Now that Facebook will own Oculus, are you going to buy an Oculus Rift?

[f0rk_b0mb]

F#&% No! 

[Ironman273]

To further support Pupik's post:

When it came to Oculus' business model, he (Zuckerberg) said Facebook wasn't interested in making money on the Oculus Rift hardware; the revenue, he said, would come from other places. "We view this as a software and services thing," he said. "If this becomes a network where people can be communicating and buying things and virtual goods, and there might be advertising in the world, but we need to figure that out down the line." Zuckerberg didn't go into specifics, but it's easy to imagine shopping malls popping up in the virtual landscape.

Source: Engadget "Can Oculus survive the Facebook effect?"

[timster]

no.

 

but this is because I had never heard of Oculus Rift prior to today

[+Warwagon MVC]

no.

 

but this is because I had never heard of Oculus Rift prior to today

 

WOW ... I've been over it for over a year.

[spaceelf]

http://techreport.com/news/26229/updated-oculus-headset-may-get-facebook-rebrand-price-cut 

We have not gotten into all the details yet, but a lot of the news is coming. The key points:
1) We can make custom hardware, not rely on the scraps of the mobile phone industry. That is insanely expensive, think hundreds of millions of dollars. More news soon.
2) We can afford to hire everyone we need, the best people that fit into our culture of excellence in all aspects.
3) We can make huge investments in content. More news soon.

 

Luckey went on to note, "This deal specifically lets us greatly lower the price of the Rift."

[Xerax]

Why the hate?

It's fun to circlejerk.

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

I find it interesting how for some people the response to somebody else not liking a product is to get upset at them and call them names ("You don't like Facebook, we'll you're just on a hate bandwagon and you're totally going to buy it anyway") I've been told for years and years that I was "anti-social" for not having a Facebook account, surprisingly I still don't have a Facebook account even though people told me over and over again that I'd "break down and create one".

Any interest I had in the Rift is gone now, and that's not going to change just because people call me childish for not liking something.

[Lord Method Man]

I find it interesting how for some people the response to somebody else not liking a product is to get upset at them and call them names ("You don't like Facebook, we'll you're just on a hate bandwagon and you're totally going to buy it anyway") I've been told for years and years that I was "anti-social" for not having a Facebook account, surprisingly I still don't have a Facebook account even though people told me over and over again that I'd "break down and create one".

Any interest I had in the Rift is gone now, and that's not going to change just because people call me childish for not liking something.

 

Do people still do the idiotic "You don't use Facebook? You must not have any friends then." ? I haven't heard it in about a year or so myself.

[Brian Miller]

In an effort to stay relevant, Myspace purchases a Virtual Boy off eBay for $65

 

[chrisj1968]

No way! anything facebook touches, dies.

 

[+virtorio MVC]

I would have preferred it if Facebook didn't buy them, but if the finished product is good I'll still buy it. 

[DarkyDan]

I'm much more excited for the consumer version now that Oculus have the financial backing of Facebook.. the device that ships will be 3 times as good as it would have.

 

They will be able to design and produce custom hardware specifically for use in the Rift.  At the very least that will improve performance and packaging of the device.

 

I'm still considering going halves with someone in a DK2 to test apps that have already been made, I think it would be interesting to try and turn a picture of my actual desk into a background for a virtual desktop.  I also think that panoramic video calling would be pretty nifty, even if a gimmick.

 

I secretly hope that the consumer version will ship with a slightly wider FOV though, cutting out peripheral vision completely sucks out some of the immersion factor.

[Dotdot]

Love the idea that people won`t buy this now as Facebook has bought them.

Sure,

Cause it`s not as if larger companies buy up smaller companies and do this exact thing all the time.

I,ll bet there are several companies out there now that are owned by some "Evil" company, that folk on here are happily buying into.

In fact MS, Sony and Apple all come to mind.

 

[HawkMan]

I'm much more excited for the consumer version now that Oculus have the financial backing of Facebook.. the device that ships will be 3 times as good as it would have.

 

They will be able to design and produce custom hardware specifically for use in the Rift.  At the very least that will improve performance and packaging of the device.

 

I'm still considering going halves with someone in a DK2 to test apps that have already been made, I think it would be interesting to try and turn a picture of my actual desk into a background for a virtual desktop.  I also think that panoramic video calling would be pretty nifty, even if a gimmick.

 

I secretly hope that the consumer version will ship with a slightly wider FOV though, cutting out peripheral vision completely sucks out some of the immersion factor.

 

So you want a video call where you can see all the other callers in a virtual environment where you turn around and all the video feeds are lined up side by side.... and they're all wearing a huge OR visor :p

[HawkMan]

I find it interesting how for some people the response to somebody else not liking a product is to get upset at them and call them names ("You don't like Facebook, we'll you're just on a hate bandwagon and you're totally going to buy it anyway") I've been told for years and years that I was "anti-social" for not having a Facebook account, surprisingly I still don't have a Facebook account even though people told me over and over again that I'd "break down and create one".

Any interest I had in the Rift is gone now, and that's not going to change just because people call me childish for not liking something.

 

 

So. just because Facebook owns them, and there will be a tiny embossed Facebook logo on the hardware and they might make their own virtual world social network thing for it, that would be completely optional to use you're not going to buy it. Even after all the cool games you where waiting for when the Rift was independent are released with OR support all the big AAA games are released with OR support. even after that perfect OR game is released....  even after that you're still gonna sit there saying "no, facebook owns them, I won't buy. I don't care if the hardware is awesome and it has lots of great game support. I won't buy it because FB owns them and they have this program i 'can' use on it" ?

[MikeChipshop Member]

Hell, if Microsoft made the purchase, I'd be downright excited and would argue that it could be a game changer in allowing Sony to have some real competition which would allow for us to see continued improvements to the tech.

 

Can't argue with that.

 

http://techreport.com/news/26229/updated-oculus-headset-may-get-facebook-rebrand-price-cut 

 

See this exactly what i'm getting at. That sort of financial backing is going to see huge improvements in hardware and software.

[blerk]

My only concern would be that the purchase by Facebook would make gaming a secondary focus. I have no idea how this might occur (as presumably hardware advancements, etc. should benefit games), but I can imagine that the purchase by Facebook means that they want at least some level of integration (eventually) with their flagship product. That I am not interested in, especially if this becomes mandatory (over the longer term, perhaps). 

[HawkMan]

My only concern would be that the purchase by Facebook would make gaming a secondary focus. I have no idea how this might occur (as presumably hardware advancements, etc. should benefit games), but I can imagine that the purchase by Facebook means that they want at least some level of integration (eventually) with their flagship product. That I am not interested in, especially if this becomes mandatory (over the longer term, perhaps). 

 

Again, this is a hardware product.

 

even if they make an app allowing you to do some facebook stuff ont he rift, this has NO effect on the rift in games...

 

it'd be like if FB boughta high end monitor company and slashed the prices and people refused to buy the monitors because you could... load fecaebook on them and facebook owns the company... it's just ... stupid...

[DarkyDan]

So you want a video call where you can see all the other callers in a virtual environment where you turn around and all the video feeds are lined up side by side.... and they're all wearing a huge OR visor :p

 

Good point, I guess I meant.. more a conference where the other party doesn't have a headset on haha.

[blerk]

Again, this is a hardware product.

 

even if they make an app allowing you to do some facebook stuff ont he rift, this has NO effect on the rift in games...

 

it'd be like if FB boughta high end monitor company and slashed the prices and people refused to buy the monitors because you could... load fecaebook on them and facebook owns the company... it's just ... stupid...

 

Even though this is a hardware product, I wouldn't compare it to a monitor, I'd compare it more to a cell-phone. I get the impression that Facebook would want to turn the Rift into an experience by itself, without the need for games as the primary feature; i.e. the ability to use the Rift as a game monitor becomes secondary to the other features (both hardware and software) that will inevitably come, thereby degrading it's performance as a gaming product. 

 

I mean, I see little chance of the Rift ever staying as a simple monitor that you plug in to your PC/console/whatever. And unlike, say, the Xbox's multimedia vision (games + media) where the media features of the console can and do complement the gaming functionality, I struggle to see the additional benefits that can be brought to the Rift, a device which was designed to be the 'purest' embodiment of a virtual reality interface for gaming.

 

Hell, even the Xbox is struggling to add features without garnering bad press. I have less faith in Facebook than Microsoft.

[HawkMan]

Except at the end of the day, the Rift is just a monitor with some sensors that track positioning. there's no processing power in the Rift it's the PC that does all the work. even if the Rift where to have drivers that forced FB popup adds for some reason which would never happen. You would have hacked and modified drivers within a day. 

[DarkyDan]

My only concern would be that the purchase by Facebook would make gaming a secondary focus. I have no idea how this might occur (as presumably hardware advancements, etc. should benefit games), but I can imagine that the purchase by Facebook means that they want at least some level of integration (eventually) with their flagship product. That I am not interested in, especially if this becomes mandatory (over the longer term, perhaps). 

 

i get what you're saying but gaming isn't the focus here.. it is VR.. sure gaming lends well to it.. but so do other applications, which could suit Facebook.  If they make it great for games, it will work in other ways equally as good.

[Rippleman]

I am actually happy facebook bought it. Now it has the backing to actually do something. How long has it been around with little to no progress? It was a turtle crawl tech idea and now it will be given a huge boost forward. To cry about facebook owning it is just plain old silly.

[MikeChipshop Member]

i get what you're saying but gaming isn't the focus here.. it is VR.. sure gaming lends well to it.. but so do other applications, which could suit Facebook.  If they make it great for games, it will work in other ways equally as good.

 

One of my favourite things to do on my mates dev kit was to watch movies. The cinema program was awesome. Better than going to the real cinema as the screen felt much bigger and there were no other people ruining the film for me :p

[0nyX]

Supermarket giant Tesco looking into Oculus Rift to change consumer behavior

http://www.polygon.com/2014/3/26/5549890/supermarket-giant-tesco-looking-into-oculus-rift-to-change-consumer