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

[Lightknight]

The thing about VR goggles, the primary concern is probably hardware weight ... anything more than a few ounces, it's not going to be comfortable, it's not going to sell.

Proper counterbalancing can help some with it. Something to make it more comfortable. I mean, I don't like hats so nothing will be comfortable. The goal here is something as minimal as possible but I'm not going to complain about anything that lands under 1 lb and the current model is right at 1 lb from what I heard.

 

[DanHibiki]

From a lot of wining I've been reading on sites like Boing Boind, it seems that the main issue is that it's a move which somehow taints kickstarter and other crowd funding initiative.

As much as i'm a fan of the whole e-begging movement I don't see what the issue is corporations getting involved with the process, especially when you try to get something as massive as Oculus Rift going.

 

[xPixelatedx]

Jim, this hasn't happened before.

VR isn't 3D, it didn't come and then just go away before, it was demo-ed at events and arcades in the past. The tech to make it available to people simply didn't exist. This will be the first time it's come, no one actually knows what's going to happen. Granted, I don't think it's going to sell like cel-phone games, and I don't think it's meant to. Like a beastly graphics card or gaming rig, it's a "only serious gamers need apply" type deal, and while I can't speak for Facebook, hopefully the Oculus team has realistic expectations on this.

 

[Lightknight]

From a lot of wining I've been reading on sites like Boing Boind, it seems that the main issue is that it's a move which somehow taints kickstarter and other crowd funding initiative.

As much as i'm a fan of the whole e-begging movement I don't see what the issue is corporations getting involved with the process, especially when you try to get something as massive as Oculus Rift going.

Right, and Occulus only came up on Facebook's for doing exactly what they promised. This is what happens when ideas take off. We don't have small mom and pops hardware companies that deliver to an international market. There are just too many inefficiencies in funding, marketing, sales, and transportation that make it nigh impossible for a company to hit the ground running for several years.

Now, had Facebook's deal been that Occulus couldn't continue on the Rift as planned, I'd understand the problem. However, Zuckerberg's direct offer to Occulus was that they continue doing what they're doing and FB makes it happen cheaper to allow the product to be sold at cost. Best of all worlds for the product and consumers. Huge risk for Facebook depending on what they eventually do with it.

 

[C14N]

I'm inclined to agree, the fact that Facebook have no previous gaming interests actually makes them a better company to buy it imo. I'd imagine that since they really have no gaming software or hardware already, they're going to take a pretty hands-off approach to the thing.

Also, I've seen a load of jokes about how all it will be used for is Farmville and status updates with ads thrown in now. If that's just a joke, fine but if people seriously think that then they have no idea how either the technology or the business side of this thing works.