Nate Mitchell
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Oculus co-founder Nate Mitchell launches a game studio
Oculus co-founder Nate Mitchell has launched a multiplayer-focused game studio, Mountaintop, and hopes it'll avoid the pitfalls of rivals.
Oculus co-founder Nate Mitchell is the latest to leave Facebook
One more Oculus co-founder is heading for the exits. Software architect Nate Mitchell has decided to leave Facebook, explaining it only as a decision to "move on." He didn't say where he might be going next, but planned to "recharge" and spend time with his family. He still vowed to be "part of this [VR] community" -- he'll just have a "much smaller role," at least for now.
Oculus put privacy-mocking jokes inside Touch controllers
Oculus co-founder Nate Mitchell said tens of thousands of Touch controllers have jokes mocking privacy printed on an internal component. The so-called easter eggs include "This Space For Rent" and "👁Big Brother is Watching👁," though Mitchell said the latter and a joke reading "Hi iFixit! We See You!👁" were limited to non-consumer developer units. Another message that made it into the production model read "👁The Masons Were Here.👁"
Oculus now an official platform, build target for Unity 5
Oculus is now an official platform and build target for Unity 5, Oculus VR's VP of Product Nate Mitchell announced during today's Oculus Connect event. A related press release notes that Unity will "now fully support Oculus and the Rift with a dedicated add-on that includes stereo imaging optimizations, 3D audio support, and other features specifically for virtual reality." [Image: Oculus VR]
More than 130k developers have signed up with Oculus
Nate Mitchell, VP of Product at Oculus, revealed today at the Oculus Connect event in Hollywood that the company has more than 130,000 users signed on via the Oculus dev center. If that number isn't quite as astronomical as you'd like, would you perhaps prefer enjoy knowing that the Oculus SDK has been downloaded more than 550,000 times? Or how about the fact that the 325-plus VR games and experiences have been downloaded more than 699,000 times via Oculus' sharing platform? We imagine that, with the announcement of a new Rift prototype - codenamed "Crescent Bay" - those numbers will only continue to climb.
How to make players sick in your virtual reality game
There is a great, undiscovered potential in virtual reality development. Sure, you can create lifelike virtual worlds, but you can also make players sick. Oculus VR founder Palmer Luckey and VP of product Nate Mitchell hosted a panel at GDC Europe last week, instructing developers on how to avoid the VR development pitfalls that make players uncomfortable. It was a lovely service for VR developers, but we saw a much greater opportunity. Inadvertently, the panel explained how to make players as queasy and uncomfortable as possible. And so, we now present the VR developer's guide to manipulating your players right down to the vestibular level. Just follow these tips and your players will be tossing their cookies in minutes. Note: If you'd rather not make your players horribly ill and angry, just do the opposite of everything below.
Four virtual reality game ideas from the creator of Oculus Rift
According to Oculus VR founder Palmer Luckey (pictured left), there are about 20,000 Oculus Rift developer kits out in the wild. That means there are an awful lot of developers who are certainly hungry for fascinating virtual reality game design concepts. Luckey knows a thing or two about VR, and he was happy to share a few game ideas he's had. "You talk to developers, right?" I told him that I do. "Some ideas. I'm going to give you some ideas. You can give them to whoever you want." So here we go: Four ideas for VR games straight from the man who created the Oculus Rift. If you happen to be a developer, feel free to take one. Oh, and with the exception of Crazy Cops 2, all the title suggestions are mine. Just remember, credit where credit is due.
Oculus Rift could work on current and next-gen consoles
Think virtual reality is the exclusive playground of the PC gaming elite? It doesn't have to be. Oculus VR's Nate Mitchell says it's a matter of development support and interest. "Basically, the bar for a great VR experience is roughly 60 frames a second with stereoscopic 3D support in Vsync," said Mitchell in a recent interview. "The biggest challenge, actually, is working with the console platform providers, Microsoft and Sony, to make your peripheral a licensed peripheral." Oculus isn't reaching out to consoles, however -- Mitchell notes that while the current generation can reach 60fps in some cases, it often struggles to meet the demands of the Oculus Rift headset. Still, he admits there's no reason it couldn't work, and seems optimistic about the incoming console generation. "We'd definitely love to work with the console manufactures as we go down the road to get the Rift onto those platforms."
