Virtual Reality

Tuco

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wtf. I didn't even know facebook was buying companies like this. Making a VR driven social MMO integrated with facebook would be... weird.

from luckey

Luckey_sl said:
I've always loved games. They're windows into worlds that let us travel somewhere fantastic. My foray into virtual reality was driven by a desire to enhance my gaming experience; to make my rig more than just a window to these worlds, to actually let me step inside them. As time went on, I realized that VR technology wasn't just possible, it was almost ready to move into the mainstream. All it needed was the right push.
We started Oculus VR with the vision of making virtual reality affordable and accessible, to allow everyone to experience the impossible. With the help of an incredible community, we've received orders for over 75,000 development kits from game developers, content creators, and artists around the world. When Facebook first approached us about partnering, I was skeptical. As I learned more about the company and its vision and spoke with Mark, the partnership not only made sense, but became the clear and obvious path to delivering virtual reality to everyone. Facebook was founded with the vision of making the world a more connected place. Virtual reality is a medium that allows us to share experiences with others in ways that were never before possible.
Facebook is run in an open way that's aligned with Oculus' culture. Over the last decade, Mark and Facebook have been champions of open software and hardware, pushing the envelope of innovation for the entire tech industry. As Facebook has grown, they've continued to invest in efforts like with the Open Compute Project, their initiative that aims to drive innovation and reduce the cost of computing infrastructure across the industry. This is a team that's used to making bold bets on the future.
In the end, I kept coming back to a question we always ask ourselves every day at Oculus: what's best for the future of virtual reality? Partnering with Mark and the Facebook team is a unique and powerful opportunity. The partnership accelerates our vision, allows us to execute on some of our most creative ideas and take risks that were otherwise impossible. Most importantly, it means a better Oculus Rift with fewer compromises even faster than we anticipated.
Very little changes day-to-day at Oculus, although we'll have substantially more resources to build the right team. If you want to come work on these hard problems in computer vision, graphics, input, and audio, please apply!
This is a special moment for the gaming industry - Oculus' somewhat unpredictable future just became crystal clear: virtual reality is coming, and it's going to change the way we play games forever.
I'm obsessed with VR. I spend every day pushing further, and every night dreaming of where we are going. Even in my wildest dreams, I never imagined we'd come so far so fast.
I'm proud to be a member of this community - thank you all for carrying virtual reality and gaming forward and trusting in us to deliver. We won't let you down.
 

Tuco

I got Tuco'd!
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If they waited a week for April 1st to announce this nobody would believe them.
 

Qhue

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This is surprising... I have been very intrigued by the Oculus Rift but I don't know that partnering with Zuckerberg makes a whole lot of sense for this product.
 

Kinkle_sl

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One of my least favorite companies buying one of my favorite companies. I feel like Oculus Rift was just ruined a little for me. Even if facebook doesn't interfere in the product's direction, simply by buying a unit I'll have at long last 'bought into facebook'.
 

Tuco

I got Tuco'd!
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Does facebook own any other tech companies that aren't infested by facebook?
 

Abefroman

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Get killed in Star Citizen then get "[email protected]/* <![CDATA[ */!function(t,e,r,n,c,a,p){try{t=document.currentScript||function(){for(t=document.getElementsByTagName('script'),e=t.length;e--;)if(t[e].getAttribute('data-cfhash'))return t[e]}();if(t&&(c=t.previousSibling)){p=t.parentNode;if(a=c.getAttribute('data-cfemail')){for(e='',r='0x'+a.substr(0,2)|0,n=2;a.length-n;n+=2)e+='%'+('0'+('0x'+a.substr(n,2)^r).toString(16)).slice(-2);p.replaceChild(document.createTextNode(decodeURIComponent(e)),c)}p.removeChild(t)}}catch(u){}}()/* ]]> */[email protected]/* <![CDATA[ */!function(t,e,r,n,c,a,p){try{t=document.currentScript||function(){for(t=document.getElementsByTagName('script'),e=t.length;e--;)if(t[e].getAttribute('data-cfhash'))return t[e]}();if(t&&(c=t.previousSibling)){p=t.parentNode;if(a=c.getAttribute('data-cfemail')){for(e='',r='0x'+a.substr(0,2)|0,n=2;a.length-n;n+=2)e+='%'+('0'+('0x'+a.substr(n,2)^r).toString(16)).slice(-2);p.replaceChild(document.createTextNode(decodeURIComponent(e)),c)}p.removeChild(t)}}catch(u){}}()/* ]]> */has sent you a friend request!"
 

Tuco

I got Tuco'd!
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Seems like almost all its acquisitions are some cool social media technology they wanted to integrate with facebook or put out of the market. Obviously VR is very different from that.

It's funny seeing people talking shit about Luckey's business sense. I wonder how much of the 2billion he gets.
 

meStevo

I think your wife's a bigfoot gus.
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I think it's about social experiences - something potentially much more lucrative than gaming. I'm actually more interested in this product now than I was before the news because now it's owned by a company that could bankroll some of the lofty ideas people have had about the tech like attending a sporting events.

Honestly I didn't expect much more than the gaming applications to ever come of this, and it to be a little more useful than the Razer Hydra (yes, I realize it was already more popular and has probably sold more dev units than that thing did ever).

Before thinking anything like that through though I'm sure the internet will do one of it's trademark spasms, because that's what mobs do.
 

meStevo

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That's nice, they can stand on their principles and watch competitors pass them.
 

Attog

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One of my least favorite companies buying one of my favorite companies. I feel like Oculus Rift was just ruined a little for me. Even if facebook doesn't interfere in the product's direction, simply by buying a unit I'll have at long last 'bought into facebook'.
My thoughts fucking exactly. Oh well. Good for those guys I guess. Palmer is 22 years old and he just sold his 1 year old company for 2 billion dollars. Obviously he was VC'd out the ass and they probably gave him less than 10% of the company but 200 million isn't too bad I suppose.
 

Tuco

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He probably offered 2mill to buy Oculus. Here's his response on reddit:
xNotch_sl said:
You got my respect before I met you. You kept it when I met you. I understand that this happened because people with investments in the company saw big sacks of dollar bills. I understand you're probably under a big NDA and stuck in golden handcuffs, and that this might be a frustrating situation.
I just hope you got your fair share. VR will live on. Thank you for being part of making it finally happen.
I really wish this hadn't happened.
 

Daezuel

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He's probably always loved Facebook because it's obviously the platform of choice for Facebook games, or something like that.
 

Abefroman

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Boogie2988 ?@Boogie2988 3m
Sony execs reading all the backlash about the Oculus Rift buyout:

g5LoDk8.gif
 

Araxen

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Oculus definitely has lost some luster now with Facebook buying them. Sony has to be loving this.