8 ms·

The whole DRM move for their headsets brought Oculus a bad reputation among many VR enthusiasts: > https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2016/05/23/oculus-rift-upda

by wolfgke 10y ago

The whole DRM move for their headsets brought Oculus a bad reputation among many VR enthusiasts: > https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2016/05/23/oculus-rift-update-blocks-htc-vive-revive/ https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2016/05/23/oculus-rift-upda... > http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/05/oculus-workaround-to-play-on-htc-vive-rendered-inoperable-by-app-update/ http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/05/oculus-workaround-to-p... Though they removed it after lots of users protested: > https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2016/06/24/oculus-rift-vive-no-headset-check/ https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2016/06/24/oculus-rift-vive... > http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/06/oculus-reverses-course-dumps-its-vr-headset-checking-drm/ http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/06/oculus-reverses-course... But the bad image that they got for this still persists among many. --- Another thing that Oculus did (probably because of pressure from Facebook, their parent company) is inserting dubious terms into their Terms of Service: > http://gizmodo.com/there-are-some-super-shady-things-in-oculus-rifts-terms-1768678169 http://gizmodo.com/there-are-some-super-shady-things-in-ocul...

blhack 10y ago
This should be a lesson: acts like this are poisonous. Nobody I know would even consider buying an oculus at this point because it seems like the ENTIRE VR community has turned against them. It means that when I go online to do research on what to buy, I'm not going to find anybody praising the oculus.
- AtheistOfFail 10y ago
  The issue with the hardware isn't just the price. You factor in the good faith of the company and past knowledge. Look at Microsoft and the Kinect. After abandoning the hardware, people just stopped doing projects with Kinect, there was even a 3D scanner based off of it (which was cheaper than commercial model)
  - future1979 10y ago
    Don't remind me. I got the he Xbox one on "sale" last Black Friday. Really ticked off that they sold hw on sale just before the end. I say the end because I see almost no games supporting it these days.
- TwoBit 10y ago
  The entire VR community is not against them. Certainly some are. They have the best VR now (modulo large room scale experiences), which has helped them lately.
  - cookiecaper 10y ago
    I haven't used any VR besides my Oculus DK1, but I've recently heard that Vive is hands-down the best. Haven't heard anyone suggest that Oculus is competitive. I don't follow the VR community very closely. Would you say this sentiment is widely held?
    - twostorytower 10y ago
      Now that Touch shipped last week, yes, it has changed and I would say that opinion is widely held. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/oculus-touch-motion-controller-review,4841-5.html http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/oculus-touch-motion-cont... - "Until now, our recommendation was the HTC Vive, without much hesitation. But the situation just changed. From a hardware perspective, the Rift edges out HTC's Vive." https://www.wired.com/2016/12/review-oculus-touch/ https://www.wired.com/2016/12/review-oculus-touch/ - "this is the most natural and versatile VR control experience available." http://newatlas.com/oculus-rift-review-touch/46711/ http://newatlas.com/oculus-rift-review-touch/46711/ - "So Oculus Touch is a big ergonomic advantage for the Rift, and the additions of 360 tracking, room-scale and Guardian are effective as catch-up moves. But it's content that seals the deal for the Oculus Rift as our pick for best VR headset."
      - croon 10y ago
        > "The optional dual-sensor, 360° setup works well for these games also, just with a smaller tracked area. Officially Oculus doesn't yet support 360° and room-scale configurations beyond "experimental support," but we recommend spending the extra $79 on that third sensor for the full experience." From what I've heard it doesn't really work that well, even with a third camera, with intermittant tracking issues, and with much less space than the Vive. Your quotes are either misleading or shill.
- gottam 10y ago
  Can you blame them? Oculus & Facebook started acting like an abusive monopoly before they even had the monopoly.
- robahall 10y ago
  I think this is far over exaggerated. I have been following Oculus since very early days and haven't been bothered in the slightest. What you're seeing is negative feedback from owners of competitive devices.
- qwtel 10y ago
  How poisonous is it really though? Not a rhetorical question. The people who pay attention to this type of thing are VR enthusiasts, who are a minority compared to the larger pool Facebook is aiming for. An interesting example would be Call of Duty: Infinity Warfare. Its trailer is one of the most downvoted videos on YouTube. As far as I understand, hardcore fans hated it and somehow managed to get downvoting the trailer to be some kind of viral thing (Otherwise, how did it get to those numbers? Nothing about the trailer per-se was that bad. There's even Jon Snow in it). I thought that this would have no effect on the game's success, since I don't think average consumers are particularly interested in the opinions of hardcore gaming snobs. However, the game has since been released and--as far as I know--bombed. Of course, that could also be due to the game being not that good. There's no doubt that "influencers" are important in driving sales, but I'm skeptical whether they can play a similar role in preventing sales--especially if average consumers see value in the underlying product.
  - croon 10y ago
    I've had the same thoughts for the last decade or so, and have swayed between both sides. Anything from iPhone adoption, to which social networks will prevail, to which competing technology will win. I've probably been more wrong than not, so the question why is increasingly interesting. One related theory I can't find any wikipedia information on stems from an old TED talk from 2010: http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/first-follower-theory http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/first-follower-theor... Even if we traditionally consider ourselves (I've always been a "nerd"/"core"/"early adopter"/whatever) on the sidelines, when our industry and interests have taken center stage I think we have had a greater influence than we care to admit, or even want. Some people want to be first at something, but many people don't, either for lack of anyone else to use said thing with, or lack of support, or high cost of entry, or unproven quality, etc. I hate to get political, but I think it's increasingly clear that movements can begin with something as simple as a few memes from someones computer. But it's of course hard to tell if "our" audience is the right one at all times (eg Google Glass, Google+), when comparing to Facebook (select few colleges) and Snapchat spectacles ("celebrity" millenials).
  - wccrawford 10y ago
- dkonofalski 10y ago
  While I personally align with you on this, the "ENTIRE VR community" has not turned against them. It's definitely biased, but just check out the VR communities on reddit (including /r/oculus). They act like Oculus Touch has somehow magically saved the reputation of Oculus and has actually somehow moved VR forward in an unimaginable way. I think it's objectively obvious that the Vive is better both technologically and from a user-experience point of view (less sensors, better tracking, better end-to-end process. no lock-in), but that doesn't seem to be a common opinion in the greater VR community.
future1979 10y ago
As a datapoint, it has kept me out of high-end VR completely. I am actually more ticked off at the exclusives. And I'm a geek who buys lots of tech toys. VR is as bad as consumer IoT if you think about it.

by wolfgke 10y ago

blhack 10y ago

This should be a lesson: acts like this are poisonous. Nobody I know would even consider buying an oculus at this point because it seems like the ENTIRE VR community has turned against them. It means that when I go online to do research on what to buy, I'm not going to find anybody praising the oculus.

AtheistOfFail 10y ago
The issue with the hardware isn't just the price. You factor in the good faith of the company and past knowledge. Look at Microsoft and the Kinect. After abandoning the hardware, people just stopped doing projects with Kinect, there was even a 3D scanner based off of it (which was cheaper than commercial model)
- future1979 10y ago
  Don't remind me. I got the he Xbox one on "sale" last Black Friday. Really ticked off that they sold hw on sale just before the end. I say the end because I see almost no games supporting it these days.
TwoBit 10y ago
The entire VR community is not against them. Certainly some are. They have the best VR now (modulo large room scale experiences), which has helped them lately.
- cookiecaper 10y ago
  I haven't used any VR besides my Oculus DK1, but I've recently heard that Vive is hands-down the best. Haven't heard anyone suggest that Oculus is competitive. I don't follow the VR community very closely. Would you say this sentiment is widely held?
  - twostorytower 10y ago
    Now that Touch shipped last week, yes, it has changed and I would say that opinion is widely held. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/oculus-touch-motion-controller-review,4841-5.html http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/oculus-touch-motion-cont... - "Until now, our recommendation was the HTC Vive, without much hesitation. But the situation just changed. From a hardware perspective, the Rift edges out HTC's Vive." https://www.wired.com/2016/12/review-oculus-touch/ https://www.wired.com/2016/12/review-oculus-touch/ - "this is the most natural and versatile VR control experience available." http://newatlas.com/oculus-rift-review-touch/46711/ http://newatlas.com/oculus-rift-review-touch/46711/ - "So Oculus Touch is a big ergonomic advantage for the Rift, and the additions of 360 tracking, room-scale and Guardian are effective as catch-up moves. But it's content that seals the deal for the Oculus Rift as our pick for best VR headset."
    - croon 10y ago
      > "The optional dual-sensor, 360° setup works well for these games also, just with a smaller tracked area. Officially Oculus doesn't yet support 360° and room-scale configurations beyond "experimental support," but we recommend spending the extra $79 on that third sensor for the full experience." From what I've heard it doesn't really work that well, even with a third camera, with intermittant tracking issues, and with much less space than the Vive. Your quotes are either misleading or shill.
gottam 10y ago
Can you blame them? Oculus & Facebook started acting like an abusive monopoly before they even had the monopoly.
robahall 10y ago
I think this is far over exaggerated. I have been following Oculus since very early days and haven't been bothered in the slightest. What you're seeing is negative feedback from owners of competitive devices.
qwtel 10y ago
How poisonous is it really though? Not a rhetorical question. The people who pay attention to this type of thing are VR enthusiasts, who are a minority compared to the larger pool Facebook is aiming for. An interesting example would be Call of Duty: Infinity Warfare. Its trailer is one of the most downvoted videos on YouTube. As far as I understand, hardcore fans hated it and somehow managed to get downvoting the trailer to be some kind of viral thing (Otherwise, how did it get to those numbers? Nothing about the trailer per-se was that bad. There's even Jon Snow in it). I thought that this would have no effect on the game's success, since I don't think average consumers are particularly interested in the opinions of hardcore gaming snobs. However, the game has since been released and--as far as I know--bombed. Of course, that could also be due to the game being not that good. There's no doubt that "influencers" are important in driving sales, but I'm skeptical whether they can play a similar role in preventing sales--especially if average consumers see value in the underlying product.
- croon 10y ago
  I've had the same thoughts for the last decade or so, and have swayed between both sides. Anything from iPhone adoption, to which social networks will prevail, to which competing technology will win. I've probably been more wrong than not, so the question why is increasingly interesting. One related theory I can't find any wikipedia information on stems from an old TED talk from 2010: http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/first-follower-theory http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/first-follower-theor... Even if we traditionally consider ourselves (I've always been a "nerd"/"core"/"early adopter"/whatever) on the sidelines, when our industry and interests have taken center stage I think we have had a greater influence than we care to admit, or even want. Some people want to be first at something, but many people don't, either for lack of anyone else to use said thing with, or lack of support, or high cost of entry, or unproven quality, etc. I hate to get political, but I think it's increasingly clear that movements can begin with something as simple as a few memes from someones computer. But it's of course hard to tell if "our" audience is the right one at all times (eg Google Glass, Google+), when comparing to Facebook (select few colleges) and Snapchat spectacles ("celebrity" millenials).
- wccrawford 10y ago
dkonofalski 10y ago
While I personally align with you on this, the "ENTIRE VR community" has not turned against them. It's definitely biased, but just check out the VR communities on reddit (including /r/oculus). They act like Oculus Touch has somehow magically saved the reputation of Oculus and has actually somehow moved VR forward in an unimaginable way. I think it's objectively obvious that the Vive is better both technologically and from a user-experience point of view (less sensors, better tracking, better end-to-end process. no lock-in), but that doesn't seem to be a common opinion in the greater VR community.

future1979 10y ago

As a datapoint, it has kept me out of high-end VR completely. I am actually more ticked off at the exclusives. And I'm a geek who buys lots of tech toys. VR is as bad as consumer IoT if you think about it.