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Oculus Rift


deanb
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  • 6 months later...

okay so ignoring the whole "what is Tesco doing with Oculus?" this could lead to some pretty whacky A/B testing of store layouts. Able to track exactly where people are going, what looking at and for, and since it's all 3D much quicker iteration than manually moving store shelves around.

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rAfoED3.gif

 

http://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/21cy9n/the_future_of_vr/

 

Palmer comments on this purchase...

 

From my perspective, the OR was a wonderful tool that wasn't tied to some service or outside company. Sure it may have worked with some companies but it wasn't ever completely tied to anyone. Now it is tied to Facebook which makes me and tons of other people worried. I've been fed with a lot of BS promises in the past to 100% believe that the OR will be unhindered or un-manipulated.

On the grand schemes of things however, this might be a good thing for VR. The OR may die or fizzle out but VR may thrive. This may make the concept stick around this time.

Edited by MaliciousHope
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https://soundcloud.com/highway62/internal-facebook-conference

 

From what I have read and listen...

 

I don't quite understand how communication thing will work. By the way they are talking, they're talking about person to person communications as well? How the hell is that pose to work if you two are wearing OR-like devices? It would also require a 3D camera.

All the other uses... yes, I can see it being a thing. It however can only be a thing if the adoption rate is high enough due to number of users and what the users use it for.

In a way, Oculus is willing to smear their name into the mud if it means that VR will be a norm in the future. Facebook as a whole has enough people and clout to make it reality. Just being a gaming accessory will most likely not make it stick.

 

Yes, it is worrisome that it got acquired by Facebook but between being just a small thing and being a norm... I too would be willing to smear the company image if it means that this new norm will take root.

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You're fooling yourself if you think Facebook is going to do anything constructive with this.  Not that I ever really cared about the Oculus Rift in the first place, but I can't think of a single company or product that became better after Facebook acquired it.

 

So far Instagram has remained on course. Not improved. Just the same trajectory it was always on. I think in this case this is all we can hope for. But getting a company this early on before they have anywhere near the established userbase of purchases like IG and WhatsApp doesn't look very good in that regard.

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That is why even though I am an optimist, I am also very cautious about this. I loath Facebook (Hell, I dropped it out of my life) but there is a dash to do VR right. Facebook is looking for a slice of that pie and they got it by purchasing the leading contender of this race. I don't think they'll run it to the ground. They want to have that tech and all that comes with it under their umbrella.

At the worst we'll see a less than spectacular product by Oculus Facebook (Who will act more like Google or Microsoft) but it may led to a subtle change which then cascades into something akin to the cell/smart phone. It can also be way subtle like for me, the netbook to something like the Surface or T100 I have. A netbook was a half baked idea which to me evolved into concepts like the Surface or T100.

 

As a consumer who want a VR headset, this is an interesting twist and by no means that VR will die (Though it can, kind of like motion controls [Fuck Kinect]).

 

@FDS Since you just replied, I'll keep it short. Again, this is a gamble for a possible future. In that conference call, the investors also had the same concerns. This future that Oculus and Mark envision may never materialize but who knows at this point. They're talking in terms of 3, 5 and 10 years. 

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I think FDS is right about this. People point at Facebook as this big evil company buying up smaller companies and killing them, but I honestly can't see it. Don't get me wrong, Facebook is absolutely a sketchy company in the way they do their business, but Whatsapp and Instagram have been left completely alone. I can't say the same thing for the companies Microsoft or Google has acquired. 

 

I think the Rift will be fine, just like Instagram and Whatsapp are. After that though? Who knows. Instagram and Whatsapp have remained exactly the same, but that's a doublesided sword. They haven't changed for the worst by any stretch of the imagination, but that's likely because they just haven't changed at all. 

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Also, I look at what the Rift is: a fancy dual monitor that has motion tracking that you stick to your face. A prototype exists, and works with games currently, the final product is less than a year away.

 

What CAN Facebook do to change that? Worst case scenario is that they force developers and users to use Facebook to activate the ability to use the Rift (nothing jail breaking can't fix), or worse launch their own game platform to compete with Steam. We already know that there are other VR headsets trying to do the same thing, and WILL capitalize that they don't need a Facebook account to develop for or use.

 

It would suck if the first "good" VR headset is limited to a Facebook platform, but we all have to use Origin to play EA games and Uplay to use Ubisoft games, so in the end its just a fourth system that we boot through Steam, or we just use a competitors headset.

 

I really only see this, at worst, a set back in VR, and at best Facebook having a proprietary platform to introduce VR to social media that can be used for a multitude of things.

 

Honestly, my parents live 400 miles away from me, my Moms family half way across the US, my dad's family in the UK, I would love to use a Rift and sit down in a room with any body in my family and chat with a VR headset.

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I don't understand why people carry on bringing up WhatsApp given they barely announced they buy out a few weeks ago. Facebook would have to be pretty driven to run a $19billion purchase (That I think hasn't gone through yet) into the ground in a few weeks. As for Instagram they're bored with it. The entire point of Instagram purchase was so it wouldn't become a Twitter purchase (much like it gained video powers after Twitter made Vine).

Which is why I think the Oculus deal is going to go south. Facebook are a follower, and in this case they have no one to follow and are trying to be head of the pack. 

 

“Mobile is the platform of today, and now we’re also getting ready for the platforms of tomorrow,” 

They fucked up on Mobile and way missed the boat with it, still struggling to recoup ground there. But here they see a tech they think is going to be "the future" and are staking thier claim on it. But it's just so out of their comfort zone. Look at all their past acquisitions. Pretty much all of them are related to Facebook in some way; communications technologies, photo tech, mobile firms etc. Then suddenly a VR firm that's full of gaming types with gaming support. The venn diagram of Facebook and Oculus barely brushes near each other. But Facebook will likely force the venn diagram to converge. They're not just throwing $700million+ shares at Oculus for them to continue making stuff that'll support video games. They're going to want to see return on it. And I can't see Oculus providing that, which is likely going to mean it being shuttered or spun off with hopes of another company picking them up, but few have $2billion+ lying around to buy (not that buying FB shares will be worth much. The Oculus purchase is already worth nearly $100million less than when announced). Even with all thier money Facebook hasn't the power to push hardware.

 

Give it a year or so, they'll buy a wearable firm instead. Folks already speculating that this purchase is to compete with Glass, but I don't really see it in Oculus. I can see Facebooks urge to break into Wearables, Oculus just ain't it though. It's opaque as hell. Wearables is AR, Oculus is VR. Google is pushing Wearables hard, and Google knows what everyone wants.

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Give it a year or so, they'll buy a wearable firm instead. Folks already speculating that this purchase is to compete with Glass, but I don't really see it in Oculus. I can see Facebooks urge to break into Wearables, Oculus just ain't it though. It's opaque as hell. Wearables is AR, Oculus is VR. Google is pushing Wearables hard, and Google knows what everyone wants.

That was the part that confused me the most. For social/communication uses, they cannot get around the fact that people will have a goggle on. If they want to pull off 3D without making most people sick (And just plain physics), the form factor will have to be a goggle at the bare minimum. This is also before the fact that they would have to make a 3D camera that will shoot a high enough resolution and all that to make it work with VR. A good deal of people are wary as hell about cameras now (Have you seen people taping over laptop cameras?). Lets also not forget the abysmal internet connections we have around the US and elsewhere. A bet people can easily blow any internet caps they have with a communication OR setup.

 

If it goes south, it would be for the above reasons. Oculus should more or less have free reign for now since they are the industry leaders and know what they are doing (Not to say that management won't come knocking). It would be foolish to mess around with it right now.

 

On a side note.. I am wondering what the folks at Valve are thinking right now. They helped the Oculus folks to solve some of their problems.

 

Is this where Sony announces that the Morpheus is PC-compatible?

It'll still be quite nurtured since it is tied to the PS4. The specs for Morpheus would have to be bumped up to levels where the PS4 cannot reach if it goes officially PC-compatible. Regardless, I bet people will do port it to PC anyways (Think of the Wii-mote and the Kinect). My fear for the Morpheus is that it would be half-assed VR.

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  • 4 months later...

So iFixit have done a tear down, and turns out it's literally a Galaxy Note 3 screen strapped in to the case. So kinda makes the Google Cardboard thing substantially less silly.

XHpu9Dt.jpg

 

 

https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Oculus+Rift+Development+Kit+2+Teardown/27613

 

It's a pretty decent screen. 1080p too unlike the previous stuff they used.

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