Jimquisition: So, That Facebook And Oculus Rift Thing...

[Shayman]

Great video Jim, like Rabid_Meese said, leave it up to you to step back from the emotion and take a look at the facts. I despise Facebook, but after this, agree that it could be a lot worse!

Oh, and that miniature fantasy Jim Sterling is incredible!!

 

[ResonanceSD]

RE: A cute little niche thing:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_games_with_Oculus_Rift_support

I have seen that list. That says nothing about audience adoption, only games coming out. The Wii U had plenty of launch support, and the Nvidia Shield has a pretty damn big library. Still niche products for specific audiences.

The shield is even getting Portal, which is pretty insane for a mobile device.

 

[Justin Smith]

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/133241-Facebook-May-Rebrand-Oculus-Rift-Import-Interface

Facebook is still going to ruin the thing.

 

[Story]

Yay! Two Jimquistions in one week, I love it when this happens.
And aww that doll was so cute. You can tell a lot of time and effort went into it.

OT:
Welp, I got plenty of feedback from the fellow Escapists as to why Facebook is so disliked, which was enlightening to say the least. I'm still going to wait and see what they do with the tech. I'll be honest and say I haven't been too interested in the Rift because it seemed kinda gimmicky, so I'm also not as passionate as others are about this.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

I don't really care that Facebook bought the Oculus. I wasn't really interested in the technology anyway. You do make a good point though, as much as I hate Facebook, Oculus is still probably better off in their hands than say Sony, Microsoft, or EA.

Also miniature fantasy Jim Sterling is awesome!

 

[Under_your_bed]

I think the best part of this whole upset is the reaction of some rather more upset denizens of the internet. If you go to certain parts of 4chan, there is real upset and fear over the idea that adverts will be made mandatory, and that their Anime porn simulators will be taken away.

Think I'm kidding?

Spoiler: I'm not

Spoiler: No really, I'm not

Spoiler: Why would I want to make something like this up?

[If the pictures are too small, just right-click and select "copy image URL". Then paste it in a new tab and you'll be able to see it full-size.]

Spoiler: Why are you even still clicking on these?

 

[Weaver]

I will say that facebook DOES have a reputation of consuming its acquisitions. It has made, excluding purely domain name related purchases, 44 acquisitions to date. About three of those have been allowed to maintain their independence in the company.

 

[Ratty]

It could have been worse. VR was probably destined to be a niche anyway. Wait and see.

Jim, your autobiography should be titled "The Audacity of Common Sense". Those points are just too logical and obvious when stated, thank God for you.

 

[SilverStuddedSquirre]

What? No. Niche products are GOOD. I was not insulting OR. Just saying it was not "The Future" Zuckerbergs hopes it'll be.

Which is very true, it really isn't (unless the technology changes dramatically before it's released).

What is the future is Miniature Fantasy Jim Sterling IMO. No real idea why, but 300,000:1 odds it will take the world by storm.[

You are in no way wrong; I have moneys and I would Like a miniature Fantasy Jim Sterling Talking Plushie. Shut up and take my Moneys!

 

[DrOswald]

What? No. Niche products are GOOD. I was not insulting OR. Just saying it was not "The Future" Zuckerbergs hopes it'll be.

Er... well... yes, of course that's entirely true. But how's Facebook getting ownership of Oculus VR hardware the lesser of all evils?

I agree that a game company getting a hold of it would have been far, far worse. Same with Microsoft/Sony. They're not interested in catering to niche markets. But neither is Facebook.

So a product that is designed from the ground-up for a niche market that is then bought out and converted for a wider audience isn't going to be good for that niche market. No matter who buys it.

Sure, maybe there's still some hope for the OR under Facebook that doesn't exist with other companies. I mean, the PS4 has root-level Facebook integration, and people can still play games without having to link a Facebook account. I just hope that remains true for the Rift. And it's possible the hardware will remain unlocked enough to work with third-party programs. Personally, I was really looking forward to trying it out with Euro Truck Simulator 2 (about as niche as one can get).

But as a specialized, niche-market product, the Oculus system is very likely dead. Especially if other on-board developers pull out as Mojang has already done.

The thing about VR catered as a specific niche market product is that eventually it is going to go away, or at least it will never go anywhere interesting. It is the very definition of a novelty luxury good. It really only exists as a cool toy for tech heads. And this isn't really a problem, if you don't think VR tech has any real potential. If it is just a cool gadget and that is all it ever can be then appealing only to the niche market that wants that gadget is perfectly fine, and is in fact a good thing. I like niche products. I own many niche products.

However, I personally think that there is great potential for VR tech in a wide variety of fields, if we can figure it out. That really isn't going to happen unless someone big foots the bill for the R&D. The crowd funded 2.5 million for the kickstarter was neat, but that was never going to be enough to revolutionize the tech.

I am not sure I am expressing myself well here. Basically, I am saying VR is an infant tech. It is a neat novelty right now but largely inferior and useless compared to other available tech. I think VR has potential to be much better and that simply was never going to happen on the chump change crowd funding could pull together. Now that a major player has put its weight behind the tech there is at least a chance that it could be made into a tech worth giving a damn about.

And I know there were other companies doing VR tech, but that felt much more like hedging their bets. I don't think they believe in the tech in any real way, they are just throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks. This buyout seems more like they intend to do something with the tech, which means serious support.

This means your niche product will probably disappear for a while, and I can understand why you are mad about that. But if VR actually catches on I guarantee that a niche specific model far superior to the current Rift will be coming your way eventually.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Still, i think Facebook's core philosophies, lack of regard for users and business practices are wholly abhorrent.

Agreed. Even if things don't go crazy with FB integration, I can't find it inside myself to ever say this whole episode has been a good thing for those who put their time and money into making Oculus possible.

 

[gigastar]

Yeah, thats pretty much my veiw on the thing. Shocking for the sheer amount of money involved for something thats not even on the market proper, but i never cared about Oculus or its Rift to begin with, so i wont be losing any sleep over this.

 

[Manni]

Gonna post it here, because hey why not.

Jim, is there any way you can enlist (in credits) the titles of the games you are showing through the episodes? Some of them are recognizable, some are not, but seems interesting/odd/insane/worth further look. It's a small thing but clears things up and will save some time for your viewers to do other stuff, like building you a shrine or prepare some sacrifices. Probably both.

 

[Kuredan]

Props to Senor James for such a timely response. While I do acknowledge "It could be worse", I can't think of another company more out of touch with the gamer community than Facebook, maybe AOL. I am just afraid the Rift is now a platform that will be leveraged for social media purposes rather than gaming, or that the development for games will be left to atrophy. Why? Facebook has not demonstrated it knows anything about gaming, beyond Farmville and social media games. I'm not knocking them, but they represent a very shallow part of gaming and seems like the Rift is a waste if it's only used for such games. I think it really ties into Jim's previous video on monetization. If the Rift becomes a vessel for facebook and its profit driven practices, what's the benefit to customers? How is value added? When the Rift becomes a revenue vector rather than a peripheral, where does the indignity end? When it subtracts from the gaming experience rather than augments, why even bother? What about the 9500 people who invested in the ground floor and are now left behind? Yes, technically, it could have been worse. It also could have been so much better.

 

[rasputin0009]

Nobody likes wearing stupid shit on their face. That's the main reason behind why 3D television was a failure and why the Oculus Rift and Google Glass will also fail. It's the same reason why contact lenses were invented. Nobody likes wearing stupid shit on their face.

 

[LordMonty]

I agree, consider me a misrable brit as well but all this VR tech seems pretty pointless, lets just keep worknig on cheap 3D light displays(hey let me dream of hard light) so we can skip the terrible glasses or headsets. Not against advancement just against the useless toss that comes inbetween the the good advencements and me.But

I sure hope was worth its two billion...

 

[K12]

Slightly off topic but what the hell was that terrible looking dog punching game?

 

[Manni]

My point exactly. Just saying .