Palmer Luckey, the founder of Oculus VR, confirmed that the Consumer Version of the Oculus Rift will compare to the DK2 in these ways:
- Higher resolution (DK2 is 1080P, so I would guess 1440P)
- Lighter (DK2 is 440 g)
- Lower latency
- Higher refresh rate (DK2 is 75 Hz, CV will be at least 90 Hz)
Here is a good video interview with him:
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This is awful news. I had been expecting to pick one of these up the moment it was released. If it's tied to facebook so that I have to have an account which announces what I'm doing, I'll pass. There are awful things they could do joining the technologies.
The comments on reddit are spot on.
Last edited by Kjesse; 03-25-2014 at 04:44 PM.
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This is awful news. I had been expecting to pick one of these up the moment it was released. If it's tied to facebook so that I have to have an account which announces what I'm doing, I'll pass. There are awful things they could do joining the technologies.
The comments on reddit are spot on.
Agreed, while Oculus will likely have freedom on the hardware side of things, I imagine that the software side will be tied into Facebook's platform. Hard to imagine Facebook will allow the device to be used without the required use of some sort of Facebook account tie-in. I imagine that games are likely going to be purchased through Facebook's platform as well (no Steam?). Definitely awful to think about.
Agreed, while Oculus will likely have freedom on the hardware side of things, I imagine that the software side will be tied into Facebook's platform. Hard to imagine Facebook will allow the device to be used without the required use of some sort of Facebook account tie-in. I imagine that games are likely going to be purchased through Facebook's platform as well (no Steam?). Definitely awful to think about.
I don't think that's true at all. Facebook has acquired just about 50 companies and they're mostly talent acquisitions. Instagram is an obvious exception, which continues to function (for the user) completely independently of Facebook. WhatsApp would be completely destroyed by a forced Facebook account connection, and I'm sure they're aware of that.
The Oculus acquisition, being a hardware-focused company, is unprecedented, so nobody really knows what will happen. But Facebook's other billion-dollar-plus acquisitions continue to operate free of Facebook authentication so I don't see why this would be any different.
I don't think that's true at all. Facebook has acquired just about 50 companies and they're mostly talent acquisitions. Instagram is an obvious exception, which continues to function (for the user) completely independently of Facebook. WhatsApp would be completely destroyed by a forced Facebook account connection, and I'm sure they're aware of that.
The Oculus acquisition, being a hardware-focused company, is unprecedented, so nobody really knows what will happen. But Facebook's other billion-dollar-plus acquisitions continue to operate free of Facebook authentication so I don't see why this would be any different.
Do you really think that Facebook won't eventually start trying to integrate WhatsApp into Facebook? I think its inevitable. Likewise, they want this hardware play as part of a longer term strategy of integration with their user base. Its the only way either acquisition makes any sense, especially given the price they paid for WhatsApp. Even the Oculus acquisition is for a stunning price. They've barely sold anything, and there are competitors out there that will get more attention as many fear what Facebook is going to do to the Rift.
Of course, they wanted Minecraft. I said that it doesn’t really fit the platform, since it’s very motion based, runs on java (that has a hard time delivering rock solid 90 fps, especially since the players build their own potentially hugely complex levels), and relies a lot on GUI. But perhaps it would be cool to do a slimmed down version of Minecraft for the Oculus. Something free, similar to the Minecraft PI Edition, perhaps? So I suggested that, and our people started talking to their people to see if something could be done.
And then, not two weeks later, Facebook buys them.
Facebook is not a company of grass-roots tech enthusiasts. Facebook is not a game tech company. Facebook has a history of caring about building user numbers, and nothing but building user numbers. People have made games for Facebook platforms before, and while it worked great for a while, they were stuck in a very unfortunate position when Facebook eventually changed the platform to better fit the social experience they were trying to build.
Don’t get me wrong, VR is not bad for social. In fact, I think social could become one of the biggest applications of VR. Being able to sit in a virtual living room and see your friend’s avatar? Business meetings? Virtual cinemas where you feel like you’re actually watching the movie with your friend who is seven time zones away?
But I don’t want to work with social, I want to work with games.
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And I did not chip in ten grand to seed a first investment round to build value for a Facebook acquisition.
There will be other VR headsets coming out. It's not exactly rocket science to put displays in a headset and add motion control. Sony announced their own version for the Playstation already
