Facebook May Rebrand Oculus Rift, Import Interface - Update
- Thread starter Alex Co
- Start date
Do you blame them? I don't. It's 2 BILLION dollars! If the Rift people all cash in their shares, they can each buy a small island and live like kings without having to work, ever. I say good for them.Saippua said:
As for me, Oculus is dead to me now. Anything that Facebook touches turns into an evil, soulless monetizing machine. I can see them selling subliminal ad spaces in your peripheral vision, really soon. (on top of all the FB bullsh!t already in there.)
It's so sad to see the Rift destroyed like this. I had so high hopes for the technology.
ya know i do and i dont blame them, there were other big names interested i am sure.
perhaps they should have taken a bit less money and say sold it to someone else that was more gamer/tech friendly. but would any huge mega corp really have been acceptable for an indy ks start up?
still they only got 400 500 mil in cash and the rest in stocks that may or may not hold value they could make out like literal bandits with fb stock shooting through the roof or more likely fb has see its glory days and most people that will use fb are on fb and the rest of us that will not will shun the thing with all our being.
announcing rebranding and integreation is the WORST thing they could have done, the best thing they could have done was to let rift be rift work with them to improve the ui or allow optional fb software. and let the tech be the tech it was being designed to be.
have your social division have your hardware division and keep them seperate diversify your company is fine putting your bloated spyware on everything to increase your market share has nothing to to do with vr or advancing the tech.
they should have not sold to fb especially if this was their plans going in period. they could have gotten payed elsewhere, yes it was alot of money but it really was not, less they going to turn around dump those shares immediately which i would.
perhaps they should have taken a bit less money and say sold it to someone else that was more gamer/tech friendly. but would any huge mega corp really have been acceptable for an indy ks start up?
still they only got 400 500 mil in cash and the rest in stocks that may or may not hold value they could make out like literal bandits with fb stock shooting through the roof or more likely fb has see its glory days and most people that will use fb are on fb and the rest of us that will not will shun the thing with all our being.
announcing rebranding and integreation is the WORST thing they could have done, the best thing they could have done was to let rift be rift work with them to improve the ui or allow optional fb software. and let the tech be the tech it was being designed to be.
have your social division have your hardware division and keep them seperate diversify your company is fine putting your bloated spyware on everything to increase your market share has nothing to to do with vr or advancing the tech.
they should have not sold to fb especially if this was their plans going in period. they could have gotten payed elsewhere, yes it was alot of money but it really was not, less they going to turn around dump those shares immediately which i would.
Let's not forget who was the one who was calling Facebook "a crippled substitute of life" and had this on his business's office:
I'm not really on the VR bandwagon, but I can see the potential it has and was fairly open to being won over once it came out and started strutting its stuff.
But with this move, Facebook's thrown a good deal of mud in those waters - if it's re-branding, that sends a strong signal that it didn't just acquire Oculus as an investment, but that they intend to inflict their ethos on everything that comes out of it. I'm not sure what's the worse possibility of what could come of this - Oculus crashing and burning as Facebook turns it into a thing people won't want and setting VR back, or Oculus succeeding in spite of that and Facebook dictating what this promising new technology will be used for.
Seriously, I've never liked Facebook, or the current generation of social media, but for a while it's been so ubiquitous that it's been necessary for me to maintain a presence there if I want to maintain my social life. It's been what, almost 10 years? I've been impatiently waiting for it to die already, for something new to come along as things continue to evolve, something that with any luck will be less offensive to me than creating a culture of no privacy.
But with this move, Facebook's thrown a good deal of mud in those waters - if it's re-branding, that sends a strong signal that it didn't just acquire Oculus as an investment, but that they intend to inflict their ethos on everything that comes out of it. I'm not sure what's the worse possibility of what could come of this - Oculus crashing and burning as Facebook turns it into a thing people won't want and setting VR back, or Oculus succeeding in spite of that and Facebook dictating what this promising new technology will be used for.
Seriously, I've never liked Facebook, or the current generation of social media, but for a while it's been so ubiquitous that it's been necessary for me to maintain a presence there if I want to maintain my social life. It's been what, almost 10 years? I've been impatiently waiting for it to die already, for something new to come along as things continue to evolve, something that with any luck will be less offensive to me than creating a culture of no privacy.
If this isn't the biggest argument against crowdfunding ever I honestly don't know what is. This is speaking as someone who has proudly kickstarted things in the past. The fact that something that was crowdfunded is now going to be used to make billionaires ever richer disgusts me to my core. I don't pretend to know how ethical it is to take something that only exists because of community generosity and turn it over to billionaires is, but it feels sleazy as fuck. It feels like a giant "fuck you" to the people that made it possible in the first place. Whats really worrying is that silicon valley will likely see this as proof that they can now offload the entire risk of new tech or other ventures onto the consumer with no risk whatsoever.
And the Rift has failed. No gamer will want to buy it at this point, and no person that is glued to their phone is about to buy a VR headset. There is no market for this product anymore. Just have to hope the Valve VR headset will be good or Project Morpheus. Goddammit I feel bad for the people that kickstarted this thing.
If the Occulus Rift ends up being something that I don't HAVE to use publicly and socially then it could still be fantastic. I think the strong objection is that we know how Facebook currently mines the hell out of our data so this is another large way for them to take advantage of us, but there's still potential if done right.
If I get a product that I can play other games and watch movies on without having to log into facebook and have them watching me then it will be exactly what I want. If they end up force-integrating social aspects and online connectivity then I will not buy the product.
This is a tremendously good sign for the future of VR though. But honestly, some optional social aspects could be nice. Like being able to go to a live ball game with friends and family virtually or movie watching in a theater. It could be cool. All of the things they mentioned they can do sound good because they are. It's just about how they're implemented. For example, if I can put a movie I purchased into my computer and watch it offline without ads, then perfect. If I HAVE to stream movies from a proprietary FB movie streaming source then screw them.
If I get a product that I can play other games and watch movies on without having to log into facebook and have them watching me then it will be exactly what I want. If they end up force-integrating social aspects and online connectivity then I will not buy the product.
This is a tremendously good sign for the future of VR though. But honestly, some optional social aspects could be nice. Like being able to go to a live ball game with friends and family virtually or movie watching in a theater. It could be cool. All of the things they mentioned they can do sound good because they are. It's just about how they're implemented. For example, if I can put a movie I purchased into my computer and watch it offline without ads, then perfect. If I HAVE to stream movies from a proprietary FB movie streaming source then screw them.
The backlash that is present here is just ridiculous. I'm going to hold off my judgment until I actually see what Facebook does with the headset. And I'm just guessing here but I feel some of this backlash is aimed towards the fact that Facebook is where "filthy casuals" go to game.
It's pretty simple.
If I have to login to Facebook to use it, it gets thrown in the trash. Or out the window. Or off a high rise building. Or onto Kijiji.
Here's looking at you, Project Morpheus.
If I have to login to Facebook to use it, it gets thrown in the trash. Or out the window. Or off a high rise building. Or onto Kijiji.
Here's looking at you, Project Morpheus.
Didn't Oculus Rift begin on crowd funding? Selling out before there is even a retail version of that product on the shelves for its supporters to purchase is a massive kick in the pants to anybody who had previously stood by this independent company. If this turns out to be true, I will happily set fire to any of my future plans of purchasing it.
Things like this are why I'm trying to get away from gaming these days. It used to be something to do when I was done interacting with other people for the day. Now it's getting harder to find things that don't have mandatory login accounts, or heavily emphasized multiplayer, or sharing, or leaderboards, or facebook/twitter integration, or any number of other nonsense. Sometimes I just want to play a game or do something without the whole world knowing about it.
EDIT@AdmiralCheez: your opinion is, by publicised metrics and polls, in a minority. People want leaderboards. People want achievements. People want to play with their friends.
In short, people like socialising, in general. It was only a matter of time before socialising became a key part of computer gaming, as social ability is generally required to get by in life itself.
Quoting on this forum software is horrifically broken. The Escapist continues to deliver.
That doesn't make it Facebook's fault.
It amazes me, the number of people in this thread that are blaming Facebook for people using the service abusing it and making mistakes.
It's like blaming the street when a mugger jumps you. And before anyone gets snippy, I was mugged in recent months. It's not a nice experience, I don't recommend it and it's not a macho situation.
In short, people like socialising, in general. It was only a matter of time before socialising became a key part of computer gaming, as social ability is generally required to get by in life itself.
Quoting on this forum software is horrifically broken. The Escapist continues to deliver.
Finally, someone with sense.smithy_2045 said:
And Twitter. And news sites.MinionJoe said:
That doesn't make it Facebook's fault.
It amazes me, the number of people in this thread that are blaming Facebook for people using the service abusing it and making mistakes.
It's like blaming the street when a mugger jumps you. And before anyone gets snippy, I was mugged in recent months. It's not a nice experience, I don't recommend it and it's not a macho situation.