Oculus Rift Development Kit 2: Another Eyes-On

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I still can't believe how cliquey the PC tech world is. Same product, more funding, backing, and lobby power to get it supported by other companies, but tied to a company that isn't "with it" to gamers/PC geeks? All of the sudden it's "OMG I HATE THIS ICKY ICKY ICKY!"

This could be a harbinger of Facebook taking a very different turn - though, it was bound to happen sooner or later. Their social-network roots could only take them so far. I'll be curious to see what they're like.
 
Sony could not have hoped for a better present!And, yes, Project Morpheus is not only PS4, it has been demoed on the PC.http://www.roadtovr.com/sony-project-morpheus-dev-kits-delivered-early-june/
 
They pretty much made Oculus from off the shelf parts. I don't see why some people from Tom's don't get together and start their own project. Most of us build PC's from off the shelf stuff.
 
The problem is that now FB can decide what direction the rift goes as far as development goes. FB is not an investment firm as far as stocks goes so when they spend 2B on it they have a good idea of what they want to do with the tech and I'm not aware of FB developing any full pc games (which is what most people were excited about).
 
If you NEED a Facebook account to use the Rift, I sure as hell won't be getting one. Like the Minecraft developer said, "We were in talks about maybe bringing a version of Minecraft to Oculus. I just cancelled that deal. Facebook creeps me out." The last sentence echo's my sentiments exactly. Facebook creeps me out too.
 
Vaporware is a word that has begun popping up in my head when I see news about Oculus Rift. How many years has gone by since the Kick-starter campaign started? With the kick-starter money, the venture capital and dev kit sales I can't imagine they have been underfunded. It's not like they're inventing something never heard of before. COTS components, perhaps an ASIC, a casing and some software; It shouldn't take half a decade. The only good I can see come from FB is giving them an incentive to finalize the product, so they can get their $2 billion back (I'm not sure that's good though...). I hope it'll still be "affordable" once released, but it seems like the price just went up, $2 billion.
 
This was Kickstarter funded. Where was Mark back then? It isn't about a "cliquey" PC world so much as it is about the technology being sniped from the community that got it off the ground and the perceived loss of said community's control. It is whatever FB wants it to be now. Hey Mark, would you mind reimbursing the Kickstarters who got this off the ground for you, if it ever becomes profitable?
 
They stated you don't need a FB account, but things change.

For example.
I went to make a comment on HuffPo, I haven't logged-in in months, but when I tried. they requested my FB credentials and stated I would, from now on, be identified using my FB account name... WTF
They had previously said only new members would be required to follow any new rules.
 
Seriously, vote with your dollar and let this flop. Without early adopters Rift is screwed. I used to tell my friends and family about it and was going to show them once I got one. Now I tell them what happened and that its a garbage product.
 
Occulus was bound to be snatched up by someone. How else are the supposed compete. There still have many hurdles to overcome. Even with the successfully kick starter , the extra 75 million and the sale of dev kits, there is no way they can beat Sony to market and match their R&D. Everyone was watching Occulus. I would like to hear from those actually working on the project before I throw them under the bus and call them sell outs. The may be completely excited to have budget constraints lifted. 1. gotta have lower latency / quicker refresh rates for a smooth nauseous free experience. 2. the screen could still use refinement /higher resolution3. The weight still needs to be reduced and redistributed, newer or alternative materials need to be explored4. They need to be first to market and they need their Brand established. From a marketing perspective, it's not a bad move, maybe even genius.5. I am sure they have applied for new patents since alot of the implementation of the tech is new , they will need facebooks funds and lawyers to protect their IP. I love indie projects and the community that supports them, but this may be the turning point in the way we consume entertainment. As the tech becomes wireless and portable the possibilities may be endless to more practical applications.
 


"Perceived loss of community control"? Oh, I'm sorry, I take back everything I said. Did they bring you in on their design meetings? Consult you before making any major decisions as to where the project was doing and insisted that your word was in some way defining? Did anyone who was actually had any sort of final say in where the project went sign some sort of document saying that they were going to keep the community in control of the project? No? Ok, then I take nothing back. This project was never yours and acting like it is after the fact is just throwing a tantrum.

What they did with kickstarter was say "We're going to build this. Will you give us money to help us do it?" Giving them money never gave anyone who helped fund them even the most remote say in what they chose to do with it as the project went on. The idea of "community control" was never anything but a woefully misguided fantasy. Kickstarter in no way gives you ownership of the project, and I have no idea why you think OR was some sort of exception to this.

They asked for money so they could build a product that they could sell to a big company that would back it so it might actually become something Why is everyone so surprised when they found that backer? And yes, it IS cliquey, because if it had been some "cool" company (Valve, Google, Sony, whoever) that picked it up, you'd all be jumping up and down with joy.
 
I wonder how well the initial kickstarter funding would have gone, if they said from the start that they were making a new VR interface for Facebook. Of course I do realize that they probably didn't even consider Facebook as a potential buyer in the start, but y'know what I'm trying to say...
 
To reply to stevejnb's cynical reply above I just want to add that clearly Kickstarter backers wrongly thought that the quaint notions of LOYALTY and TRUST still existed in independent (i.e. non corporate) communities, and hadn't yet been entirely replaced by BETRAYAL and GREED. Clearly they were wrong, and presumably will have learnt a valuable lesson.
 


Just got to ask, do the people who gave money to this project figure they were donating to a non-profit charity organization? The moment you donated to a project that was going to become a consumer product, you really shouldn't have had any illusions about there being any endgame to this other than making a lot of cash.

If you donated, you were NOT betrayed in any way, shape, or form. You gave money to people who wanted a kick-start to make a consumer product. The whole point was to get their product done and make money off of it. Getting bought out by a big company not only fulfills both of those goals better than keeping it a rinky-dink kickstarter operation, but it also gives this product the backing it will need to get truly big.

I have trouble believing that this wasn't their plan from day one. Really, what was everyone expecting? Get enough money from Kickstarter to design a prototype and then kickstart for some tiny production run, likely too small for serious PC developers to dump significant resources into supporting? Maybe claw their way into the big league over the course of years if some other company didn't just come out with their own VR headset that instantly had massive resources backing it? That's a recipe for the OR being the VR helmet equivalent of the MP3 players that came before the iPod. A big company that actually has money and industry pull to back it was likely their end goal from the start. Otherwise, it would just be an idea that never had a chance to be really big due to lack of resources.

You didn't get betrayed. You went in with ridiculous expectations and are personally offended that a business wanted to make as much money as possible.
 
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