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Oculus founder must face lawsuit over use of confidential info
Oculus founder Palmer Luckey isn't going to escape that lawsuit over the alleged misuse of confidential data. A judge has ruled that Luckey has to face the core claim, which accuses him of breaching a contract with his former employer (Total Recall Technologies) by using its proprietary knowledge to get the early Oculus Rift off the ground. However, he is dodging a few bullets in the process -- the judge simultaneously tossed out several of the other claims, including fraud.
The Oculus Rift made you forget what the first iPhone cost
Yesterday, Oculus VR finally announced the price of its first consumer virtual reality headset: $599, plus shipping. Fans reacted quickly, shocked that the price was twice as much as the original developer kit and furious that the company was charging so much. During Palmer Luckey's evening AMA on Reddit, fans were petitioning the company to remove the Rift's audio tech and packaged Xbox One controller to bring the price down. That's denial, anger and bargaining, guys. Let's skip the fourth stage of grief and jump to the end: acceptance. The Oculus Rift's launch price is completely normal.
'Rock Band VR' is coming from Oculus and Harmonix in 2016
Oculus VR's Palmer Luckey was going to be at The Game Awards but we didn't know why. It turns out that he was going to appear onstage and debut Rock Band VR. All we know for now is that it's coming next year and that, well, you'll play a version of Rock Band in virtual reality, and that Dragon Force's epic speedmetal track "Through the Fire and Flames" is going to be featured. So there's that. Are you ready to play virtual instruments in virtual reality?
The surprising joy of Time's virtual reality cover starring Palmer Luckey
It's amazing to see Palmer Luckey -- creator of the Oculus Rift and custodian of the tech industry's current obsession with virtual reality -- on the cover of Time magazine this month. It's another sign that virtual reality has a real shot at entering the mainstream conversation, following previous signals like Facebook buying Oculus for $2 billion in 2014, and Sony, Valve, HTC, Samsung and dozens of other companies revealing their own VR headsets. As amazing as Luckey's Time cover is, it's also really, really odd. Why is he on his tippy-toes? Does he really need to be squatting like that? What are his hands doing? Where's the controller? And why the hell is he in front of a fake beach? The world may never know, but through the power of photo-editing tools, we certainly can imagine. See some of our ideas below and please add your own chops in the comments (feel free to use our cutout).
'Henry' is Oculus' first, emotional step to making AI characters
If you've ever spent time in the company of young children watching colorful and cartoony TV shows geared to their innocence -- say something on Sprout or Nick Jr. -- then you'll know what it is to live in the world of Henry. The computer-animated virtual reality short about a lonely hedgehog is only the second to come from Oculus VR's newly founded Story Studio, an innovation lab of sorts for VR. But whereas most recent gaming- and entertainment-focused VR works have relied on cheap thrills, suspense and fear to dazzle viewers, Henry instead engages with empathy. "That was the big question for me: How are people going to connect with him?" says director Ramiro Lopez Dau of Henry's emotional bent. "So we came up with this character who has an obvious problem: He wants to hug people and he's super spiky. So that was the connection because everyone deserves a friend. And Henry doesn't have a flaw. He's just like that; he's a hedgehog. ... So it's more about, okay, there's some meaning here. You will find someone who will accept you for who you are, which is a very universal message. ... There's going to be a very strong point to feel empathy for this guy."
Oculus founder sued for using confidential information
Palmer Luckey and his company, Oculus VR Inc, are being sued yet again. Total Recall Technologies, a company in Hawaii, is accusing Luckey of violating a confidentiality agreement that he signed as a former employee of the company. According to the lawsuit, he was hired about four years ago for the precise purpose of developing a head-mounted display. As such, they claim he was privy to information and feedback that he later used for the Kickstarter campaign to introduce his own version of a head-mounted display, Oculus Rift.
The Godmother of Virtual Reality: Nonny de la Peña
"Print stuff didn't scratch the itch. Documentary didn't scratch the itch. TV drama didn't scratch the itch. It wasn't until I started building this stuff. There was no way I could do anything else. I just couldn't do anything else. I don't know even how to explain that. And I think sometimes I wanna shoot myself in the head that I can't do anything else because it just motivates me. [VR] drives me. This is such a visceral empathy generator. It can make people feel in a way that nothing, no other platform I've ever worked in can successfully do in this way." Let that stand as your introduction to Nonny de la Peña, the woman pioneering a new form of journalism that aims to place viewers within news stories via virtual reality. That vision has culminated in Emblematic Group, her content- and VR hardware-focused company that she runs along with her brother in Los Angeles.
How a queer black filmmaker made virtual reality a reality at Sundance
When Shari Frilot first kicked off New Frontier, an exhibit that pushes the boundaries of traditional storytelling through art and technology, at the Sundance Film Festival back in 2007, the attending press didn't quite know what to make of it or the works on display. "People came and they had no idea what we were doing, but they thought it was really cool," says Frilot of that inaugural exhibit. "And people were calling it 'art at Sundance.' So we had to fight that in the press. We're decidedly not doing an art show."
The challenges ahead for Oculus VR as it creates the consumer Rift
"As always, the consumer Rift is in progress and we're making great progress," says Oculus VR Product VP Nate Mitchell. He told me that this week, but you could really pull versions of that response from any of the half dozen interviews we've done with Oculus VR in the past few years. It's the elephant in the room that Oculus brings with it from trade show to trade show: When is this thing going to be a consumer product? There's still no answer in January 2015, as of this year's CES. Will there be an answer in 2015? Maybe! Your guess is as good as ours, but Mitchell offered us something slightly more optimistic:"We're on an awesome path to consumer VR and I do think that 2015 for better, for worse is gonna be a really big year for VR. Even at CES, we're already seeing it. 2015 is gonna be a big year for VR, whether it's from Oculus or otherwise, and we're excited to be a part of it."
'Oculus Connect' is the first virtual reality dev conference from Oculus VR
First, Valve held its "Steam Dev Days" event back in January, and virtual reality's industry leaders spoke. Now, Oculus VR is organizing its own event -- "Oculus Connect 2014" -- and those same luminaries are speaking once more. Oculus VR founder Palmer Luckey, president Brendan Iribe, and tech overlords John Carmack and Michael Abrash are all slated to speak, and the announce post promises attendees the first chance "to learn about upcoming Oculus technology." Perhaps what was teased to us back at E3 2014? We'll see! Though the event is open to the public, you'll have to apply for a pass, and please beware that the event is detailed as "developer-centric." Should you either not get a pass or not be able to make it to Los Angeles, CA. on September 19/20, Oculus is livestreaming keynotes from the aforementioned speakers.
The man behind Words with Friends is creating a VR game, partnering with Oculus
It looks like dogfighting in spaceships isn't the only virtual reality experience being co-published by Oculus VR. The creative lead behind mobile hit Words with Friends, Paul Bettner, has a new studio, and that studio is creating a "made-only-for-VR game" named Lucky's Tale. No, not "Luckey's Tale," like the last name of Oculus founder Palmer Luckey, but some other Lucky. Besides, Palmer's already living his tale, right? Very little info about the game exists thus far; it's a third-person platforming game, apparently, which the PR (adorably) describes as, "unconventional for a VR title." Fact! We're gonna check it out next week at E3 in person, but there isn't even a single screenshot to share of the game in action.
Engadget Daily: Ads on your thermostat, eBay's password breach and more!
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours – all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Virtual reality's biggest enemy is bad virtual reality, says Oculus founder
Palmer Luckey can hardly take a step without being stopped for pictures, questions or just friendly handshakes. I'm not surprised; we're at the Silicon Valley Virtual Reality Expo, and Luckey just closed a speculative panel on the future of VR. Here, he's a celebrity, and with good reason -- the Expo floor is littered with Oculus headgear, almost without competition. As we make our way to a more quiet area, Luckey tells me that his hardware isn't enough. "What we have that's impressing all these hardcore gamers and technology enthusiasts isn't good enough to be a consumer product."
John Carmack's former employer claims he stole tech for Oculus VR when he left
The man who co-created Doom, who co-founded id Software, and who later left id Software for Oculus VR, is being accused by his former employer of taking intellectual property with him to Oculus VR. Lawyers for id Software's parent company, Zenimax Media, sent claims to Oculus VR stating, "It was only through the concerted efforts of Mr. Carmack, using technology developed over many years at, and owned by, ZeniMax, that [Oculus founder] Mr. Luckey was able to transform his garage-based pipe dream into a working reality." The Wall Street Journal obtained copies of the correspondence. Oculus denies Zenimax's claim. The company provided the following statement: "It's unfortunate, but when there's this type of transaction, people come out of the woodwork with ridiculous and absurd claims. We intend to vigorously defend Oculus and its investors to the fullest extent." Update: John Carmack took to Twitter to respond, where he said, "No work I have ever done has been patented. Zenimax owns the code that I wrote, but they don't own VR."
Hear Palmer Luckey explain why Oculus VR joined Facebook
Last month's news that Facebook bought startup Oculus VR for $2 billion spurred many loud and often furious reactions from gamers and especially those who participated in the project's initial Kickstarter. If you're among those wondering what's next for Oculus and haven't been convinced by the written words of founder Palmer Luckey and others (including John Carmack and Sony's Shuhei Yoshida), perhaps hearing them will make a difference. Reviewed.com tracked down Luckey at the PAX East event today and got him on camera talking about Oculus and Facebook. As he's expressed before, Luckey says the plan is to "promote the long-term adoption of virtual reality, not short-term financial returns." In his words "the games industry is the only industry that's really well equipped to build interactive immersive 3D worlds," so don't expect the focus of Oculus to suddenly change now that it's in cahoots with Zuckerberg and company. So, after a couple of weeks to think about it -- and the addition of notable former Valve / iD software employee Mike Abrash to the Oculus team -- how do you feel about the acquisition now? (Iribe/Luckey Photo:Ana Venegas/The Orange County Register/ZUMAPRESS.com)
The Engadget Podcast is live at 12PM ET!
Oh Oculus, we hardly knew ye and now you're a part of the Zuckerborg. Whither goes your Rift? Is Virtual Reality now just a shill for status updates, virtual walls you can poster and an even more immersive way to experience other people's vacation photos? Shudder. This isn't how it was meant to be -- how we thought it would be -- but then again, we'd pretty much do anything for $2 billion, too. So, who are we to judge? Oh, that's right, we're the Engadget Enemigos! And we're here to sip some coffee and talk you through the surprise of Palmer Luckey's lucky stroke of Facebook fortune. We might even touch upon HTC's slippery and brand spankin' new One -- if you behave. It's all happening at noon today, so turn on, tune in and loves us, won't you? [Image credit: Denelson83 / Wikimedia Commons (Test Pattern)]
Palmer Luckey says Oculus' future 'just became crystal clear,' but Facebook's impact is still murky
If you're reading this, you're likely already aware that social networking juggernaut Facebook has just announced plans for yet another multi-billion dollar acquisition. This time it's spending $2 billion dollars (that's $17 billion less than WhatsApp for those keeping track) to buy virtual reality headset maker Oculus. Just minutes after the announcement, the startup's founder, Palmer Luckey took to Reddit to provide some perspective about the deal: "When Facebook first approached us about partnering, I was skeptical. As I learned more about the company and its vision and spoke with Mark, the partnership not only made sense, but became the clear and obvious path to delivering virtual reality to everyone. Facebook was founded with the vision of making the world a more connected place. Virtual reality is a medium that allows us to share experiences with others in ways that were never before possible."
Facebook is buying Oculus VR for $2 billion, plans to 'unlock new worlds for all of us'
Mark Zuckerberg is following up his Whatsapp buy with another big acquisition: virtual reality company Oculus VR for $2 billion in stock and cash (curiously, news of the talks may have leaked on Reddit a month ago). In a post on Facebook, Zuckerberg talks at length about how Facebook plans to make Oculus a platform for "completely new kinds of experiences," and gaming is only the first one. Examples he suggests include sitting courtside at a big game, studying in a classroom with other students virtually or getting a face to face doctor consultation from anywhere. The idea that virtual reality may be the next big thing gained more credibility last week when Sony showed off a prototype VR headset for developers, Project Morpheus. That also means Oculus is suddenly staring down a massive competitor -- with others likely on the way -- and now it has the resources of the social network to rely on.
Oculus VR exits first virtual reality collective
Just five days ago we told you about the Immersive Technology Alliance, a group of companies that are working on virtual reality coming together to support the burgeoning medium. At the time, we told you that Oculus VR -- the company behind the Oculus Rift -- was part of the group. That said, the announcement was notoriously missing any official statement from the Oculus folks. As it turns out, that's because Oculus VR isn't actually part of the group. Oculus offered Engadget this statement: "There was confusion on March 13 about whether Oculus was a member of the Immersive Technology Alliance. We've spoken with the ITA's leadership and clarified that we are not, and have not been, a member of the group. We appreciate the ITA moving so quickly to correct their website and media to reflect this." We've checked with the other members of the group, many of which responded to confirm their participation in the ITA, including EA and Technical Illusions. During the group's first meeting today at GDC 2014, ITA Executive Director Neil Schneider kicked things off with a lengthy response to Oculus dropping support, heavily tinged with passive-aggressive criticism.
Watch Valve's vision of our virtual reality future (and other Steam Dev Days talks) right here
We did our best to break down and explain talks given by Valve's virtual reality leaders at Steam Dev Days, but there's no replacing the real deal. As such, we'd be silly not to share news that Valve's published to YouTube all 28 talks given at its first-ever developer's conference -- including the two virtual reality talks from Michael Abrash and Joe Ludwig, not to mention Oculus VR founder Palmer Luckey's talk. We've embedded all three of those below, but the whole shebang is available right here for your marathoning pleasure.
