Cliff Bleszinski Labels Notch a "Pouty Kid" - Updated

[SushiJaguar]

Facebook is going to shove the Rift into doing what it wants it to do, and what Facebook wants is not gaming. We all know it, we've all predicted it, and regardless of Minecraft no longer being in the cards for the Rift, it doesn't matter at this point. As soon as FB bought OR out it ceased being a tool available to all and is now firmly tucked away in Facebook's dust-collecting corner. It won't be used for anything more than a VR Farmville to squeeze out a couple more pennies in microtransactions. There's no other reason for Facebook to buyout like this, because Facebook's a friggin' social media network, not a gaming network. The vast majority of Facebook's users aren't going to be interested in the Rift.

Not to mention the fact a large portion of them wouldn't be intelligent enough to operate it anyway.

 

[SushiJaguar]

"Your device is only as good as the store and community around it; if users can't say shut up and take my money, if developers can't post their work then the device will ultimately flounder," Bleszinski wrote on his blog. "Facebook can assist with this sort of thing, as well as having a multi billion user reach. That's pretty damned important."

This statement is utter garbage. There is nothing Facebook can offer as far as getting developers on board that wasn't already happening. Unless people think shitty Facebook games qualifies. The first adopter type consumers who were most excited about this are also exactly the type to be wary of Facebook being involved in anything, and I would be willing to bet are less likely than they've ever been to put down their hard earned cash for the Oculus Rift now. And that multi billion user reach is worthless since the majority of those people aren't going to give a shit about VR for vidya games, and this tech has literally no useful application in modern social networking.

How can you be so sure about that? How can you be so sure that a screen that covers your entire field of view and adjusts as you move your head has absolutely no use outside of videogames? There's no way that a skype-like service can use that? There's no way anything in the medical field can use that? How can you possibly make such a statement with any degree of certainty? I want the technology to have a chance to find any use for itself, not just gaming.

Everyone uses facebook, not just first adopter type hyper-enthusiasts, you can't survive off of first adopters (generally). I know plenty of people who don't know anything about the Occulus rift, people who knew about the Ouya , people who build computers just for gaming. I think you have mentally exaggerated the reach of the OR because the people who do know about it are generally very excited.

He said modern social networking, and you even highlighted the sentence. Stop gabbing on about unrelated stuff that's already had a bunch of research into VR conducted.

 

[mike1921]

"Your device is only as good as the store and community around it; if users can't say shut up and take my money, if developers can't post their work then the device will ultimately flounder," Bleszinski wrote on his blog. "Facebook can assist with this sort of thing, as well as having a multi billion user reach. That's pretty damned important."

This statement is utter garbage. There is nothing Facebook can offer as far as getting developers on board that wasn't already happening. Unless people think shitty Facebook games qualifies. The first adopter type consumers who were most excited about this are also exactly the type to be wary of Facebook being involved in anything, and I would be willing to bet are less likely than they've ever been to put down their hard earned cash for the Oculus Rift now. And that multi billion user reach is worthless since the majority of those people aren't going to give a shit about VR for vidya games, and this tech has literally no useful application in modern social networking.

How can you be so sure about that? How can you be so sure that a screen that covers your entire field of view and adjusts as you move your head has absolutely no use outside of videogames? There's no way that a skype-like service can use that? There's no way anything in the medical field can use that? How can you possibly make such a statement with any degree of certainty? I want the technology to have a chance to find any use for itself, not just gaming.

Everyone uses facebook, not just first adopter type hyper-enthusiasts, you can't survive off of first adopters (generally). I know plenty of people who don't know anything about the Occulus rift, people who knew about the Ouya , people who build computers just for gaming. I think you have mentally exaggerated the reach of the OR because the people who do know about it are generally very excited.

He said modern social networking, and you even highlighted the sentence. Stop gabbing on about unrelated stuff that's already had a bunch of research into VR conducted.

I suggested a skype-like thing, that's totally unrelated to social networking? How can you say that with any degree of certainty? I for one am not arrogant enough to assume that an extremely successful company spent 2 billion on a technology they can't use just because I can't fully think out a way they'd use it. And even if the uses are slightly out of the normal social networking boundaries: Facebook can't do things slightly outside of their current market? They can't expand?

Come on, that guy says a user reach of billions is useless because the MAJORITY of those BILLIONS aren't interested, and you decide to rag on me because I didn't bother to notice a stupid detail that assumes a company spending 2 billion to acquire a new technology isn't going to try to expand?

Facebook is going to shove the Rift into doing what it wants it to do, and what Facebook wants is not gaming. We all know it, we've all predicted it, and regardless of Minecraft no longer being in the cards for the Rift, it doesn't matter at this point. As soon as FB bought OR out it ceased being a tool available to all and is now firmly tucked away in Facebook's dust-collecting corner. It won't be used for anything more than a VR Farmville to squeeze out a couple more pennies in microtransactions. There's no other reason for Facebook to buyout like this, because Facebook's a friggin' social media network, not a gaming network. The vast majority of Facebook's users aren't going to be interested in the Rift.

Not to mention the fact a large portion of them wouldn't be intelligent enough to operate it anyway.

Seriously , what incentive does facebook have to spend 2 billion just to acquire something that will collect dust?

Facebook is a business. Why would they interfere with something that will increase popularity of a device they are selling? Do they hate money? Why would they even consider restricting development for it? "The vast majority of Facebook's users aren't going to be interested in the Rift", so what? Let's say the vast majority is an unrealistically low 99.9% of active users that's still a million people who ARE interested in the Rift.

It's just doom-saying to not only be suspicious but confident that this will ruin the Rift. Does facebook have a stories history of ruining things they buy out? As I recall the things they buy out mostly act the same (Instagram and Whatsapp).

 

[MrHide-Patten]

History will decide on whther or not Occulus made the right call. Frankly I think they did. It's 2 BILLION DOLLARS PEOPLE! No company would turn down that kinda cash, and it's not like they're gasing Jews to get it.

The only response you're going to get with that is "The money shouldnt matter to them." But then the people who say that probably thought oculus was going to remain independant forever. Poor misguided youth.

Kids these day's think they can have their cakes and bum them too...
Speaking as a developer who's not doing so flash financially, I can say that I would gladly do somebody's bidding for 100,000 dollars. Integrity doesn't grant you immortality, you'll die a (wo)man who never caved or 'sold out', but none of that matters because your DEAD.

Frankly this gives the project some legs, to me it seemed like teh doomed Ouya, a pipe dream that hadn't crashed and burned yet. But with the money they might actually achieve something.

 

[Olas]

This is my current mental image of these two. Nothing but childishness all around. Besides, what difference does it really make? All it'll take to run Minecraft on Occulus is a simple mod anyway.

Is Cliff a hypocrite? Probably. But the man is right.

I guess every clock is correct twice a day.

 

[Lightknight]

Facebook is going to shove the Rift into doing what it wants it to do, and what Facebook wants is not gaming. We all know it, we've all predicted it, and regardless of Minecraft no longer being in the cards for the Rift, it doesn't matter at this point. As soon as FB bought OR out it ceased being a tool available to all and is now firmly tucked away in Facebook's dust-collecting corner. It won't be used for anything more than a VR Farmville to squeeze out a couple more pennies in microtransactions. There's no other reason for Facebook to buyout like this, because Facebook's a friggin' social media network, not a gaming network. The vast majority of Facebook's users aren't going to be interested in the Rift.

Perhaps in the long term, but their short term goal is to let Occulus establish the product as worth getting.

Then [Zuckerberg] said, ?What if we partner with you? You stay the same. Stay who you are. You expand that vision and focus on other things also. Gaming is core. But how can we help and invest significantly into the platform, the hardware, and bring down the cost of it. We could make it more optimized, do custom silicon, make this even better. What if we also invest in the parts so you can sell the virtual reality platform at cost?? [http://zacharycampbell.com/blog/category/virtual-reality/]

As long as that wasn't a lie then everyone wins. The only remaining question is how facebook stands to make a return on this and that quote indicates that their goal is to establish the Oculus as THE VR platform before taking advantage of their position.

On the day when it becomes too tedious to use the Rift because of some hairbrained micro transaction scheme we (the tech elite) will root the damn things and continue using the excellent hardware as desired.

This is my current mental image of these two. Nothing but childishness all around. Besides, what difference does it really make? All it'll take to run Minecraft on Occulus is a simple mod anyway.

Exactly, Notch even pointed out that a mod already exists.

His plan was to make a free Minecraft version that was similar to the phone app just to declutter the VR environment.

 

[C14N]

It's true that Cliff Blenzinski is a bit of a pot calling the kettle black considering his own canceling of PC versions of any Gears games after 1 but it still was a bit childish to cancel a version of your game for Oculus Rift just because the ownership changed. It's just punishing anyone who wanted to play the game on the OR. At the same time though, it's his game and he seems to have complete control over it so it's ultimately his decision.

 

[C14N]

Facebook is going to shove the Rift into doing what it wants it to do, and what Facebook wants is not gaming. We all know it, we've all predicted it, and regardless of Minecraft no longer being in the cards for the Rift, it doesn't matter at this point. As soon as FB bought OR out it ceased being a tool available to all and is now firmly tucked away in Facebook's dust-collecting corner. It won't be used for anything more than a VR Farmville to squeeze out a couple more pennies in microtransactions. There's no other reason for Facebook to buyout like this, because Facebook's a friggin' social media network, not a gaming network. The vast majority of Facebook's users aren't going to be interested in the Rift.

Not to mention the fact a large portion of them wouldn't be intelligent enough to operate it anyway.

You've contradicted yourself in this post. You say Facebook won't want to focus on giving us games, instead they'll want to target Facebook users. Then you say that most users won't care. That doesn't make any sense.

This is beside the fact that Zuckerberg explicitly said the top priority is to finish the original gaming plan before moving onto other things. The idea that it will be just used for "VR Farmville" which will apparently somehow give them a few more microtransactions is utterly insane. Facebook aren't actually making the games here, they just own the technology for the hardware. The fact that they're not a "gaming network" is completely irrelevant. Go back to 2000 and Microsoft weren't a gaming company. Go back to 1990 and Sony weren't a gaming company. Go back to 1980 and Nintendo weren't a gaming company. By your logic, none of them should have gotten involved, they should have stuck to software, electronics and card games respectively.

I'm not sure where you get this weird assumption that most Facebook users aren't "intelligent enough" to operate one either. This is basically a TV that you stick to your face that can also track the motion of your head. If a human is mentally able enough to turn on a computer and sign up for a Facebook account, they can use a Rift. All the Rift really is is a new type of PC monitor that is used to play PC games. The PC games themselves are completely unaffected by this.

 

[Darkness665]

CliffyB is a useless twit that isn't even in the video game business anymore. So who cares? I never cared about what he spewed from his mouth when he was in the business.

Man, I hope his real estate license comes in soon so he can sell trailers and get off the game news.

 

[Cerebrawl]

It's true that Cliff Blenzinski is a bit of a pot calling the kettle black considering his own canceling of PC versions of any Gears games after 1 but it still was a bit childish to cancel a version of your game for Oculus Rift just because the ownership changed. It's just punishing anyone who wanted to play the game on the OR. At the same time though, it's his game and he seems to have complete control over it so it's ultimately his decision.

Well Cliffy B's canceling means the game cannot be played on PC, unless someone's managed to cobble together a good enough emulator by now, haven't checked.

All Notch canceled was a simplified free version of minecraft for the OR, the full paid version is still available, and there's already a mod for it to work with OR. So the game is already there.

 

[C14N]

It's true that Cliff Blenzinski is a bit of a pot calling the kettle black considering his own canceling of PC versions of any Gears games after 1 but it still was a bit childish to cancel a version of your game for Oculus Rift just because the ownership changed. It's just punishing anyone who wanted to play the game on the OR. At the same time though, it's his game and he seems to have complete control over it so it's ultimately his decision.

Well Cliffy B's canceling means the game cannot be played on PC, unless someone's managed to cobble together a good enough emulator by now, haven't checked.

All Notch canceled was a simplified free version of minecraft for the OR, the full paid version is still available, and there's already a mod for it to work with OR. So the game is already there.

Oh, the whole thing seems like a bit of a non-issue then. I mean I guess realistically every game should work with the Oculus Rift (it's just a pair of 1080p screens like any other monitor), the only thing the ports or mods will add is 3D and head tracking.