- Theme Park Studio
- Frontiers
- Classroom Aquatic
- Energy Hook
 
YuShtink said:
So far there has only been one actual made-for-VR game announced for launch. What are the other 11? There are some good existing games with added support, but is that all you really want to launch a new platform with? Lunar Flight and Hawken? They'll be old news by end of year. I'm really excited for the Rift, and I've even gotten plenty of enjoyment out of the current crop of demos and mods, but as time creeps on I worry more and more about what the actual software lineup would look like with a 2014 release.
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Well, the only built-for-VR games I know about which will likely be out are
- EVE Valkyrie (obviously)
- The Gallery: Six Elements

But what I said wasn't built for VR, but "with good VR support". And that includes, among others
- Strike Suit Zero
- Hawken
- At least 2 flight simulator games I forget the names of
- At least 3 racing/driving simulator games, same
- Elite: Dangerous
- Surgeon Simulator
- Undercurrent

Excluding anything not likely to be out in 2014, the tons of games with vague statements of support by the developers, and games with official support which might not be suitable for the broader public (e.g. TF2, Half Life 2).

I think that's enough to launch a product, you don't need to be selling millions right at launch.
 
That's a fine list but the majority of those are not going to have 2014 releases. Basically I'm just hoping that there are 2-3 more well developed VR-first games along the lines of Valkyrie for launch, to really wow people.
 
Are you talking about mine or Mr. Green's?

His is obviously more impressive, but mine was chosen specifically to include games which are either already out or have a 2014 release date.
 
Durante said:
Are you talking about mine or Mr. Green's?

His is obviously more impressive, but mine was chosen specifically to include games which are either already out or have a 2014 release date.
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Yeah I didn't validate the release dates but I'd say most of what I posted should be out this year. Don't check it for yourself. Just take my word for it.
 
Durante said:
Are you talking about mine or Mr. Green's?

His is obviously more impressive, but mine was chosen specifically to include games which are either already out or have a 2014 release date.
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Was referring to Mr. Green's specifically. But could really apply to either imo, while yes there are some good games on there, The Gallery is almost guaranteed not to have a 2014 release date at this point. I mean hell they were originally going to release the Exploration School alpha demo in July of last year and it didn't come until January. No way their game is going to be ready for release in 6-8 months. I'd love to be wrong about that but I just don't see it.

For a lot of the others, hopefully they do have very good support. But Palmer just got done with a presenation a few weeks back flat out telling developers "don't port existing games to VR it doesn't make a great experience", so having a launch of 1 actual VR game and 10-20 ports of 1-2 year old pc games ranging from good to serviceable isn't exactly a show-stopper launch and I think Oculus would agree. They probably have an ace or two up their sleeves, which I'm hoping, but we don't know.
 
Now ye faithful, look upon the works wrought by the hands of the beneficent St. Gabe -- for St. Gabe did so love the world of VR that he gave his only begotten Son, Atman Binstock, that whosoever worketh at Oculus should not falter, but bring CV1 to market in the year of our Lord 2014.
 
Leb said:
Now ye faithful, look upon the works wrought by the hands of the beneficent St. Gabe -- for St. Gabe did so love the world of VR that he gave his only begotten Son, Atman Binstock, that whosoever worketh at Oculus should not falter, but bring CV1 to market in the year of our Lord 2014.
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lol well said! Exciting news, hopeful for at least a DK2 announcement at GDC :-)
 
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