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Facebook has acquired Oculus VR for 2 Billion US Dollars

User: If I ever need a Facebook account to use or develop for the Rift, I'm done.

Luckey: You will not need a Facebook account to use or develop for the Rift.

User: If I ever see Facebook branding on anything that's not optional, I'm done.

Luckey: Not really reasonable in a literal sense, but I get your drift.

User: If I ever see ads on anything that I've already paid for, I'm done.

Luckey: That is a developer decision, not our decision. If someone wants to sell a game with built-in ads, they will have to deal with the natural consequences.

User: Just promise me there will be no specific Facebook tech tie-ins.

Luckey: I promise.

We are already working on our own VR game platform/launcher, but we are not going to force everything to go through it. Facebook has no interest in changing that, they believe in what we have been doing all along.
Some new words.
 
If I was an indie I would certainly now be thinking about publishing my VR ideas firstly in Sony’s Project Morpheus. They may be a faceless corporation but they have been through some rough times and the perception is that they understand the value of games and gamers. And perception, right or wrong, is everything in this world. .

Riight...all those pc centric indies will abandon their PC projects and switch everything to Morpheus because they don't like facebook. They will abandon their fanbase, the technological advantage and all the creative freedom to go into closed ecosystem completely controled by one corporation.

I guess that's also why no indie devs are making games for Windows, iOS and Android, since they're all controlled by big evil corps.
 
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Mark my words: Everyone who is panicking/jumping ship/cancelling their preorders will regret it.

I'm shocked that people actually believe that the Rift is gonna become a headset with the FB logo all over it....
 
I guess Carmack has changed his opinion when confronted with $$$$. Not blaming him.

http://blog.games.com/2011/06/09/john-carmack-facebook-games-are-the-walmart-experience-of-gami/

he's saying that games on the facebook site are casual. that doesn't have much to do with acquiring a vr company and giving them autonomy.

its like instagram saying that facebook is walmart of images, because they dont have great picture editing options. then they bought instagram and instagrams pciture editing options stayed the same.

No, you should wait another day or two.


:[
 
Can't believe the huge negative reaction to Facebook acquiring Occulus Rift. All based on fear mongering.
 
I guess Carmack has changed his opinion when confronted with $$$$. Not blaming him.

http://blog.games.com/2011/06/09/john-carmack-facebook-games-are-the-walmart-experience-of-gami/
Changed his opinion where? Did you read the article?

Besides, Carmack has been confirmed to have been working on mobile VR implementation well before this announcement was made. There's also nothing to suggest that Oculus are now going to be working on Angry Birds VR as their main priority.
 
is reasonable debate happening here yet?

We still need 50 more pages of "WAT" and "WTFreaction.gif"

Seriously though I have to agree with most people that think this is the death of the OR. Not that FB has an ill intent, but it is likely with them in control of the technology it will get mothballed.

In 20 years I see all the technology FB is buying looking like the Wayne Enterprises basement with all of the aquisitions mothballed while as the comany goes down the tubes due to mismanagement.
 
Can't believe the huge negative reaction to Facebook acquiring Occulus Rift. All based on fear mongering.

the funny thing is that no one can properly articulate their absolute disgust for facebook.

data collection? google and MS do that too yet we use their stuff all the time.

that screen cap of mike zuckerburgs convo? we all say stupid shit in private chats. facebook is run by hundreds of people. there's no gremlin at the top reading your messages for shits and giggles.

the worst a service like facebook could do for you is not be interesting enough that you want to use it. or be so addictive that you cant stop using it. im not a huge facebook fan or anything but it has its place. i check it a few times a week and use it for event planning.

i can understand hate for tech companies like EA, comcast, ATT, etc. but the facebook hate really seems so misplaced to me. i frankly wonder if it's based on high school / college experiences or a lack thereof.

they're big open source supporters and give their acquisitions a lot of breathing room. As far as acquirerers with a ton of cash go, who would be better other than valve?
 
Mark my words: Everyone who is panicking/jumping ship/cancelling their preorders will regret it.

I'm shocked that people actually believe that the Rift is gonna become a headset with the FB logo all over it....

"According to a report from the New York Times, Facebook is planning to eventually rebrand the Oculus Rift experience, redesigning the hardware and updating it with "a Facebook interface and logo.""

http://www.theverge.com/2014/3/26/5549186/facebook-rebrand-oculus-rift-headset
 
is reasonable debate happening here yet?

Not yet.

I'm still trying to find the shockingly bad news here:

- Tech industry takes VR seriously
- VR will also be used for non-gaming applications
- VR will end up including advertising
- Entrepreneurs who are offered 2 billion dollars for an unproven company they founded two years ago tend to take it


Am I missing something? Or do people really hate Facebook
 
I was pretty startled at the news because OR seemed like this exciting thing to look forward to that would enhance my hobby in some significant way. I'm not sure how the Facebook purchase will change that but knowing what Facebook is and how it does things...it's more of a wait-and-see now.

Enthusiasm suspended.

Not yet.

I'm still trying to find the shockingly bad news here:

- Tech industry takes VR seriously
- VR will also be used for non-gaming applications
- VR will end up including advertising
- Entrepreneurs who are offered 2 billion dollars for an unproven company they founded two years ago tend to take it


Am I missing something? Or do people really hate Facebook
No, people really hate Facebook.
 
is reasonable debate happening here yet?

There is plenty you just have to fish for it. Because it's mostly people not thinking this thing through and just acting on emotion. Even when the crazy dies down there will still be little reasonable debate because there is not enough info out. (Which is brilliant)
 
You do realize they pretty much sold themselves to investors when they got that $85 million in funding right?

another good point. and in the hardware game, were they really suppose to make it off of 2.5 million? a software company could reach the top with that, but hardware? no way.
 
Do you need a MS account to use your XBO?

You would have likely needed some kind of account to use a consumer OR product so not much has changed.

Do you need a Dell account to use your monitor? Why would you need to sign in to use your rift?? The sheer lengths you people are taking just to incite fear is mind boggling.
 
another good point. and in the hardware game, were they really suppose to make it off of 2.5 million? a software company could reach the top with that, but hardware? no way.
Even 85 million $ is nothing for a hardware company, still students garage level.
 
"According to a report from the New York Times, Facebook is planning to eventually rebrand the Oculus Rift experience, redesigning the hardware and updating it with "a Facebook interface and logo.""

http://www.theverge.com/2014/3/26/5549186/facebook-rebrand-oculus-rift-headset

Yeah I saw this, and I don't believe it. Zuckerberg would not spend 2 billion dollars to make a Facebook VR headset that wouldn't sell. How the hell would you even market that? "Now you can check your news feed in VR!"... That would be extremely idiotic, so yes, I think people are panicking for nothing. And everyone upset now will be changing their tune when the CV1 drops a hell of a lot sooner than it would have otherwise.
 
the funny thing is that no one can properly articulate their absolute disgust for facebook.

data collection? google and MS do that too yet we use their stuff all the time.

that screen cap of mike zuckerburgs convo? we all say stupid shit in private chats. facebook is run by hundreds of people. there's no gremlin at the top reading your messages for shits and giggles.

the worst a service like facebook could do for you is not be interesting enough that you want to use it. or be so addictive that you cant stop using it. im not a huge facebook fan or anything but it has its place. i check it a few times a week and use it for event planning.

i can understand hate for tech companies like EA, comcast, ATT, etc. but the facebook hate really seems so misplaced to me. i frankly wonder if it's based on high school / college experiences or a lack thereof.

they're big open source supporters and give their acquisitions a lot of breathing room. As far as acquirerers with a ton of cash go, who would be better other than valve?

I think people wanted to root for the small start-up company that was made possible because of crowdfunding. It was very much a product of the people. Now not so much.
 
HMDs are a far cry from VR headsets.They are completely different things despite looking superficially similar.
No, they are not even remotely "completely different" things.
They are extremely similar things. Ignoring minor details, VR isn't much more than HMD with positioning sensors.

How did Oculus beat Sony? By revealing the Rift to the world 19 months earlier, having dev kits out around a year and a half earlier, getting developers on board and software actually made for the device
Sony had reasons not to demo anything, before it is close to being done.
OR on the opposite, had plenty of reasons to cry aloud "look what we've got".

There are no games for either yet, there are games planned for both. Your point is moot.

, and beating them in specs (110 vs 90 degree FOV, low persistence, less blurring and higher-image-quality display in general).

I've tried actual OR. I doubt it beats what Sony has demoed, from what I've heard Sony demoed device with higher resolution. First ORs. resolution is terrible, you have a very distinct and annoying black grid on top of it. They've ANNOUNCED something with higher res? Good. It will have wider angle? Nice, we'll see the specs once either company starts shipping it to the consumer. "Beating" in this context this early is a ridiculous statement.
 
I think people wanted to root for the small start-up company that was made possible because of crowdfunding. It was very much a product of the people. Now not so much.

Except they had already accepted 75million in Venture Capital from some of the biggest VC companies in the world, they've long since abandoned any pretense of being explicitly crowd funded.
 
Putting a shit load of money on the table will really let you know where people truly stand in their hearts.

I remember one of my friends had a little media reviewing site thing going on that was just beginning to become moderately profitable, and sold himself to a network. Since I had a job I enjoyed at the time I only helped them when I could, but I still went to the meeting about the offer. The dudes buying them out were straight up consumed by money. It was literally like they were just robots with human suits on that ran on money. They hid behind this spiel of not being sell outs to what they love. I remember one of the guys said they were doing well but if someone came in with a giant suitcase of cash and asked to take over they would do so no questions asked. I laughed got up and walked out.
 
I think people wanted to root for the small start-up company that was made possible because of crowdfunding. It was very much a product of the people. Now not so much.

i cant think of any hardware company that has reached mainstream heights off of crowdfunding and product sales alone.

the occulus guys might have been able to do that. but it would have take a solid 6 years after the consumer version release with perfect, explosive growth. assuming that competing products didn't beat them to it.
 
How did Oculus beat Sony? By revealing the Rift to the world 19 months earlier, having dev kits out around a year and a half earlier, getting developers on board and software actually made for the device, and beating them in specs (110 vs 90 degree FOV, low persistence, less blurring and higher-image-quality display in general).

yeahe the only thing Sonys PM is better beside maybe the design is that they had a Motion controller. All the other stuff was better in the DK2. But if Oculus comes out without a own VR Controller this is a huge advantage for Sony. But on the other side Move is not perfect for VR, Oculus could come up with something better and then they have the advantage. Will be hard for Sony to sell a new Move Controller, if they not bundle it with the Headset.
 
What, are you seriously suggesting they forged the date on the photos to try to make it sound like they were working on it before they really were?

That's just conspiracy nonsense. Sony's had consumer grade VR headsets on the market for years now, as well as tracking technology since before the move. They were also big pushers of 3dtv.

It's perfectly to reason that they were working on it from a gaming perspective as well. The Rift just gave them additional hype, and showed the market, or at least devs, could get behind the idea. the success of the rift no doubt helped things, at least from the stance that someone besides enthusiast would get such a device.

In a thread where people are accusing Facebook of all kinds of dastardly things, no I'm not going to put Sony above doing such things. Sony, like most corporations, has been guilty of fairly shady things in the past.

I'm not saying it is for sure the case, but it's definitely not inconceivable. Sony knew they were going to be seen as a me-too company announcing such a similar VR headset to the Oculus Rift so much later. And they clearly went out of their way to make these photos available. I'm just saying that the mere fact that Sony labels them with certain dates doesn't mean that the dates are accurate.

In all likelihood, though, those are the actual dates those photos were taken. It doesn't mean much anyway. HMDs are not VR headsets. Sony has not had "consumer grade VR headsets on the market for years". They've had head mounted displays with no real VR functionality on the market for years.

All we know is that Oculus announced much earlier, got dev kits out much earlier, is currently ahead in technical attributes, and will, in all likelihood, launch their consumer version earlier.
 
HMDs are a far cry from VR headsets. They are completely different things despite looking superficially similar.

How did Oculus beat Sony? By revealing the Rift to the world 19 months earlier, having dev kits out around a year and a half earlier, getting developers on board and software actually made for the device, and beating them in specs (110 vs 90 degree FOV, low persistence, less blurring and higher-image-quality display in general).
Oculus is a HMD. Morpheus is a HMD. I'm not sure what people think they're saying when they tell people they're different.

Also, Sony's HMZ is about two to three times as expensive a device as something like oculus is destined to be.
 
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