6 ms·

Facebook's really big plans for virtual reality

49 points by spking 10y ago

SolarNet 10y ago
A giant fluff piece really. The HTC Vive / Valve is beating them, and they want some decent PR before the launch of their consumer motion controls. Also justifying the purchase alongside their earnings report.
- vthallam 10y ago
  In a nutshell, yes. The fact that it came in Bloomberg(all major investors/traders heavily read) also kind of supports your observation.
vthallam 10y ago
The 360° video embedded on the top is amazing and Bloomberg is one of the few media companies who uses some serious visualizations. I guess it's very difficult for FB to own VR since Vive is giving big time competition. Even as a platform, its tough to survive once Sony releases the PS VR platform. On the other hand, Google/Apple can extend their playstore/appstore to support VR content and release headsets which support the phones and get a great market share easily.
- ngokevin 10y ago
  Just a nit. That's not a video, it's a real-time rendered WebGL scene (using three.js).
- amelius 10y ago
  Neat, but confusing. You can apparently pan around, but clicking has no effect.
sergiotapia 10y ago
The Facebook Rift is DOA. It's lost the respect and admiration of early VR adopters and that market segment is key for tech. It lost not only on the technical front (by a lot, the HTC Vive destroys it), but on the ethical front as well by introducing console paradigms in a PC ecosystem. Good riddance! PC must remain an open platform.
- BatFastard 10y ago
  As Mark Twain said "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated." This battle has JUST begun. Vive barely won first round because of the controllers. But the battle will be on again when the controllers come out for the Rift. Oculus has deep pockets which are not to be underestimated in this business.
  - sergiotapia 10y ago
    Ask the XBox One how Microsoft's deep pockets helped it. ;)
    - kirrent 10y ago
      I'd prefer to ask the Xbox 360 which needed over a billion dollars to fix red ringed consoles and change their process. Without those deep pockets, the Xbox platform would have died, including the xbox one.
      - Alphasite_ 10y ago
        The 360, like the PS4, won because it was significantly cheaper than the competition. Its politics and other factors play a role but I would argue they are far less significant than price for a mass market adoption consideration (especially when the market is as price sensitive as it is (kids)).
  - tmikaeld 10y ago
    Oculus is still a seated experience, NOT room scale! Even with Touch controllers, there's only a limited space to use it. Plus you can't magically manufacture something you didn't plan to release - Especially not in a short time period.
    - flukus 10y ago
      > Oculus is still a seated experience, NOT room scale! I don't see what the problem with this is. I want to sit down and play games. I don't want (or have room for) a room scale experience.
callesgg 10y ago
Wow "really big plans" that most be the reason to why they bought one of the the biggest VR companies on the market.
kin 10y ago
Wow, that monospace is so difficult to read.
nannal 10y ago
Who wrote this absolute waffle and was proud of it. fewer paragraphs on zucks eyes, "signature look" and admiration of rome would not have gone amiss
unicornporn 10y ago
On a sidenote... Bloomberg is using Google's new display typeface Space Mono, not only for headings!
Keverw 10y ago
That's pretty cool how they coded up a interactive demo just for a article.

49 points by spking 10y ago

A giant fluff piece really. The HTC Vive / Valve is beating them, and they want some decent PR before the launch of their consumer motion controls. Also justifying the purchase alongside their earnings report.

vthallam 10y ago
In a nutshell, yes. The fact that it came in Bloomberg(all major investors/traders heavily read) also kind of supports your observation.

vthallam 10y ago

The 360° video embedded on the top is amazing and Bloomberg is one of the few media companies who uses some serious visualizations. I guess it's very difficult for FB to own VR since Vive is giving big time competition. Even as a platform, its tough to survive once Sony releases the PS VR platform. On the other hand, Google/Apple can extend their playstore/appstore to support VR content and release headsets which support the phones and get a great market share easily.

ngokevin 10y ago
Just a nit. That's not a video, it's a real-time rendered WebGL scene (using three.js).
amelius 10y ago
Neat, but confusing. You can apparently pan around, but clicking has no effect.

sergiotapia 10y ago

The Facebook Rift is DOA. It's lost the respect and admiration of early VR adopters and that market segment is key for tech. It lost not only on the technical front (by a lot, the HTC Vive destroys it), but on the ethical front as well by introducing console paradigms in a PC ecosystem. Good riddance! PC must remain an open platform.

BatFastard 10y ago
As Mark Twain said "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated." This battle has JUST begun. Vive barely won first round because of the controllers. But the battle will be on again when the controllers come out for the Rift. Oculus has deep pockets which are not to be underestimated in this business.
- sergiotapia 10y ago
  Ask the XBox One how Microsoft's deep pockets helped it. ;)
  - kirrent 10y ago
    I'd prefer to ask the Xbox 360 which needed over a billion dollars to fix red ringed consoles and change their process. Without those deep pockets, the Xbox platform would have died, including the xbox one.
    - Alphasite_ 10y ago
      The 360, like the PS4, won because it was significantly cheaper than the competition. Its politics and other factors play a role but I would argue they are far less significant than price for a mass market adoption consideration (especially when the market is as price sensitive as it is (kids)).
- tmikaeld 10y ago
  Oculus is still a seated experience, NOT room scale! Even with Touch controllers, there's only a limited space to use it. Plus you can't magically manufacture something you didn't plan to release - Especially not in a short time period.
  - flukus 10y ago
    > Oculus is still a seated experience, NOT room scale! I don't see what the problem with this is. I want to sit down and play games. I don't want (or have room for) a room scale experience.

callesgg 10y ago

Wow "really big plans" that most be the reason to why they bought one of the the biggest VR companies on the market.

kin 10y ago

Wow, that monospace is so difficult to read.

nannal 10y ago

Who wrote this absolute waffle and was proud of it. fewer paragraphs on zucks eyes, "signature look" and admiration of rome would not have gone amiss

unicornporn 10y ago

On a sidenote... Bloomberg is using Google's new display typeface Space Mono, not only for headings!

Keverw 10y ago

That's pretty cool how they coded up a interactive demo just for a article.