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

[Petromir]

A quick note on the cyclical nature of tech (especially consumer tech), generally theres a reason they keep coming back, the going away is that they aren't ready yet. Sometimes bits of them stick in different areas. Still 3D for example is used in some sciences including geology, has been for years. Some products get nowhere, some get better each time they are tried. (Declaring 3D to be gone even in the consumer world at home is also odd, plenty of new 3D TVs coming out just the flash new feature on them is smartness or 4k so they don't bother to mention the 3D.) VR of some description may well make it at some point, will this be a big break, even just a small one getting it a comfortable niche.

Rift was always going to need a sizeable chunk of money to make it into a finished project. And to be brutally honest the amount it needed to not just be a notable fad likely meant that it needed something other than gaming to recoup money from.

The kind of thing Facebook has suggested they might use it for will push for improvements in things like unit weight, eye strain, nausea reduction, all of which are important to gaming. Hell even if the VR classroom/meeting thing does happen, and has pop up ads, the tech that helps prevent eyestrain from reading them will help with eyestrain from the UIs in games.

Valve buying rift may have been great, though they are hardly saints in the prying and social aspects departments. Most of the gaming industry would have been dreadful. Seen a ton of comments saying they sold out to a soulless corporation, then saying they were jumping ship to Sony for the morpheous.......

Whether this is a good thing time will tell. Maybe Oculous' part in the big VR hit will have been to kickstart interest in it, and to push the likes of Valve and Sony to invest in their own solutions, maybe it will be to lead the charge with facebook's money. Maybe it will all have been a flash in the pan and we'll be discussing entirely hypothetical could have beens.

 

[remnant_phoenix]

Jim, I know you read the comments (though I'm not sure if you read this far down), so allow me to extend a personal "thank you" for your willingness to jump in mid-week with these special topical episodes.

I mean, you could very well wait until the usual time to address these sorts of things, and it's likely that no one would think less of you for doing so. Your willingness to jump in while the iron is hot is appreciated.

The fact that you are often a voice of reason in a sea of wailing and gnashing of teeth when it comes to these sorts of things is also appreciated.

 

[Something Amyss]

If Valve got the OR, it would come out in 2065 running last gen technology and would still be hailed as innovative because "Steam."

People panic because they had this idea that was out of line with reality. This has more integrated reality with the process. So they're freaked.

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?

Most of those don't look serious.

 

[cyvaris]

What mech game was shown in the middle of that video? It looked fairly interesting.

 

[Lightknight]

Interesting, I agree with all of this. If it gets released and Facebook is forcing logins and connection on users through it then I'll recant but it could be the same product with a facebook brand. We'll have to wait and see.

That being said, this is a little bit different than some of the other fads. I say that because there are components of the experience that already make things worthwhile.

Namely, the Movie Theater application. Where you can watch your own movies on a big screen or at least what feels like a big screen. If for only that reason, I would be interested in the Rift. Add that to what it could do for horror and exploration titles and you've got a lot of reasons to be interested.

The Dev 2 kit has resolved a lot of the headache issues and they've added leap motion controls to track the head so that your natural head sway is also tracked in the environment. Major things that would have killed the product for me.

The things facebook mentioned like giving people a seat in a sporting event or in a classroom has a lot of ways it can go. I think in the right hands this could be incredibly viable and Facebook has enough clout to make it happen.

 

[Cerebrawl]

What mech game was shown in the middle of that video? It looked fairly interesting.

HAWKEN.

Free to play, it's on steam. http://store.steampowered.com/app/271290

I tried it in closed beta but I wasn't impressed, might be improved by now. *shrug*

 

[Ima Lemming]

Thanks a lot, I was eating a sandwich when the Surgeon Simulator clip started.

 

[Thanatos2k]

Notch said it best - he didn't invest $10,000 "to seed a first investment round to build value for a Facebook acquisition."

It's really a huge steaming dump on the faces of everyone who helped them get off the ground with Kickstarter. In fact, Kickstarter can be the new venture capitalism for no-integrity sell outs, because unlike actual venture capital firms, you don't owe the backers a dime when you betray their trust and sell off the company they helped make. You get to dance in all the cash yourself.

Saying "It was going to get bought" is just cynical capitalism. Private companies CAN still exist in this world. You can bring a product to market, make money from that product, and then use that money to keep your company running. You do not have to have a IPO. You do not have to sell out.

This is a disgrace to crowdfunding and is a cautionary tale that the people who claim to just need your money so they can fulfill their passion are really just angling for a billion dollar buyout and don't care about you at all.


And saying that Facebook won't touch the Rift is pretty much already confirmed to be false:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/26/technology/facebook-to-buy-oculus-vr-maker-of-virtual-reality-headset.html?hpw&rref=business&_r=4

According to a person involved in the deal who was not allowed to speak publicly because he was not authorized by either company, Facebook eventually plans to redesign the Oculus hardware and rebrand it with a Facebook interface and logo.

Because after all, Facebook is going to want its money back, and Zuckerberg sure as hell knows that won't be coming just through sales of the thing.

Suggesting Facebook isn't the worst to buy it because EA or Microsoft could have bought it instead is a bit odd too - EA may be crap, but at least they make video games! I don't see how it could be worse for gaming than Facebook.

It's utterly baffling too. I don't think there's any possibility of making their 2 billion back. Shareholders should not stand for Zuckerberg throwing their money away on something he thought was cool that has nothing to do with the business he's supposed to be running.

 

[Ickabod]

The big key here is that no matter what Facebook intends to do with the thing, people still have to buy the hardware first. Who is going to buy that hardware? Gamers of course.
Why are gamers going to buy it? Because the games are worth buying.

No one in the casual facebook world is going to buy a VR headset without a darn good reason.

Have faith, Facebook wants you to buy a Rift, and they will do that by putting good games on it.

Otherwise they are out 2 BILLION DOLLARS.

 

[Lightknight]

Looks like Facebook value dropped nearly $5/share yesterday after the $2 billion buyout announcement. And today it's still on the decline.

http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=FB+Interactive#symbol=FB;range=5d

They've been dropping for a few weeks now. Look at monday, they dropped $3 then too.

As of right now, they are in the positive.

$2 billion is a pretty damn big investment in something most people know little or nothing about. I'd expect some fluxation but it isn't going to really hurt them that much at this point.

 

[Vigormortis]

Yes, it could have been worse. Just as having my head cut off is worse than having my legs cut off.

That doesn't mean I have to be okay with having my fucking legs cut off.

I still maintain that the Facebook buyout bodes nothing but ill for the Rift and all other interested parties. Most notably, the end-users.

I could be wrong but, given Facebook's track record with acquisitions, open platforms, and hardware, I doubt it.

It all boils down to how much autonomy Facebook Inc. decides to leave Oculus with.

 

[DrOswald]

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 believe I understand you.

In order for VR to be applied to a greater number of fields (sa 3D design, teleconferencing, etc), it needs to be pulled out of the gaming market and spread around a bit.

And perhaps Facebook can be the means by which this is accomplished.

Very good point, actually...

This is my exact point. Plus, when it is no longer a niche product there will be real motivation for it to be improved. If Facebook can make it a main stream tech then billions of dollars will start flowing into R&D for the tech. There will start to be real competition over who can make the best VR equipment for the lowest price. There will start to be real competition over who can make the best VR software.

It's like the tablet. Just 5 years ago the tablet was considered a toy for tech heads without any real mainstream appeal. They were large and bulky and underpowered. Then the IPad happened and everyone lost their shit over tablets. This started a massive tech race that has resulted in far better and cheaper tablets available for every kind of user. In addition, tablets now have far better software support. They do far more.

 

[Ambitiousmould]

I'm not a fan of FB as a company, but that aside, it is good that Oculus will have some funding. The main problem is that a lot of game developers (Minecraft is already cancelled) have voiced concern and even shunned it, so there will be no/very few games for it. Which means it'll not do well at all. And these developers have the option of developing for Morpheus, which is being developed by a company with an actual gaming section, so you know.

 

[webkilla]

I have to admit, I too was at first horrified when the Oculus Rift got facebook'd

But Jims vid here, and the from the guys at Tested.com, talked about what companies could have afforded to shill out this kind of money and which would have treated it nicely

Tested's guys also had a really good point: Zuckerberg's letter to the internet regarding aquiring the OR was a really REALLY good statement of intent: He wants to let the OR remain the OR and keep on developing.

If apple had bought OR, we'd be getting the iVR or whatever they might think of - but Apple doesn't do video game hardware platforms, they do mobile game platforms.

Microsoft? Jim said enough of that.

Sony? Nah, they have their own console as well.


Sure, facebook buying up OR means that it'll likely launch with a lot of social features that gamers will have no desire to use - but it also means a nearly bottomless pit of money that OR can feed off to make its VR goggles viable for a mainstream market...

 

[gussy1z]

I think the oculus is great and will be great for certain gaming niches. Fans of flight sims and racing sims and the arma series of games are going to love it. Basically games where trackIR is currently being used, the rift would be great for. But this is a really small crowd and I don't see zuckerberg making $2BN back on this. Not without branching out into films/tv or something else.