Oculus rift was sold for facebook, what is going to happen?

[Rus-Evo]

By the way I saw a you tube the other day where someone made a room into a "holodeck" people were playing on the oculus in a virtual room exactly the same dimensions as the room they were in, and it tracked their position within that room.

I imagine the future of laser tag, games, and possibly movies is a scenario where you are walking around a large area or building pre-set up for what ever game or scenario you are in. I like that much better than being harnessed and scrabbling your feet like Fred Flintstone driving his car! It would also be weird to put your hands up to feel a wall in a game and there actually is one there! An abandoned factory could be an abandoned space station!

[John FX]

I never get these things until the big boys have had a chance to buy it out, change all the specs and add some spyware.

THEN the good games get released for it...

[DYJ]

Everyone, please have a read through what Carmack,Palmer CliffyB and the rest of the people actually involved with this has to say before you start jumping to conclusions. I've found nothing other than sensationalist "journalism" pointing towards any change at all regarding the rift.

[Red Iron Crown]

Everyone, please have a read through what Carmack,Palmer CliffyB and the rest of the people actually involved with this has to say before you start jumping to conclusions. I've found nothing other than sensationalist "journalism" pointing towards any change at all regarding the rift.

While that's true, it's also SOP for an acquisition. The new parent company almost always says nothing will change, the staff and management strategy will remain the same, we'll continue to offer the same products/services, etc. Then a few months later the changes start to appear.

Facebook didn't buy Oculus to leave it alone.

[comham]

While that's true, it's also SOP for an acquisition. The new parent company almost always says nothing will change, the staff and management strategy will remain the same, we'll continue to offer the same products/services, etc. Then a few months later the changes start to appear.

Facebook didn't buy Oculus to leave it alone.

Yeah, exactly. We weren't born yesterday.

That said, Michael Abrash joining does replenish my supply of hope.

[Hyomoto]

The part I found suspect is when Carmack said he was unaware this was going to happen. It makes you question exactly how the deal went down and it reeks of a cash grab. The reported 400 million was glazed with 1.6 billion in Facebook stock. It can't even be argued Oculus made 2 billion, whoever has the stock 'made' money. If you follow the cash, someone is rich now for Oculus without producing anything. And if you think Facebook is in it because they super believe in the future of VR then I laugh.

I guess the same could be said for Apple though. People said nothing would change now that Jobs is dead, and they were right. iPhone's are the exact same as they were two years ago.

[vger]

Facebook is starting to become the bad guy...

...there was a time when it WASN'T the bad guy?

By the way I saw a you tube the other day where someone made a room into a "holodeck" people were playing on the oculus in a virtual room exactly the same dimensions as the room they were in, and it tracked their position within that room.

I imagine the future of laser tag, games, and possibly movies is a scenario where you are walking around a large area or building pre-set up for what ever game or scenario you are in. I like that much better than being harnessed and scrabbling your feet like Fred Flintstone driving his car! It would also be weird to put your hands up to feel a wall in a game and there actually is one there! An abandoned factory could be an abandoned space station!

Gosh, yes! I remember when NASA released a smart phone app where you printed out a piece of paper with tracking code on it. Place it on a table, point your smart phone at it, and then on the video screen, you saw the table, and a 3D mars rover sitting there. And it rotated seamlessly as you moved the phone around the table as if it was really there. The sheer potential of future gaming hit me like a ton of bricks at that moment. I imagined a wearable gaming device that could map out your entire home and then turn it into a warzone. You just walk around while it learns everything, and then it's ready to play. By constantly analyzing what it sees and comparing it to the map, it could pinpoint exactly where you are. Interactive things could be rendered to utilize the space.. Suddenly a soldier, sorcerer, whatever, is attacking down the hall from your bedroom and then ducking behind a wall for cover. It's going to be an absolutely amazing time. A quantum leap in augmented reality. Nobody will be able to make 'couch potato' jokes about games anymore.

Edited April 3, 2014 by vger

[Naten]

heard last night. so sad.

They will probably ruin it, and require Facebook connection to use it; you'll also probably have a billion ads on screen and have to pay them money to use it longer than a set duration every day.

You have monocular 2D projection view: buy binocular vision now for 50 Oculus Points or you can ask your friends for help by clicking HERE!

You now have binocular 2D projection view: buy VR projection now for 10050021337 Oculus Points or you can ask your friends for help by clicking HERE! (Lol, you're gonna have a hard time, broh, so just buy the No Ads version and VR projection for only a hundred! Thousand! Billion! Dollars! Shipping, plus the original price of how many 3's there are in the decimal version of one third.)

[Red Iron Crown]

You have monocular 2D projection view: buy binocular vision now for 50 Oculus Points or you can ask your friends for help by clicking HERE!

You now have binocular 2D projection view: buy VR projection now for 10050021337 Oculus Points or you can ask your friends for help by clicking HERE! (Lol, you're gonna have a hard time, broh, so just buy the No Ads version and VR projection for only a hundred! Thousand! Billion! Dollars! Shipping, plus the original price of how many 3's there are in the decimal version of one third.)

I like this version (not mine, but funny):

http://i.imgur.com/xbmzqYp.gif

Linked rather than inlined because it's got some brief NSFW language.

[Nuke]

i dont see this as all bad. now if they need to have a custom asic made or if they need to have custom spec screens (such as rectangular pixels, or possibly even curved screens, whatever they need to better work with their optics), they can do that now, rather than just using off the shelf parts. its certainly better than being stuck with fpgas and cell phone screens. i even heard they may be able to knock a hundred bucks off the retail price.

Edited April 5, 2014 by Nuke