Facebook buying Occulus Rift for $2 Billion

[Shmee]

Wow, did some reading, I have been a bit behind lol. Carmack did leave id in 2013, thanks to zenimax. Hopefully they will make some better games, I am looking forward to doom 4, this wolfenstein game looks meh. Idk, mb it will be good again, we will have to see.

What we really need is a good ETQW 2

 

[SPBHM]

Wow, did some reading, I have been a bit behind lol. Carmack did leave id in 2013, thanks to zenimax. Hopefully they will make some better games, I am looking forward to doom 4, this wolfenstein game looks meh. Idk, mb it will be good again, we will have to see.

What we really need is a good ETQW 2

I think what id needs after the failure of Rage is for Doom 4 to be at least as big as Doom 3 was, if not I don't see much future for id... only more generic games using the old franchises, like what happened with wolfenstein.

but yes, it makes me wonder about John Carmack, he left id, shortly after it was bought by Zenimax to join a small team with Oculus, and now they are owned by Facebook... one thing I'm sure, without Carmack involvement Oculus would not be "worth" 10% of what it is right now...

 

[moonbogg]

Wow, did some reading, I have been a bit behind lol. Carmack did leave id in 2013, thanks to zenimax. Hopefully they will make some better games, I am looking forward to doom 4, this wolfenstein game looks meh. Idk, mb it will be good again, we will have to see.

What we really need is a good ETQW 2

What does that mean? Is it a game?

 

[bystander36]

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/facebook-acquisition-changes-oculus-vr-rift,26393.html

That explains a little more on there intentions with the product. There initial move will be to have it do what it was intended to do, and that is for gaming, but they have plans on the future of home PC design and advertisement.

 

[SPBHM]

What does that mean? Is it a game?

enemy territory quake wars...
it was like a battlefield game more or less.

 

[Shmee]

enemy territory quake wars...
it was like a battlefield game more or less.

Somewhat. It was like Wolf ET with big maps and vehicles, and instead of Germans, it had the Strogg (a sort of prequel to the Quake 2 story)

 

[S.H.O.D.A.N.]

It feels like Facebook wanted some counter to Google Glass and in their typical flailing fashion bought the first company that looked like it could fit the bill. Only nothing in their portfolio fits VR in any way. The notion of "watching a sports event like you're there" shows they have no idea why VR is starting with gaming and why it will stay with gaming (niche gaming at that) for a very long time.

 

[VulgarDisplay]

It feels like Facebook wanted some counter to Google Glass and in their typical flailing fashion bought the first company that looked like it could fit the bill. Only nothing in their portfolio fits VR in any way. The notion of "watching a sports event like you're there" shows they have no idea why VR is starting with gaming and why it will stay with gaming (niche gaming at that) for a very long time.

I completely disagree with this statement. I think a very large amount of consumers would be interested in $250 3d headsets just for watching sports alone, let alone movies. You could buy enough for the whole family, and still be cheaper than a big screen TV. The added benefit as they said is that it would be like you are there.

Occulus Rift would also be astounding for watching NASCAR/Racing. Imagine drivers in car views as your view. Talk about pant crapping.

 

[Paul98]

My initial reaction was WTF, this is terrible. But then after actually thinking about it, unless something major changes this should be a good thing. This will massively speed up adaptation. Which will increase development done both on the software and hardware side.

 

[KingFatty]

Does Occulus Rift have a patent porfolio? It would make sense to pay huge amounts of money if Occulus Rift is holding key patents that allow them to block any other competitors.

But my understanding is that VR headsets are an old/known technology, it's crowded with pre-existing and already-expired patents, and so it makes no sense to pay so much money just for essentially a refinement of old ideas? I don't think I know the whole picture, but maybe patents could explain the need to purchase that Facebook said yes?

 

[Headfoot]

Does Occulus Rift have a patent porfolio? It would make sense to pay huge amounts of money if Occulus Rift is holding key patents that allow them to block any other competitors.

But my understanding is that VR headsets are an old/known technology, it's crowded with pre-existing and already-expired patents, and so it makes no sense to pay so much money just for essentially a refinement of old ideas? I don't think I know the whole picture, but maybe patents could explain the need to purchase that Facebook said yes?

In any case the new tech is patentable in its own right as an improvement on the old tech, and nobody is going to make money trying to revive VR as it existed in the 90s so any new patents would control this new emerging VR redux.

Oculus does have a design patent claim filed for the clamshell design, application number D/456,868. There are no currently published utility patent applications, or issued patents. Keep in mind it takes 3 to 4 years on average for a patent to issue and Oculus has only existed since 2012.
Utility patent applications are not published for 18 months after filing generally so I would not doubt that they simultaneously filed for the utility patent at the same time they filed the design patent.

 

[S.H.O.D.A.N.]

Occulus Rift would also be astounding for watching NASCAR/Racing. Imagine drivers in car views as your view. Talk about pant crapping.

That's what you and Facebook seem to be missing. Putting a cam on the head of a driver does not make a good VR experience. At all. You need a specific camera setup for it to work in a natural fashion, something that won't just materialize from thin air.

 

[tential]

I completely disagree with this statement. I think a very large amount of consumers would be interested in $250 3d headsets just for watching sports alone, let alone movies. You could buy enough for the whole family, and still be cheaper than a big screen TV. The added benefit as they said is that it would be like you are there.

Occulus Rift would also be astounding for watching NASCAR/Racing. Imagine drivers in car views as your view. Talk about pant crapping.

That's some great theory crafting but lets get down to the actual reality of it.

Broadcasts are struggling to give us full 1080p (We're stil at 1080i?) and let alone 60 FPS. You seriously think we'll get support for broadcasts that can support Occulus Rift within the next 5 years? It's not happening. It just isn't. Broadcasts move slowly and we still get a TON of content broadcast only in 720p.

Then you expect them to have VR tech in each nascar (or only racers we care about)/sports players as well?

Look, I'm not disagreeing with you at all that it's great in THEORY. But the reality is the technology isn't there to see this become viable anytime soon. It's much more likely that after purchasing OR, Facebook 1-3 years down the line from now realizes that VR tech, just like 3D, is a small niche market that won't go mainstream and will then can the project completely.

Trust me, I like what you see was potential for VR tech. I wish it would happen. I'd definitely pay for OR, and the crazy virtual reality subscription package from Verizon FIOS so I can have the Tom Brady view for a game. I'd definitely pay a HUGE premium for it (double/triple my current sports package cost).

There is also the pitfalls such as actually having to wear something on your face to watch TV. A lot of people have an issue with that/find it inconvenient. I find it inconvenient to wear simple glasses when watchin HDTV. Wearing a virtual reality headset? Forget about it. Theory crafting, it looks like an excellent idea. But I wouldn't want to be the guy at facebook who made the push to buy OR 4 years down the line from now when they ask him to justify their 2 BILLION dollar investment into the company.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

There is a sucker born every minute. And zuckyberger is the ring leader. I'm fairly confident FB stock/holdings is being used as leverage for some titanic deals. This was a brilliantly constucted get rich scheme without ever having to actually produce, sell, and support a product. Bravo.

Won't end well for the little people......

 

[mooncancook]

Occulus Rift would also be astounding for watching NASCAR/Racing. Imagine drivers in car views as your view. Talk about pant crapping.

Why is that fun? Viewing that for a couple minutes may be amusing, but for an entire race that is incredibly boring. Plus with VR you are supposed to control the view by turning your head. If the driver controls your view instead, it won't feel like VR. Even if you can control the view with the OR, the experience will still be lacking since you feel like you are there but then you have no control of the car. I believe gaming is still really where it is at.

 

[Headfoot]

Why is that fun? Viewing that for a couple minutes may be amusing, but for an entire race that is incredibly boring. Plus with VR you are supposed to control the view by turning your head. If the driver controls your view instead, it won't feel like VR. Even if you can control the view with the OR, the experience will still be lacking since you feel like you are there but then you have no control of the car. I believe gaming is still really where it is at.

Why is nascar 'fun' in the first place anyways? I find it absolutely dreadful but there is a significant population who doesnt and is willing to pay for it

 

[KingFatty]

Why is that fun? Viewing that for a couple minutes may be amusing, but for an entire race that is incredibly boring. Plus with VR you are supposed to control the view by turning your head. If the driver controls your view instead, it won't feel like VR.

Dude you just invented a new system right there. You wear a thing around your neck and it has pistons that control your head.

I mean in the Nascar thing, you'll be immersed in VR, and when the driver turns his head, your new system would literally push your head and turn it in the right direction, and the goggles would also change their view to match.

I dunno, call it the Octopus Tentacles system or something.

 

[moonbogg]

lol @ the kickstarter chumps haha. Just made these dudes 2 billion and they will probably never get to game with the stupid thing now. Facebook was just making sure no one else used it in a way that could hurt their market share. I'll never give a dime to any kickstarter garbage ever. Its just a way for the public to kiss epic ass by handing over money for nothing. Shame about Occulus. Could have been fun at some point.

 

[Gryz]

Everybody is talking about ways how Facebook can use the OR as an output device. Watch this, watch that, watch ads.

OR is partially an output-device. But the brilliancy lies in the fact that it is also an input-device. It registers where your head and your eyes are. Where they go. The output (what you see) can then be adjusted to the input (where are you looking at).

For advertisement, the OR makes no more sense than a monitor or a smartphone. For films or tv-broadcasts, the OR makes no more sense than a tv-screen.

If you only use it as an output device, the only benefit you get is the fact that it is 3D. And we've seen in the last 5 years how excited people are about watching films and tv in 3D. They are not.

This deal makes no sense. The only justification is that Facebook *can* buy them. For a lot of CEOs, VCs and other parasites that is enough justification to do the stupidest things. Just because they can.

 

[cytg111]

And when facebook buys secondlife next week, the pieces begin to match up ... oooh, the ad-galore and uber-mining of your social relations to the micrometer.
Seriously, secondlife or something similar .. wait and see.

 

[TeknoBug]

Good God is there anything good coming from Facebook? I hate that thing, and yeah I can picture it now, pop up ads in the middle of something in that Oculus.

 

[S.H.O.D.A.N.]

This deal makes no sense. The only justification is that Facebook *can* buy them. For a lot of CEOs, VCs and other parasites that is enough justification to do the stupidest things. Just because they can.

As I said. AR makes so much sense for Facebook. VR does not, not with their current portfolio.

 

[lehtv]

As I said. AR makes so much sense for Facebook. VR does not, not with their current portfolio.

Obviously they are expanding their portfolio.

 

[S.H.O.D.A.N.]

Obviously they are expanding their portfolio.

Nothing indicates that as of now. In fact, the wording on the PR release indicates they're looking into integrating VR into Facebook's core business of social media rather than actually making content that's suitable for VR in the first place.

 

[steelodon]

Media is going to love this. Waiting for first report on guy being robbed at home while VR dating on FB and girl was a guy in on the robbery.

That would be classic.