This is kind of crazy and has the potential to go real bad.

I don't know what's real anymore...

Get ready, fucking VR Farmville, here we go.

Jesus H Christ.

im suddenly immensely happy i never gave them my money. no reason to fret, they'll be plenty of alternatives to the rift soon...

Hah! APRIL FOOO- Shit... it's still March..

I don't see a problem with this. Sure, Facebook is kind of shitty but Oculus Rift is bound for bigger things than games. Hopefully this will push it more in those directions.

So many people complaining about social stuff and about a billion Farmville callouts...the Oculus is basically just a computer monitor with some head tracking. The software side of things was always going to be limited to what people were willing to create for it...how does this change that in any way? No one is going to force you to play fucking Farmville, and I don't see any indication or rational for why they would hinder or prevent game developers in any way. You people are super dramatic.

Are they pushing April Fools further up this year? Hold on to this news until April, 1! Geez!

The lack of "meh, VR was doomed to failure anyways" in this thread makes me think everyone is more than ready to buy a VR headset. People are acting like, before Facebook, this was a guaranteed success. Really?

I always got the impression Oculus was never looking to become anything more than a niche product, or was simply waiting around to be bought, since they had no means to market this to a large audience.

As for Sony, they like to push new technology, and promptly abandon it. Sony is doing terribly as a company, PlayStation being one of it's few bright spots.

I never realized till Facebook acquired Oculus how much people actually want VR, and hence, Facebook may have made a wiser decision than I first thought.

Another "successful" kickstarter story!

What a wonderful world we live in where you can invest other peoples money and they don't want any dividends at all... Kickstarter and actual commercial products is just such a great combination.

YOU WERE THE CHOSEN ONE, OCULUS!

NOBODY PANIC! Oculus VR wouldn't have said yes to the deal if they were going to turn it into a platform for Facebook games. Remember, the cornerstone game right now is EVE: Valkyrie. That's as far away from Farmville as you can get.

Wow, those dudes are gonna be RRIIICCH

no, for anyone who wants an oculus rift, mobile is not the platform of today.

No matter how optimistic I am, Facebook and it motives don't seem beneficial at all.

I'm no fan of Facebook, but maybe this will shake out well for Oculus. It's a curious acquisition for FB in light of their other purchases which were companies with large userbases like Instagram or tech companies that could fold into FB proper. Oculus is unproven in many ways and doesn't seem like an obvious fit, but could be a matter of FB looking to diversify.

I was hoping Oculus wouldn't get pinned down as a gaming-only company anyway, so perhaps this is a step to assure more open usage potential for their hardware.

The Kickstater side of this deal is kind of deflating though. It's a positive thing that those funds were able to jumpstart a company to get it to this point, but the precedent that this sets about corporate start-up fundraising at the consumer level is distressing. People back projects like the Oculus Rift because they believe in an idea and the people behind it, and usually because they want to see something exist that wouldn't otherwise, not to feel like they're a bunch of first-round VCs that can prove a public interest along with actual money, only to make that thing more attractive to actual VCs with the money to turn an idea into an industry.

This single comment thread has provided me with an entire year's worth of schadenfreude. Delicious.

It's too bad this was announced after GDC. I would have really liked to know the reactions of developers, especially those excited about developing for the Rift.

I also wonder what the reaction of Facebook stockholders will be to Facebook throwing two billion dollars at what many might see as a piece of novelty PC hardware?

How the fact that it cost Microsoft and Sony around a billion each using off the shelve hardware to build their systems. they would need at least 50 to 100 million to get manufacturing up to the scale need to release a consumer product at the price they wanted.

The Oculus has some more growing up to do. Still, that it made it this far is to me amazing. Facebook(though I do not have an account) might be the money behind making the Oculus happen.

At any rate, I was never anxious to wrap this across my face anyways. If I had a few drinks, something ...but not this. And not a virtual version of something else either. Too wierd. I can see that bizarre sh*t happening, and it does bother me.

But, who knows how the equipment itself will evolve. From what I am reading, they have been substantially improving it. Is this a shallow well, or is there no splash or thud when you toss in a rock? Or maybe one that screams, like in Dark Souls...

I... What... I can't... Fuck...

1. Look up to like this game on Facebook.
2. Look down to open the microtransaction “Facebucks” app.
3. Look to your left to watch the new trailer for Avengers 2!
4. Look right to watch the last of your self-worth as it walks away.

FUUUUUUUUUUUCK

I would not bet my financial future on waiting for Facebook stock to vest. Just ask Myspace about that, SELL NOW

Good for Oculus and potentially Facebook, but bad for everyone else. Between this and Sony's shit, I can see the future of VR being thrown down the drain...

A flat "What." was my first reaction, but I think I'll stick with a ponderous "Huh..." for now.

Well...good luck to them then?

AAAAAAAHHHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA! HA!

God fucking dammit.

No good can come of this.

You guys are worse than the "Nintendo is doomed" crowd, good lord.

Hmmmm..... Nope don't get it at all. I think this is called buisness. Still... Wait what?

I understand the hate with facebook but we really dont know the details of the agreement. Carmack & Co could still easily hold full creative control of the Oculus. This is just facebook realizing they're becoming irrelivent and wanting to forge away at something new. Who knows, If Carmack really is in control still then imagine what they could do with 2 billion dollars?

I'm OUT

So you're suggesting that it would take over a billion dollars to bring the rift to market because it cost that much for another company developing a completely different product, for a completely different market, with a completely different set of goals.

I guess I better tell the people at TrackIR that they should just give up because, see, it's impossible for them to ever bring a consumer electronics product to market for a niche audience without being bought. By a software company.

I hate to break it to you, but you have no idea what you're talking about.

Kee-hee-hee.

Facebook is now all up in your grill.

@recspec: Right on Brother!

Occulus just lost the respect of all those who believed in it. How exactly was this a good idea? Oh right. Money. Good luck Occulus but you'll never get money from me now. I was on your side during the Morpheus reveal and now you've betrayed my trust. What a shame.

Is this not an early April 1st gag?

I just don't get how the PS4 Morpheus can be a competitive product, if it's being run exclusively off the PS4. The biggest selling point of the Oculus is that it uses two 1080p screens, combined with incredibly low latency. That's a very high resolution, and the PS4 will almost certainly not be able provide the same VR experience. Even the Rift is designed for computers with high end single graphics cards 1-2 years from now.

LOOK UP TO SM00KE UP DAT TROPICAL FREEZZE BRAH

Ok, I've officially lost any interest in Oculus Rift now..That's a shame.

This is fucked, but at least there's other good VR tech coming from other companies

I never thought the occulus would be bigger than any other niche PC addon. Like track IR or a flightstick.

The whole concept of putting on a big headset and headphones effectively shutting out the entire world is so unappealing to me. It's not how i'd want to experience my games. As an occasional fun little whirl? sure i guess, but normal gaming? Absolutely not.

Honestly the occulus rift tech is more useful outside of gaming than inside. In gaming its a niche little thing, cool but not revolutionary. Outside gaming the tech could be use for tons of various training and educational situations.

I just dont think full headsets like the occulus rift would ever fly in the general public. I mean i wear glasses, i know it works with people who need glasses via various lenses and such, but if i hear something in the next room, i'd have to take off the earphones, take off the visor thing, then put my glasses on, and look in the next room, instead of just looking to my left. Or if i get a text, i had to do this whole process just to glance at it. No one wants that. Sure it's a cool cute idea, but i HIGHLY doubt it'll be all that successful as a mass product to the public.

I have two things to say:

1. The nerve on this punk motherfucker who did nothing but create a university social network to get CHICKS, to talk about technology and the way we 'work and play,' as if he's a part of the technology-creative community... He becomes a billionaire making BB guns and then starts talking about creating the future of war.

2.This is how Oculus repay their backers, without whom they'd be looking for jobs and food to dine on? Great.

And I thought waking up to the 'Amazon buying Double Helix' news was unexpected.

I'm sure I'm not the only one considering how close this announcement is to April 1st...but this unfortunately looks a wee bit too official. And when you're dealing with announcements of this nature with a publicly traded company you can't really mess around with week-long April Fool's Day jokes.

All of the naysayers about this are probably the same people who cried wolf when GB went to CBSi.

Click here to pay 200 oculus bucks to enable 3d for 24 hours!!!