vandaq Posted March 30, 2014 Share Posted March 30, 2014 I am surprised no one has made this thread before, unless I have missed it. Not sure if it`s fitting here, or in gaming. Mostly because it will be about gaming in the near future for the oculus. If you don`t know, Oculus Rift is a Virtual Reality headset. It started as Kickstarter project in 2012 and did very well. A lot of the gaming community, especially the PC market has looked forward to this considering it will take a lot too run this properly, and it was meant for the PC itself. But it has gotten buzz from the developer community as well because this opens new doors and ideas they can implement. Virtual reality is something many of you remember from the 90`s, but it was mostly looked upon as a failure because it didn`t really work the way it was supposed to and it was not advanced enough. Forward into 2014 and we are now getting closer. Sony has also announced their Morpheus , which probably will be locked down to the PS4. Also other small companies are making VR gear, there is also a rumor that Razer is making one. So there is a big chance that this might not be a fad, but rather the future of how we play games, but also in many other departments. The potential is actually huge, extremely huge. Enter Facebook, the largest media social site which recently bought Oculus Rift for 2 billion dollars before it even launched. This changes things dramatically because as we know, facebook is an advertising company, not a hardware company. The idea is that it will eventually turn into a metaverse, a sort of global hub for the internet, just interactive. Go and watch live sport games, educating and...yeah just basically everything you can imagine. Now obviously, this is what people who thought about VR envisioned in the future, the inevitable. But then the sad part is, it`s facebook. Will it be riddled with ads, will they lock in down to that component? Obviously there will be others, but facebook now has the upper hand and they already has a huge install base, so it`s not hard to put two and two together. It is quite sad though, one would hope that eventually it would very similar to how the internet is now, and that might be the case in the future. It`s kinda hard to predict all the small factors that will play into this. It`s also kinda scary, I mean targeted ads, datamining(which will be much more personal and detailed) and so forth, specially when we are talking about facebook. This might be big game changer in the world that is about to happened, it certainly has the potential to do so, even if it might take several years before it starts to take off in the general masses So, what are your thought`s on this?. It is expected that it will launch around July, but that might change because of this acquisition. I do have to say that while it might seem like a fad at first, I feel very sure in saying that this will be major thing in the future when the headsets gets smaller and smaller. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limpid Posted March 31, 2014 Administrator Share Posted March 31, 2014 It's owned by facebook, therefore of no interest to me. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ingram85 Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 The biggest kick in the teeth for gamers since the original xbone policy stuff. They have reversed a lot of hype, goodwill and positive opinion in one foul swoop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eames Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 Wont every buy one or use it so.........don't care. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vandaq Posted March 31, 2014 Author Share Posted March 31, 2014 Glad to see those responses as they are the same as mine. And a big reminder that supporting kickstarter is like taking money and shoving it down the drain. Another interesting fact is that there seems to be astroturfing involved at reddit and other sites about this, some of the comments are just incredibly enthusiastic about a facebook takeover which I find hard to believe any informed gamer would be of interest in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
packoman Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 Hasn't one of leading developers of Valve's VR moved over to the Oculus Rift now? Could just be for money I suppose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davkaus Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 Glad to see those responses as they are the same as mine. And a big reminder that supporting kickstarter is like taking money and shoving it down the drain. Another interesting fact is that there seems to be astroturfing involved at reddit and other sites about this, some of the comments are just incredibly enthusiastic about a facebook takeover which I find hard to believe any informed gamer would be of interest in. It's not really money down the drain, they got what they paid for - an early dev unit. If you pay in to a kickstarter expecting anything more than exactly what you're promised in the reward tiers, it's no one's fault but your own, a kickstarter isn't buying shares, you don't get a say in how the company is run. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vandaq Posted March 31, 2014 Author Share Posted March 31, 2014 Glad to see those responses as they are the same as mine. And a big reminder that supporting kickstarter is like taking money and shoving it down the drain. Another interesting fact is that there seems to be astroturfing involved at reddit and other sites about this, some of the comments are just incredibly enthusiastic about a facebook takeover which I find hard to believe any informed gamer would be of interest in. It's not really money down the drain, they got what they paid for - an early dev unit. If you pay in to a kickstarter expecting anything more than exactly what you're promised in the reward tiers, it's no one's fault but your own, a kickstarter isn't buying shares, you don't get a say in how the company is run. Again, I have seen this has been mentioned several times, and while I fully agree with you, that was the deal they made. But I feel it`s pretty obvious that most people who invested in this, would not invest in facebook. That`s the main thing, and I think many people feel kinda tricked into helping something they never would have considered. They even said they were surprised that it got such negative attention(they already expected it would get some) which really makes my point complete. They knew the backers went into this because they wanted something independent, and last but not least something that is not being controller by an advertising company. Another analogy would be that someone had a kickstarter for a certain new healthy food type that nobody else had, then it ended up selling it too McDonalds. They might say that that it will be a part of their new healthy selection they have with salads, but you know that when you are buying it you are getting something completely else than you thought you would. I know that it`s kinda faulty in the sense that they were promised devkits but I feel my point is very easy too grasp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davkaus Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 (edited) The feeling you describe seems to be very common, but it's no different to if you were a customer of an independent store and they got bought by a corporation. People will argue they "sold out", but they have no obligations and need to do what's right for them. The problem is that with Kickstarter people have been tricked in to feeling like they've "invested" in a product, when they haven't. There's a lot of misleading media and advertising suggesting that backers are investors in the idea, but I feel like this is something that needs to be ignored, you are only ever a customer. Back a kickstarter project if you like but only if you want the immediate "reward" because that's the product you're buying - everything else is a gamble. I'm not saying as such that I agree with the decision to sell the company to Facebook, I just think that consumers need to be smarter. Edited March 31, 2014 by Davkaus 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 I've been following the Oculus since the Kickstarter and lets face it, a major buyout was inevitable if it was ever going to happen. They spoke about it on the Tested podcast this week and I agree with pretty much everything they said. It's well worth a listen if you are interested in this kind of thing. Conversation starts at 38:15 and goes on for fifteen or twenty minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dont_do_it_doug. Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 Forget the ins and outs of who bought what fir a second. VR is coming. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limpid Posted April 1, 2014 Administrator Share Posted April 1, 2014 I'm a lot more interested in AR than VR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PieFacE Posted June 5, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted June 5, 2014 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ed9Dy2ajM0o Impressive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vandaq Posted June 5, 2014 Author Share Posted June 5, 2014 The feeling you describe seems to be very common, but it's no different to if you were a customer of an independent store and they got bought by a corporation. People will argue they "sold out", but they have no obligations and need to do what's right for them. The problem is that with Kickstarter people have been tricked in to feeling like they've "invested" in a product, when they haven't. There's a lot of misleading media and advertising suggesting that backers are investors in the idea, but I feel like this is something that needs to be ignored, you are only ever a customer. Back a kickstarter project if you like but only if you want the immediate "reward" because that's the product you're buying - everything else is a gamble. I'm not saying as such that I agree with the decision to sell the company to Facebook, I just think that consumers need to be smarter. Yes, I know that. I think most of the people is just let down that they did not sell out to anyone, it was someone who has made their money through advertising and data mining. Not exactly the best outcome to be honest, but it seems like that is inevitable these days. They also teamed up with Samsung the other day, so no doubt they will get even better screens. That's a good thing but it also helps Samsung in their way into vr for mobiles I think? I really hope we get something that is pretty open and not tied down to anything but I don't see it. A sort of plug and play device. If not, then I am waiting on a hack or checking out other devices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ender4 Posted June 12, 2014 Share Posted June 12, 2014 Does it matter who owns it? I'm more interested in what it'll do and whether it becomes mainstream. and being owned by a large company like FB, who can launch it to the masses, means its more likely to become mainstream rather than a niche product. so i think its a good thing that its been bought by FB. and once it becomes mainstream, other companies will launch their own versions, and so they'll be options to choose which one you want. win/win all round. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limpid Posted June 12, 2014 Administrator Share Posted June 12, 2014 Of course it matters who owns it. But that's what you go on to say... I don't trust facebook and judging from the network logs at work, interest in facebook is finally waning. They'll rename it to "parentbook" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ender4 Posted June 12, 2014 Share Posted June 12, 2014 Of course it matters who owns it. But that's what you go on to say... I don't trust facebook and judging from the network logs at work, interest in facebook is finally waning. They'll rename it to "parentbook" i agree with that - 5 years ago i would be on FB every day, posting pics, etc... loved it. nowadays i'll log in once a week just to check, and never post anything. But what i was trying to say is that it doesn't matter that Facebook specifically own it, but it does matter what type of company own it and whether they have the resources and reach to make it mainstream. But whether that is Facebook or Google or Microsoft doesn't really matter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ender4 Posted June 12, 2014 Share Posted June 12, 2014 (edited) interest in facebook is finally waning. I had also assumed interest in facebook was waning, so i checked the figures. It must just be in the UK that its declining. Monthly active users: Q1 2014 - 1.276 Billion Q4 2013 - 1.228 B Q3 2013 - 1.189 B Q2 2013 - 1.155 B Q1 2013 - 1.110 B Q4 2012 - 1.056 B Q3 2012 - 1.007 B Q2 2012 - 955 Mill Q1 2012 - 901 Mill Edited June 12, 2014 by ender4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limpid Posted June 12, 2014 Administrator Share Posted June 12, 2014 Meaningless unless you define "monthly active users". When facebook was busy, I bet they published stats of active users per hour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Designer1 Posted June 12, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted June 12, 2014 I was pretty impressed when I had a go on an Oculus a few weeks ago. Resolution was a little low which slightly dampened the experience but I understand the newer models (DK2) will run at a higher 1920×1080. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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