Part of the hype behind Oculus Rift is that it actually does what all the "meet you halfway" technologies promise, such as 3D TV, except it goes the full distance. Granted, I think its good that there is skepticism behind the product. Because we've fallen down this hole several times before. I don't think 3D is worth the money or time. Its fun, but doesn't really add so much that its worth all the extra money, especially since you sacrifice picture quality and brightness to get 3D. Yes, I do question that something like the Rift could ever be used for popular consuming/gaming by the mass market, but I'm excited for it because its the first device I've seen and used that actually does what everyone always wanted with this type of thing in the first place, and does it so well that it totally sells the concept (unlike 3D).
The reason why Facebook even bothered to buy Oculus was because what they showed must have been so convincing, that there was no doubt that it was game changing enough to want to drop $2b on it. From all accounts that I've heard that have used the latest prototypes this is the case. I personally can't wait to get my hands on it. I was really impressed with the first dev kit as crappy as that is, and I honestly can't imagine how it would work out with the current prototypes.
Oculus Rift is like the ultimate zombie game everyone dreams of but never gets made, that's why its got so much hype behind it while 3D TV does not and is often thought of as a gimmick. Everyone is still waiting for "the one" zombie game but it hasn't been made yet. You know, open world survival horror that is true to survival, barricading, intense difficulty that is about living as long as possible in a zombie apocolypse, etc. The closest thing zombie fans have to "the one" game is Project Zomboid, but the fact that its 2D isometric doesn't quite go all the way. State of Decay gets close, but its too buggy and too unpolished and unrefined in certain areas to forever scratch that itch.
People have been wanting "presence" and "full immersion" in games for years. 3D kind of half steps its way here, and its cool, but "lol wow I paid $600 extra to make to make a pop-out-book style TV?" cool. Buying giant monitors is nice cause it takes up the entire FoV. The reason why the OR is exciting, is because it appears to actually fill this need and desire fully that people have been wanting for years - true presence. It combines 3D TV with a giant monitor that wraps your FoV with additonal things just as perfect motion tracking to make you really feel like you are there.
The only reason why the hype is still there for this thing is that apparently it works so well from developer kits sent to homes, demo units at conferences, and prototypes that major industry leaders have gotten on board including Valve and John Carmack (and now facebook), to the point that even Valve is convinced that this will be the next major gaming innovation since the creation of the 3D polygon. Pretty much every major player in the industry beyond these major players has their eye on it too. I'd be skeptical too if it wasn't for that and the fact that I've used one before. It works.
Still, not for everyone. I know plenty of people that just hate the idea of wearing anything on their heads. People who enjoy primiarly 2D games won't benefit from this either. I didn't find it an issue at all though - if you can wear ski goggles or sunglasses without being bothered by it, you can wear these. But back to the former point - this is why I question if this will become some kind of super mass-market technology that Facebook would be interested in. I think it could easily be a huge game-changing tech for the game industry, but beyond that? I don't really know.
). Or heavens forbid have a second round Kickstarter to fund the project to completion.
