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VR headset Oculus Rift

So yeah Sony has one. It looks pretty good.

And now, Oculus just got bought by Facebook for $2b

:facepalm: WTF.
 
yeah this is very strange news, as a collegue of mine said, wasnt this kick started, so funded by the public then sold to facebook at huge profit, surely this is illegal?

if not ,why not ?
 
Kickstarter is not investment in the traditional sense. Treat it like a gift-giving or pre-order mechanism. Those backers got their dev kits and that's that.

As for facebook's meddling, my canary is Carmack. If he leaves, then we know all the platitudes are bullshit. If he stays, then I still have faith.
 
One of vlambeer puts the alternate view that Facebook have huge amounts of cash and loads more resources than oculus on their own, which means that this might come to fruition a lot quicker and in a better state than otherwise.

Altho. Facebook.
 
I have no doubt that this will mean a higher quality piece of hardware, sooner, cheaper than without the buyout.
It's what happens to the software side of things that is worth worrying about...
 
Candy crush saga in VR :(

I can see why they've done it though. Going up against someone like Sony without big piles of cash never ends well, even if you have superior hardware.
 
Those kickstarter people need to grow the fuck up. This kid ain't running a charity ffs. It's a business.
 
this is Zuckerbergs post on FB about it
I'm excited to announce that we've agreed to acquire Oculus VR, the leader in virtual reality technology.

Our mission is to make the world more open and connected. For the past few years, this has mostly meant building mobile apps that help you share with the people you care about. We have a lot more to do on mobile, but at this point we feel we're in a position where we can start focusing on what platforms will come next to enable even more useful, entertaining and personal experiences.

This is where Oculus comes in. They build virtual reality technology, like the Oculus Rift headset. When you put it on, you enter a completely immersive computer-generated environment, like a game or a movie scene or a place far away. The incredible thing about the technology is that you feel like you're actually present in another place with other people. People who try it say it's different from anything they've ever experienced in their lives.

Oculus's mission is to enable you to experience the impossible. Their technology opens up the possibility of completely new kinds of experiences.

Immersive gaming will be the first, and Oculus already has big plans here that won't be changing and we hope to accelerate. The Rift is highly anticipated by the gaming community, and there's a lot of interest from developers in building for this platform. We're going to focus on helping Oculus build out their product and develop partnerships to support more games. Oculus will continue operating independently within Facebook to achieve this.

But this is just the start. After games, we're going to make Oculus a platform for many other experiences. Imagine enjoying a court side seat at a game, studying in a classroom of students and teachers all over the world or consulting with a doctor face-to-face -- just by putting on goggles in your home.

This is really a new communication platform. By feeling truly present, you can share unbounded spaces and experiences with the people in your life. Imagine sharing not just moments with your friends online, but entire experiences and adventures.

These are just some of the potential uses. By working with developers and partners across the industry, together we can build many more. One day, we believe this kind of immersive, augmented reality will become a part of daily life for billions of people.

Virtual reality was once the dream of science fiction. But the internet was also once a dream, and so were computers and smartphones. The future is coming and we have a chance to build it together. I can't wait to start working with the whole team at Oculus to bring this future to the world, and to unlock new worlds for all of us.
Click to expand...

I was actually sitting in the waiting room at my GP's when I read this on Facebook and the "consulting with a Doctor just by putting on goggles at home" seemed pretty appealing at the time.

Although not sure how the hell thats gonna work and what actual advantage does oculus give that a voip video call couldnt do? being able to look around the room? is that really important? infact if the visit isnt going to include something that absolutely requires you to be there like a blood pressure test or something then even a phone call would be sufficient.

same with the class room thing, google hangouts i believe already have some people doing things like that and again its not like you need to look around the room in that situation as anything appropriate to the class is going to be shown to you.

being able to be at a football game like that tho, i can imagine that would be pretty big (and expensive)

gaming though...



O_O
 
Thing is once technology has ripened to the point of really delivering on that vision in a big way, and if it passes the test of not making people feel ill and actually being something they love doing, I somehow doubt Oculus will be the only game in town.
 
elbows said:
Thing is once technology has ripened to the point of really delivering on that vision in a big way, and if it passes the test of not making people feel ill and actually being something they love doing, I somehow doubt Oculus will be the only game in town.
Click to expand...
I worked with a researcher who was doing some immersive VR for engineering visualisation, and they had an exclusion list of about 20 different medical conditions.

Travelsickness and migraines were two I remember most (I couldn't participate for these two alone), but there was also epilepsy and balance problems. Pregnancy was also an automatic exclusion from their research (although I think this was purely an arsecovering thing, I'm unaware of any research showing that VR is harmful in pregnancy to either the mother or the foetus).

I think that using immersive VR for GP visits might work for remote communities, but I would need to be persuaded of the benefits over say video calls. Certainly the biggest downside I have heard is that the doctor cannot truly see the colour of a patient's skin, eyes or tongue, or see the texture of a rash accurately enough for diagnosis in either mode, which is why many still prefer to physically interact with a patient.
 
I'll be interested to see how they resolve the problem of system weight. One of the big issues with previous systems has been the weight of the helmet (at least a couple of kg or thereabouts) which makes wearing the device extremely uncomfortable after a while.

Burn rate of capital will be high whilst they solve some of the hard engineering problems that article alludes to.
 
Crispy said:
the current version is about 400g
Click to expand...
Glad to see the weight is coming down, strain on the neck was a big issue with the heavier systems, which makes long game playing sessions unfeasible.

It will interesting to see the prototype when it comes out :)
 
tommers said:
One of vlambeer puts the alternate view that Facebook have huge amounts of cash and loads more resources than oculus on their own, which means that this might come to fruition a lot quicker and in a better state than otherwise.

Altho. Facebook.
Click to expand...

VR angry birds here I come.

*rubs hands*

At this rate we should start wondering how long it will be before Google buys FB.
 
Shirley it's a good thing that it's getting investment? It's kinda pointless to have a special group reserved for evil corps when they all tend to sing from the same hymn sheet.

Regarding motion sickness, apparently this doesn't happen so much with in cab/cockpit simulators as there's always a static point of reference in your field of view. RPGs are a different matter unless they code in their own static point of reference too like looking through a helmet or whatever.
 
Right, when the hell are they releasing this thing? Is it worth getting the development kit or just waiting even longer impatiently?
 
Citizen66 said:
Right, when the hell are they releasing this thing? Is it worth getting the development kit or just waiting even longer impatiently?
Click to expand...
The company that makes the custom motion-tracking chips in the current DK2 has very recently been bragging about the 500,000 unit order it's had for its latest VR-optimized motion tracking chip. It looks almost certain that the consumer version of the rift will be out in the second half of next year. For real this time.

Despite getting a go on the DK2 this evening (omg omg omg), I am going to hold out for two things:

1. The consumer rift. It will be better in every way than the DK2.
2. nVidia to get their latest graphics card tech onto 16nm manufacturing, and then buy whatever that card is. Max performance, minimum power (important for me cos I have a small form factor PC and it lives in a cupboard
 
It's like £220 plus shipping and perhaps plus tax. A year to wait. It's less than half what people are willing to spunk on a new phone. I need to stop reading about it or something. Let me know how your test play went. I'm suitably envious.
 
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