Facebook Closes Its Oculus VR Studio (bbc.com) 72
puddingebola writes: Facebook has closed Oculus VR Studio. The studio was a maker of original VR films, but now will only assist other studios. This makes it official, as the studio had been shuttered since the departure of Palmer Luckey.
In a blog post the company emphasized that "We're still absolutely committed to growing the VR film and creative content ecosystem."
In a blog post the company emphasized that "We're still absolutely committed to growing the VR film and creative content ecosystem."
VR is like 3D (Score:5, Insightful)
Will be gone in a few years. Fads never last.
Re:VR is like 3D (Score:4, Insightful)
"As it is I think it could be good for movies, assuming it made economic sense - which it probably doesn't - but for gaming, just no"
VR is already rapidly taking over the sim market. Once you've played a flight sim or driving sim in VR, it's really hard to go back to a flat screen.
And it's going to spread to more and more gaming markets from there.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I forget whether they were talking about racing sim or combat flight sim, but someone on another site said a couple of weeks back that all the top players in the league they were in used VR. Anyone who wanted to be competitive had little choice but to buy a VR headset.
Re: (Score:2)
Leap Motion does a decent job. The other day I was in a VR helicopter in Antarctica, leaning around the cockpit to flick switches while I figured out how to start the engine.
The problem is that with only two relatively low-resolution cameras attached to the headset, it can lose track of your hand position fairly easily.
Re: (Score:2)
The controls problem has been solved for decades. You need two setups, driving and flying. Most games will adapt to one or the other. e.g. space and mech both work with cockpit controls, I've actually found no use for the driving setup except driving, which of course is plenty. I built mine around a pair of old M3 seats.
Limits how fast you can pick-up the game especially if you have to map a complex set of controls to one of 4 hat switches, 15 buttons and 3 sliders, 4 axis analog etc. But that's baked in
Re: (Score:2)
Flight sims are a pretty niche market. I used to spend a lot of money on HOTAS controllers (flightstick, throttle, and rudder pedals). The screen was always the limiting factor for any sort of true immersive quality. You really need to be able to look around to acquire and track targets if you're trying to fly a fighter with a bubble canopy. So, for these enthusiasts, I completely believe that VR will do well. And of course, any sort of cockpit-based game seems likely to benefit equally well, like raci
Re: (Score:1)
Flight sims are a pretty niche market. I used to spend a lot of money on HOTAS controllers (flightstick, throttle, and rudder pedals). The screen was always the limiting factor for any sort of true immersive quality. You really need to be able to look around to acquire and track targets if you're trying to fly a fighter with a bubble canopy. So, for these enthusiasts, I completely believe that VR will do well. And of course, any sort of cockpit-based game seems likely to benefit equally well, like racing sims, mech fighters, space flyers, and even amusement park sims (rollercoaster and ride previews).
One of these days, when the price drops to something reasonable, I might try pick it up again. For everyone else though, it currently requires a monster computer (although this will improve in time), and outside of the gee-whiz factor, there's really not a compelling reason to embrace it.
VR is mostly a fad but that slim niche would really lap it up you're right. I play a lot of DCSworld (KA50 and A10C mainly) and thought the same thing. I use headtracking already with hotas etc but sensible priced VR would be good. If it can do 6DoF better than TiR5 and is up to the job and can match/exceed the res of large screen(s) with head tracking then I'd consider current prices. I have the machine to handle it but the only real options for sim folks are vive and rift and they both have big drawbacks.
Re: (Score:1)
Like 3D printers?
Re: VR is like 3D (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
After playing some games in 3D (anaglyph, but still), I think 3D screens could be pretty swell for gaming.
Re: (Score:1)
This is going to turn out just like VR did back in the 90s. Some people will get it, play around and go "neato", then put it away to collect dust. There just isn't anything compelling about the primitive state of VR and no way to make it immersive without requiring people to dedicate entire rooms for it. That's why most of the "AAA" VR games coming out seem to be nothing more than first person shooters where the player is glued to a single spot and cannot freely walk around, which is gay.
Of course the peopl
Re: VR is like 3D (Score:2)
"Gay"?
Are you 12?
Re: (Score:1)
How very ageist of you.
Re: (Score:3)
"That's why most of the "AAA" VR games coming out seem to be nothing more than first person shooters where the player is glued to a single spot and cannot freely walk around, which is gay."
No, it's because most devs are too scared of players getting sick to let them move around with a joystick. It's as though the early FPS devs had listened to the people who complained that FPS games made them sick, and switched to games where the player stood in one spot while the bad guys ran toward them.
Fortunately that'
Re: (Score:2)
"You can't have VR movement without real-life movement unless you want to eschew one of the very things that makes it VR."
Next you'll be saying you can't play a shooter game with a keyboard and mouse instead of a light gun, unless you want to eschew one of the very things that makes it a shooter.
Re: (Score:2)
I've run all across Skyrim in VR, dude.
Re: (Score:2)
If you do track days, playing I-racing with a VR setup and force feedback is a life changing gaming event. You get the perception of depth that you don't get on a screen which lets you judge speed better. You can look through corners, and practice all the same skills you can do in real life. I did a round of i-racing on my home track and it felt pretty much the same as being in the car (i-racing laser maps the tracks so it feels the same). http://www.iracing.com/track-t... [iracing.com]
The best use of VR right now is f
Re: (Score:2)
Does iRacing have your car?
Assetto Corsa does'nt have mine...can't really judge quality of car feel, but it's pretty good as far as it can go. Can't feel individual tires slip, like in the real car, no 'seat of pants', but what can you expect.
Re: (Score:2)
No, it doesn't have my track car.
http://www.iracing.com/cars/ [iracing.com]
Re: (Score:2)
There was a very bad couple of years, right at the end of C-64, sprite games. There were already something like 20,000 2D games available for piracy. Many game companies failed as their biggest market collapsed. Too many years, peddling the same tired stuff. Like 3d shooters now.
Re: (Score:2)
What was the last even somewhat serious sprite game you've seen? It's all flash, one level, joke games.
I am just as bored of 3d shooters/sneakers as I was of sprite games by the end of that period.
Re: (Score:2)
> What was the last even somewhat serious sprite game you've seen? It's all flash, one level, joke games.
Terraria [terraria.org]
Re: (Score:2)
I briefly tried an FPS (forget which one) on a 3D monitor, but I found that everything looked flat if it was more than a few feet away. Whereas standing at the top of the steps outside Dragonsreach in Skyrim in VR, the whole scene looked pretty 3D at least to the walls of Whiterun.
Re: (Score:2)
Will be gone in a few years. Fads never last.
VR unlike mock 3D is useful and now that we have the hardware for it you'll find it will stick around. Sure you may not be sitting in your living room with a headset on, but VR will continue to develop and exist.
Re: (Score:2)
Will be gone in a few years. Fads never last.
Next time you launch your imperial fighter from the hanger of your friends ship weaving thru structures of stations and massive ships with 6DOF control like a leaf on the wind try closing one of your eyes.
With remaining eye open look around you...what do you see? Hint: your still IN the same frisking spaceship. "3D" binocular vision means nothing in VR. It means nothing in space or past about 5 meters here on earth either.
Simply labeling something new a "fad" and declaring they never last would mean stea
Re: (Score:2)
Will be gone in a few years. Fads never last.
Spoken like someone who tried smartphone VR and has no idea what Oculus and Vive bring to the table.
VR is being handled terribly (Score:1)
Since I was a kid I wanted even a VFX... as garbage as it was I tried it at Comdex and wanted it so bad.
I don't want to pay top dollar for DRM locked down garbage, however. It's a display! There's no need for that crap.
I have a 3D TV and we barely use it only because half of my household doesn't like the effect, really. We go to 3D movies but
VR Suitability Test (Score:2)
Looking a VR use reaction videos you should likely be able to test for VR suitability use by individuals by gauging their visual reliance for balance versus be more genetically reliant upon the vestibular system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]. Those more reliant upon visual cues will likley be completely unsuited to using VR system. Those less reliant on visual cues will be much more comfortable with VR systems. There likely would be specific genes that would indicate that difference.
Re: (Score:2)
Or worse, your gut not caring where 'you are' makes you immune to VR sickness.
VR sickness = 'motion sickness or tunnel vision from games or 3-D effects'
Does this mean HTC "Won"? (Score:3)
I bought a Vive because the idea of Faceculus Riftbook was unappealing. The Oculus Touch controllers are definitely the better of the two on grip, alone.
This is not good. Every Microsoft needs an Apple and every FedEx needs a UPS. Competition is the only way to keep moving forward.
Re: (Score:2)
"Valve has opened their api (openvr), so why not contribute & adopt it?"
Yes, in a rapidly-changing new industry, why wouldn't you want to be locked in to an API controlled and developed by your biggest competitor?
You know it makes sense.
Back in the real world, there'll be a time for standard VR APIs, but it's certainly not today. There's a reason we had Glide and other custom 3D APIs for years before game devs settled on Direct3D and OpenGL and dropped the rest.
BTW, pretty much all Vive games work on th
Re: (Score:2)
Steam VR runs as a shim for both.
Oculus had the drivers fighting for a little, but it's settled down to functional. Oculus has apparently paid devs to release Rift only.
Re: (Score:2)
This has nothing to do with the hardware. This was Facebook's movie studio that specialised in producing movies targeted at Oculus VR owners.
Oculus Story Studio, not Oculus VR Studio (Score:1)
Oculus Story Studio, not Oculus VR Studio.
Re: (Score:2)
Facebook is evil (Score:1)
Anything they shut down is a good thing. Zuckerberg is a script kiddie and does not deserve dreams of godlike grandeur.
Transitioning to growing external projects (Score:2)
Yes, they closed down their own development, but are tasking this team to support third party projects attempting to develop VR games.
"We've decided to shift our focus away from internal content creation to support more external production," Jason Rubin of Oculus said. "As part of that shift, we'll be winding down Story Studio. Now that a large community of filmmakers and developers are committed to the narrative VR art form, we're going to focus on funding and supporting their content."