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[dose]

If people here don't have any interest in these things, then they were never onboard with Oculus' vision in the first place.

Wrong. Zuckerberg's suggestions sound fucking lame. Oculus is great tech, but if that's the best Facebook can think of we're fucked.

 

[Kinyou]

What the hell? What the hell?????? What could they possibly plan to do with it that's worth a 2 billion investment.

 

[jabuseika]

A line in the sand has been drawn. The guys over there should feel like a fire was lit under their ass. Now is the chance to be seen as the "gamers choice."

Sony should hire you. Genius.

 

[Blizzard]

Get a robot to do it.

You can put a robot camera in the seat and have it follow the action.

Add a microphone for the classroom.

Add a speaker for the doctor.

I doubt this will ever happen, though.

This has happened at least once, a couple of years ago.

http://io9.com/5946150/first-grader-with-severe-allergies-uses-his-robot-to-attend-school

 

[Kabuki Quantum Lover]

From the Kotaku article



So there it is
+ FB will try to keep costs low
- But it will have Ads

Think F2P model, which we all love and cherish, especially here on NeoGAF.

Oh boy.[/ryanscott]

 

[Galactic Barret]

...

...


...

This is so gross.

 

[jaaz]

I'm sure facebook has the answer to that, and it's in the area of several million (depending on your definition of "hardcore")

But you make it sound like selling $300-$500 gaming platforms isn't a lucrative market on it's own, otherwise there wouldn't already be three publicly-traded companies doing just that.

What people fail to understand is that Facebook didn't become a success by being a social networking website, or by collecting user data and selling targeting web ads. There were countless other companies doing those things. Facebook become #1 through it's API. They creating an efficient and extremely extendable one, allowing it to be adapted by third-parties to help spread facebook onto every corner of the web, which in turn brought users back to FB. They're in the API business. So is Occulus. The social networking website and the VR goggles are the front-end revenue generators, but it's their APIs that are responsible for spreading their products outside of their comfortable niches and into widespread adoption.

The OR in its current form isn't a gaming platform, it's a peripheral. A peripheral that costs AS MUCH as a gaming console. And that requires a high end PC to use to its potential. I can guarantee you that does not encompass the majority of FB users.

FB will want the OR to appeal to its target user base and attract new users. That's not going to happen if the FB user needs to buy a high end PC at $1k, then a $300 peripheral just to use the OR with FB. The OR will become mainstream, which is isn't necessarily a bad thing thing for VR, but pretty sure not a great thing for high end gaming. Even low-medium power PC ownership as a whole is in a precipitous decline.

And the primary valuing factor in FB's IPO was not its API, although that was obviously significant, but rather the amount of users it had. Expect the OR to push more regular users to the FB platform.

 

[SaberEdge]

Question - what exactly dictates a "gaming dedicated" VR set? The things that would make the Rift better for Zuckerberg's suggested uses (courtside seats, lectures), make it better for gaming. Lower latency in movement is going to be key in removing the nausea factor. Surround sound is just as appealing for a sporting arena as a Quake arena. I don't need a "gaming-dedicated" TV, I don't need a "gaming-dedicated" monitor, and I don't see why I'd need a "gaming-dedicated" VR headset.

Exactly. Some people aren't thinking clearly on this. Do they really believe that it would benefit Facebook to suspend Oculus's gaming plans?

Oculus have always said that the RIft and VR in general is a lot bigger than just gaming, so Facebook recognizing the same thing isn't surprising. That said, both Oculus and Facebook know that gaming is going to be one of the main impetuses in getting the Rift into more people's homes.

 

[FullMetalx117]

Sony will make Morpheus about as relevant as Move: Not Relevant at all, well I guess it will be relevant on gaf.

Facebook will make Oculus mainstream, something everyone talks about, a device people might actually develop for.

 

[Deadstar]

When you haven't shipped a single commercial product and someone offers you $2 billion, yeah. You hold out for more. Because there's no way Oculus goes down in valuation after that. What would they be worth in a few years once there are killer apps for VR and they're the market leaders?

I'm sorry but a piece of 2 billion would make me set for life. I'd never have to work again. Two BILLION. It's insane.

 

[flyinpiranha]

 

[bj00rn_]

How is this even possible?

You can't be courtside at a game, because you would have to be controlling a real life camera sitting in a seat...in real time.

You can't sit in a classroom for the same reason.

You can't consult with a doctor for the same reason.

Well, all of this will actually be possible in the future with Kinect-hack-like tech.

 

[Baleoce]

well.... fuck

 

[Rebel Leader]

EDIT: NVM

 

[enzo_gt]

I still can't wrap my head around it. Facebook paid $2 billion for:

1) The Oculus name
2) The chance to be first in the field

And that's it. Sony has at least shown that the tech can be copied...so what did Facebook even buy? Is the name and the chance to be first with a product that can be duplicated really worth $2 billion? It's just insane.

Do you assume that tech companies only buy things that are impossible to copy? Or is Facebook itself not a sign enough that being the first to market with the proper implementation of an idea is the difference between billions and millions?

 

[viveks86]

I'm off neogaf for 3 hours and there is a ~3000 post thread that I missed.

On topic, What. The. Fuck?

 

[crozier]

John Carmack must be beating himself up something fierce right about now.

I guess we'll see where Facebook takes Occulus. The best case scenario (which still kind of sucks) is that it will have Facebook integration for social stuff and maybe a few virtual meet-up spaces. I suspect something much, much more invasive, though.

 

[Sectorseven]

How is this even possible?

You can't be courtside at a game, because you would have to be controlling a real life camera sitting in a seat...in real time.

You can't sit in a classroom for the same reason.

You can't consult with a doctor for the same reason.

What fairy tale world is this where you can interact with people in real time using the Rift the way it was intended? You could put them on, but it would just be a normal TV.

I guess it could be a 3-D rendering of an actual environment in real time. Sounds a tad excessive when you can just watch it on TV though.

 

[BosSin]

How did I just see this now!? This is fucking huge!

 

[zert]

Coming in 2015.

 

[Raticus79]

Well, congrats to the people involved in the startup.

Bleh, Facebook. Just got a whole lot more interested in Sony's version.

 

[saelz8]

why? I think apple would make a better oculus than fb (at least in design + user friendliness).

You're on crack.

Apple would have locked that shit down, made it OSX only compatible. You know it.

 

[Antoids]

So did the top end kickstarters recieve any shares in the company?

#4

people seriously need to understand what kickstarter is before they pledge

 

[Nydius]

How can you downplay being first? Look at the billions Apple made by being the first to truly embrace mobile

Except Apple wasn't the first to "truly embrace mobile" in the way you mean.
Research in Motion was.

Apple, as was the norm under Steve Jobs, took many disparate ideas, packaged them together, and created the market. Apple's never really been "first" in anything they've touched, they've just taken clunky existing forms, refined them, and marketed them better than anyone else.

That's important, noteworthy, and highly profitable, but not first.

The issue here is Facebook is a behemoth company whose core is to provide a service to sell ad space to. Instagram and Whatsapp fit perfectly within this business model. Oculus does not. They wouldn't have touched Oculus if they didn't envision manipulating it to fit their core business strategy.

 

[Artakartel]

I laughed.

 

[B.O.O.M]

From the Kotaku article



So there it is
+ FB will try to keep costs low
- But it will have Ads

Think F2P model, which we all love and cherish, especially here on NeoGAF.

Yep. Hope this silences those who live in a lala land where FB gave OR money and stand back and do nothing else lol

 

[gogojira]

Oculus nets $2 billion and some people think Sony should feel confident and cocky. LoL.

 

[thunder_snail]

I never said it was good, I'd have preferred to see them stick it out independently as they already have a great team. Facebook's involvement was certainly not necessary to bring this product to market. I'm just disputing with you (and many others in this thread) that it's a bad thing. As far as I can tell, it's the same, only that the Oculus team have some more resources.

Let's think about other similar situations.

A small independent game dev come up with something very innovative and promising and got the community or riled up.
Suddenly they get purchased by EA.
Now replace EA with Facebook.
Will the same team be given the leverage to continue to innovate?
Is this not a bad thing to happen?

 

[NeoGarrison]

Gosh it really is up to Sony and Valve to save gaming.

 

[Dennis]

I CAN'T

 

[Exploding8]

So, to sum up this thread:

-FUCK FUCK FUCK *gifs*
-Farmville LOL
-Welp, VR is dead again
-Carmack works for Facebook!

My gut feeling is that Facebook is trying to become like Google. Remember when Google just was ONLY a search engine and how much crazy stuff they do these days? It´s only natural that Facebook are spending their huge wads of money on potentially gamechanging technology that isn´t directly related to their main website.

Most of the posters here are behaving like the Oculus Rift is already lying in a coffin. Do you really think Zuckerberg is just going to take the technology and drive it off a cliff?

(Though Google has a certain track record of shoehorning their own logins into every single product they make, so maybe that example is indeed something that should be worrying?)

My thoughts exactly. Zuckerberg finally has the chance to make Facebook into the next Google or Amazon, so I'm cautiously optimistic that he won't fuck things up too much.

 

[jim-jam bongs]

How is this even possible?

You can't be courtside at a game, because you would have to be controlling a real life camera sitting in a seat...in real time.

You can't sit in a classroom for the same reason.

You can't consult with a doctor for the same reason.

What fairy tale world is this where you can interact with people in real time using the Rift the way it was intended? You could put them on, but it would just be a normal TV.

A while back I was working with a gambling oriented company from the UK who were pushing fully 3d rendered streams of football matches recorded with high resolution 3d cameras, which you could watch from any moment or angle from your PC. That was like 3 years ago, it's not a fairy tale at all.

 

[Seanspeed]

Wrong. Zuckerberg's suggestions sound fucking lame. Oculus is great tech, but if that's the best Facebook can think of we're fucked.

Jesus man, they were just examples. Don't treat them as literally the only things that Oculus will do in the future. lol

 

[espher]

Remember when Disney bought ESPN, and then they started making them have Donald Duck do the play-by-play commentary on all hockey games?

I remember ESPN not giving a shit about hockey and treating it like a joke.

You're not exactly giving me confidence.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Looks like Palmer may have known this was going to happen and kept it under wraps until GDC and DK2 pre-orders were announced (IMO)

http://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/1wf6mg/so_no_way_to_confirm_this_but_my_friend_works_in/

BUT, this could be fake, it could have been fake one month ago ... but still, kind of crazy.

I mean, it's obviously been in talks before GDC, so it was kept under wraps purposefully until DK2 was announced and people could order. Kind of shady IMO but I still support Oculus, FB or no.

Of course he knew, you don't sell your company for 2 billion in a matter of days.

 

[Zephyrus]

You're not investing in anything in kickstarter. You simply donate money because you want to see it become a thing. If you don't want to see it becoming a thing, then you don't donate.

If you want to invest, then you go talk to the guys and invest in them.

Oh I know. I don't know however if the terms of agreement of kickstarter basically make you forfeit your money once the project is backed. By that I mean, you can't sue them if the project doesn't deliver what it promised. If you can... well, I know what I'd be doing. And HOW I'd be doing it.

 

[Ryuuga]

 

[Niks]

I feel sorry the people that fund this project. with the idea of a new videogame device.

Yup exactly. This news is great for VR, but bad for gamers.

 

[BlastProcessing]

I think refunding the 9,522 backers shouldn't be out of the question, especially the ones that have an issue with the acquisition.

Would those backers give back the devkits they got?

 

[Dark Octave]

I feel like Oculus is going to be wasted on Facebook. What would they possibly do with it? Farmville VR?

 

[Mushroomer25]

why? I think apple would make a better oculus than fb (at least in design + user friendliness).

Apple would make the Oculus Rift the highest walled garden in all the land. It'd either be Mac exclusive, or have a dedicated box. iTunes would be the sole place for content purchasing. Independent development would be crushed under the 99 cent price barrier. Apple owned Oculus would be the actual apocalyptic future people are dreaming of in this thread.

 

[Gorillaz]

I remember ESPN not giving a shit about hockey and treating it like a joke.

You're not exactly giving me confidence.

hmm...what is hockey?

 

[Askherserenity]

Sad news. Did occuluss just see Sony's VR and just call it quits? And decided to get 2 billion dollars off of it? I don't get it.

 

[solarus]

why? I think apple would make a better oculus than fb (at least in design + user friendliness).

Lol wut
It would only be compatible with apple products then, say goodbye to pc oculus gaming.

 

[HariKari]

I'm sorry but a piece of 2 billion would make me set for life. I'd never have to work again. Two BILLION. It's insane.

You know what's better than two billion? Ten billion or more. Imagine having the option to sell Facebook for 2 billion before it really catches fire. You'd sell the golden goose for what amounts to petty cash in the tech world? Luckey got played by the VCs that invested in Oculus. One of them sits on Facebook's board. Textbook.

 

[BuggeryBugz]

I understand people don't like Facebook, but why all the doom and gloom. I don't think a lot will change.

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.

 

[Einbroch]

Well, all of this will actually be possible in the future with Kinect-hack-like tech.

Of course it's very possible, but specifically the sport stadium one is ridiculous. The doctor one is the only one I could see working, with the office buying a robot/device that would allow for such an interaction since it's very much one-on-one. But anything that would make you "a part of the crowd" is just unrealistic.

 

[jman2050]

What the hell? What the hell?????? What could they possibly plan to do with it that's worth a 2 billion investment.

Imagine VR advertisements. Beamed directly into your field of vision with no chance for outside interruption!

Imagine the possibilities!

 

[Dragoon En Regalia]

And so at last, John Carmack and John Romero have once more a mutual friend.

I'm very suspicious of this, but hopes are high and Facebook's too busy fucking its own site up.

 

[WarMacheen]

Sounds to me like they both have very similar goals in the first place. Too many people were just mistaken in thinking that Oculus were solely some gaming company.

Oh, wherever did those people get that idea.

Oculus Rift is a new virtual reality (VR) headset designed specifically for video games that will change the way you think about gaming forever.

Designed for gamers, by gamers.

The Rift is developed by a team of industry veterans passionate about changing the way people experience video games forever