Facebook buys Occulus Rift

[Turjan]

Steam shows the suits that there is no drawback for producing games with DRM.

My Steam library is full of DRM-free games, most of them from bundles.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

What "drawback" did you expect? People refusing to buy the games altogether? Lettuce be cereal.

Besides, suits don't take responsibility anyway. Poor sales of game with DRM = "Pirates are ruining the industry! We need to put DRM on the DRM! I have a MBA, trust me on this."

A lot of people, myself included, have the opinion that there hasn't been a PC exclusive game worth paying for since before Steam was around. Yet somehow, despite the shit games, Gabe Newell is a billionaire.

That's because the people complaining on message boards aren't "a lot of people".

 

[Morgoth]

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2014/03/25/notch-cancels-minecraft-on-oculus-rift.aspx

Notch already rebels, canceling Oculus Rift support for Minecraft.

 

[Morgoth]

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2014/03/25/notch-cancels-minecraft-on-oculus-rift.aspx

Notch already rebels, canceling Oculus Rift support for Minecraft.

 

[mondblut]

No Vaginus Rift companion hardware yet? Don't bother us, then.

 

[Curious_Tongue]

Steam shows the suits that there is no drawback for producing games with DRM.

My Steam library is full of DRM-free games, most of them from bundles.

What "drawback" did you expect? People refusing to buy the games altogether? Lettuce be cereal.

I meant to say shitty games with added DRM.

 

[Gerrard]

The Rift creator is pretty active on Reddit right now:

http://www.reddit.com/user/palmerluckey

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.

This deal specifically lets us greatly lower the price of the Rift.

Custom hardware less expensive?
Haha okay.


http://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/21cy9n/the_future_of_vr/
submitted 11 hours ago by palmerluckey Founder, Oculus VR
0 points (41% like it)
3,532 upvotes 4,967 downvotes

You're not getting out of this one, son.

 

[Jigawatt]

 

[Astral Rag]

Maximum decline unlocked: The first somewhat decent consumer VR set will have a facebook interface:

Spoiler

 

[FeelTheRads]

What the fuck is that in the second image.

Spoiler

 

[Curious_Tongue]

What does Facebook care about Minecraft?

Did notch just punish his fans to spite Facebook? I don't think he has thought this through.

 

[Spectacle]

Oh well. It looks like the base technology is finally ready to allow consumer VR, so even if Facebook kills the rift, it won't set things back more than a couple of years, there will soon be alternatives.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Notch doesn't want his game associated with Facebook. He doesn't need the money, anyway.

 

[Curious_Tongue]

His fans want to play Minecraft on the Oculus. Notch not developing for the Oculus isn't going to make Facebook lose a seconds sleep. The only people who suffer are fans.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

They do? Did they make a petition or something?

Besides, it isn't an attack on Facebook, he just doesn't want to work with them. I think he's allowed to choose, being the developer and all.

 

[Shaewaroz]

Well this certainly was a wtf moment for me.

 

[Delbaeth]

True power and true force of will are saying 'No'.
If choices are only saying 'Yes' or abstaining, then it's weakness.

 

[Galdred]

Of course, [Oculus] 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.

Fortunately, the rise of Oculus coincided with competitors emerging. None of them are perfect, but competition is a very good thing. If this means there will be more competition, and VR keeps getting better, I am going to be a very happy boy. I definitely want to be a part of VR, but I will not work with Facebook. Their motives are too unclear and shifting, and they haven't historically been a stable platform. There's nothing about their history that makes me trust them, and that makes them seem creepy to me.

And I did not chip in ten grand to seed a first investment round to build value for a Facebook acquisition.

I have the greatest respect for the talented engineers and developers at Oculus. It's been a long time since I met a more dedicated and talented group of people. I understand this is purely a business deal, and I'd like to congratulate both Facebook and the Oculus owners. But this is where we part ways.

He has a point about Facebook not caring much about partner screwage...

 

[Astral Rag]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1523379957/oculus-rift-step-into-the-game/comments

So much justified



Also:

 

[Baron Dupek]

Not sure if someone wrote it or not or cared anyway, but there is some similiar news...

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/..._in_Machinima_in_a_round_worth_18_million.php

Warner Bros bought Machinima with most famous shithead bait named PewDiePie.

Also - Disney bought Makers Studios for ~500mln$ plus another 450mln if they reach some views number; it contain Polaris group (TotalBiscuit, Husky, Jesse Cox, Yogscast etc.)
Worst thing is they got also JefMajor, the only decent channel from that group (which is not updated for months anyway).

 

[Morgoth]

So how long until Google and Apple come up with their own VR consumer solutions?

Silly me. In ten years time, all these tech giants will be one single conglomerate anyway.

-Ameriga Corp.

 

[evdk]

So how long until Google and Apple come up with their own VR consumer solutions?

Silly me. In ten years time, all these tech giants will be one single conglomerate anyway.

-Ameriga Corp.

Only terrorists from the Al-Gentoo will be able to save us then.

 

[Morgoth]

Ameriga Corp and Eurocorp are there to help you. Accept our chip implant and you'll receive a life-long minimum wage in return.

You will never have to worry ever again in your life. *gentle music*

 

[Unkillable Cat]

So how long until Google and Apple come up with their own VR consumer solutions?

Silly me. In ten years time, all these tech giants will be one single conglomerate anyway.

-Ameriga Corp.

You think they aren't already?

Also, went over to the CCP forums to check on people's reaction over Valkyrie, the Oculus Rift-exclusive title. The fans are furious. Threads after threads are being made about this being bad for the game, with devs writing posts after posts about how this "is a good thing" for the game.

Damage control all round, blahblahblah.

 

[Turjan]

His fans want to play Minecraft on the Oculus. The only people who suffer are fans.

This leaves me severely distressed. We should start a Kickstarter immediately to get a relief effort going for all those suffering people. Think of all those people, lying in the streets, their dreams shattered, with all perspective in their lives lost.