Expanding the Team, Meet us at Gamescom, Unite, PAX
Exciting news today for the whole Oculus community: We've expanded the team with some amazing key hires. If you've recently watched the Oculus Kickstarter video, you're already familiar with these three industry veterans:
Brendan Iribe, former Chief Product Officer at Gaikai and co-founder/CEO of Scaleform, joins as our CEO. Brendan will be leading the Oculus charge on all fronts, especially leveraging his relationships with top game developers, publishers, and hardware companies.
Michael Antonov, former co-founder/CTO of Scaleform, has agreed to join as our Chief Software Architect. Michael, who architected the Scaleform SDK - one of the most widely adopted video game middleware solutions ever, will lead the architecture and development of the Oculus SDK, making sure it's super fast and efficient, as well as easy-to-use and well documented.
Jack McCauley, who has over 25 years of experience designing and manufacturing consumer hardware for companies like Atari, RedOctane, Activision, EA, and Microsoft, has come on board as our Vice President of Engineering. Jack will be be responsible for taking all our research and actually creating the hardware that you guys will ultimately receive.
Brendan, Michael, and Jack are all incredibly talented at what they do, which is exactly why we sought them out. You can read more about our announcement here: http://oculusvr.com/press_release_081412/
We are thrilled to welcome them to the Oculus team!
Quick Update
... on what we've been up to aside from recruiting:
- We're tweaking the hardware design for the developer kit. Our latest prototype is actually lighter than the original, which was already less than 0.5lbs. We've also come up with an elegant solution to help us reduce the amount of cabling.
- We're meeting with game developers around the world (literally!), showing the Oculus Rift, and discussing what the future of video games with VR support may look like.
- We're ramping up our hardware operations and looking at partnerships with the best possible companies. In fact, Brendan and Jack just returned from China where they toured factories and established a close relationship with a major device manufacturer.
- Of course, we're hard at work developing the Oculus SDK, including Unreal Engine and Unity integrations, as well as the samples / documentation we'll be providing to the Oculus developer community. These are all coming along nicely. We'll have more to show soon.
- Finally, we're exploring all the exciting hardware and software possibilities for the consumer version of the Rift (easily the most fun part of our day). We've actually included links to a few neat VR projects at the bottom of this update. Check them out if you're interested in learning something new!
New FAQs
We've also added several new FAQs to our Kickstarter page:
Can I use the Rift for other things like watching movies, surfing the web, and programming?
Will the Rift cause eye strain after extended use?
Should I wait for the consumer version?
Does the Rift developer kit work with games with existing 3D support?
Other Interesting VR Projects
We thought it would be fun to include some other neat virtual reality hardware projects out there, floating around the internet. We're big fans of all the work people are doing in the VR space.
WIZDISH - an in-place locomotion platform that allows you to move about virtual worlds.
Adjacent Reality Tracker - an open source motion tracker designed for virtual reality applications.
FriiSpace VR Input Device - large scape, low cost motion capture system that allows you to use large real life spaces to walk around inside large virtual environments.
Off to Europe!
We're headed to Gamescom, Unite, and PAX Prime over the course of the next two weeks. If you'd like to schedule an appointment to meet with us and try out the Rift for yourself, send a message to rift@oculusvr.com. You can always keep up to date with our schedule by visiting http://oculusvr.com/events.
That's it for now. As always, we look forward to your feedback. Keep in touch, Kickstarter!
Palmer
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Aug 1, 2012 -
Sep 1, 2012
- First created · 20 backed
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- Website: oculusvr.com
Pledge $10 or more
1009 backers
SPECIAL THANKS: Help us take gaming to the next level! You'll receive a sincere thank you from the Oculus team and we'll keep you up to date on all of our progress developing the consumer Rift and building out the developer SDK!
Estimated delivery: Oct 2012Pledge $15 or more
209 backers
OCULUS POSTER: A limited-edition poster for the Oculus Rift, only available via Kickstarter. See the project description for a preview! (Please add $15 for international shipping)
Estimated delivery: Nov 2012Pledge $25 or more
434 backers
OCULUS T-SHIRT: A limited edition t-shirt for the Oculus Rift, only available via Kickstarter. See the project description for a preview! You'll also receive a sincere thank you from the Oculus team. (Please add $15 for international shipping)
Estimated delivery: Nov 2012Pledge $35 or more
179 backers
OCULUS T-SHIRT + POSTER: A limited edition t-shirt and poster for the Oculus Rift, only available via Kickstarter. Check out the project description for a preview! (Please add $15 for international shipping)
Estimated delivery: Nov 2012Pledge $75 or more
106 backers
SIGNED OCULUS T-SHIRT + POSTER: The limited edition t-shirt and poster for the Oculus Rift, both signed by the entire Oculus team.
Estimated delivery: Nov 2012Pledge $275 or more
100 backers All gone!
UNASSEMBLED RIFT PROTOTYPE KIT + DOOM 3 BFG: Try building the prototype yourself! You'll receive your own DIY kit for building the Rift from scratch, including all of individual parts for the prototype as well as instructions for assembling it by hand. It will also be shipped out a month earlier, before the official dev kits. This also includes a copy of Doom 3 BFG, and full access to the Developer Center, SDK, docs, samples, and engine integrations! (Please add $30 for international shipping) NOTE: This DIY kit is only for true hardware geeks equipped with a hot glue gun. We encourage most of you to get the standard version below!
Estimated delivery: Nov 2012Pledge $300 or more
5640 backers
EARLY RIFT DEVELOPER KIT + DOOM 3 BFG: Try the Rift for yourself now! You'll receive a developer kit, perfect for the established or indie game developer interested in working with the Rift immediately. This also includes a copy of Doom 3 BFG and full access to our Developer Center for our SDK, docs, samples, and engine integrations! (Please add $30 for international shipping)
Estimated delivery: Dec 2012Pledge $335 or more
859 backers
EARLY RIFT DEVELOPER KIT + DOOM 3 BFG + T-SHIRT + POSTER: A developer kit, a copy of Doom 3 BFG, access to the Oculus Developer Center, the t-shirt, and the poster, all in one exciting package! (Please add $30 for international shipping)
Estimated delivery: Dec 2012Pledge $500 or more
66 backers
SIGNED EARLY RIFT DEVELOPER KIT + DOOM 3 BFG + T-SHIRT + POSTER: A developer kit, a copy of Doom 3 BFG, access to the Oculus Developer Center, the t-shirt, and the poster- all signed by the entire Oculus team! (Please add $30 for international shipping)
Estimated delivery: Dec 2012Pledge $575 or more
216 backers
2x EARLY RIFT DEVELOPER KIT + DOOM 3 BFG: You'll receive 2 developer kits (early prototype of the Rift headset), perfect for the established or indie game studio interested in working with the Rift immediately. This also includes 2 copies of Doom 3 BFG and full access to our Developer Center for our SDK, docs, samples, and engine integrations! (Please add $60 for international shipping)
Estimated delivery: Dec 2012Pledge $850 or more
40 backers
3x EARLY RIFT DEVELOPER KIT + DOOM 3 BFG: You'll receive 3 developer kits (early prototype of the Rift headset), perfect for the established or indie game studio interested in working with the Rift immediately. This also includes 3 copies of Doom 3 BFG and full access to our Developer Center for our SDK, docs, samples, and engine integrations! (Please add $60 for international shipping)
Estimated delivery: Dec 2012Pledge $1,400 or more
20 backers
5x EARLY RIFT DEVELOPER KIT + DOOM 3 BFG: You'll receive 5 developer kits (early prototype of the Rift headset), perfect for the established or indie game game studio interested in working with the Rift immediately. This also includes 5 copies of Doom 3 BFG and full access to our Developer Center for our SDK, docs, samples, and engine integrations! (Please add $100 for international shipping)
Estimated delivery: Dec 2012Pledge $3,000 or more
7 backers Limited (13 of 20 left)
STUDIO PACK - 10x EARLY RIFT DEVELOPER KITS + PREMIUM SUPPORT EVALUATION + DOOM 3 BFG: Want your team to have access to the cutting edge of gaming? You'll receive 10 developer kits (early prototype of the Rift headset), enough for your whole team to get started developing with the Rift. You’ll also receive an evaluation of our premium support, with direct access to Oculus engineers. This also includes 10 copies of Doom 3 BFG and full access to our Developer Center for our SDK, docs, samples, and engine integrations! (Please add $150 for international shipping)
Estimated delivery: Dec 2012Pledge $5,000 or more
7 backers Limited (3 of 10 left)
VISIT OCULUS FOR THE DAY + ALL OF THE ABOVE: We'll fly you out to the Oculus lab where you'll spend a day hanging out with the team and checking out all of our latest work (and maybe playing a few games too). You'll also receive a developer kit, a copy of Doom 3 BFG, Developer Center access, the t-shirt, and the poster, all signed by the entire Oculus team, in person. (US-residents only, sorry!)
Estimated delivery: Dec 2012
Comments
Creator Richard Royce on August 28, 2012
@Oculus As others have stated pleas look in to "value declaration" we don't want you to lie obviously, but labeling it as an research prototype might help with Eu customs even with the value declared.
And what value are you declaring, based on pledge or number of kits? X kits at x price per kit?
Cheers from Sweden
Creator Carl Fritzell on August 21, 2012
@Mario & @Björn
I agree with Marion here. I´m situated in Sweden at the moment and there are some pretty pesky tax regulations here that I guess goes for most countries in the European Union. However if it were labeled as a research product(which it is) then at least the Swedish tax regulations do not apply. I understand that the Oculus team can't sit down and "design" every package individually but if it's possible to have the the package be clear on what it is then a lot of backers within the EU won't have to be hassled with taxes they aren't eligible for.
So Oculus Team, please take that into consideration.
Creator Endothermic on August 20, 2012
@Brian
Perhaps they could indicate on the labeling to look up "oculus rift" on the kickstarter site to verify the value of the goods.
Then customs couldn't justify assuming the low value on the package is fraudunlent (just using it to try and get out of paying tax) and it really costs as much as an expensive HMD and taxing that high amount.
Creator Mario Basiola on August 19, 2012
Another option may be to label the package as a research-product. Because thats what it actually is, and not a regular consumer product. Could be a legit way of circumvent the tax issue.
Creator Bjørn Inge Nøkling on August 17, 2012
Daniel, as a fellow Norwegian I feel your pain regarding the MVA-Tax we have to pay. But remember that it is an extremely serious felony in the US to create false invoices. It´s "okay" when you buy from Ebayers, but this is a serious company. We have to do this one after the books. But I know. 25% + on the price is no fun... I
Creator Daniel Ervik on August 17, 2012
I understand the argument, but as it is a reward for backing, it could/should be marked as a gift.
For me, who live in norway, customs mean i have to pay half the price to the government, which is a significant difference, and plain wrong.
Creator Jason on August 17, 2012
Only since it's been brought up, I'd just like to mention that UPS in particular is known for their shady handling of brokerage fees and there have been two class action lawsuits filed in Canada against UPS because of this practice. So, maybe Fedex? :)
Creator Oculus on August 16, 2012
We cannot lie on customs forms, nor can we possibly inform backers of the myriad of import tax laws in their particular country. They should know much better than Oculus what their particular situation is, and it is unlikely that anyone buying a development kit would be angry because they were not informed of import taxes by Oculus, unless they have never purchased something from out of the country before.
Palmer
Creator Craig Booth on August 16, 2012
It's the buyer's/pledger's responsibility to know the facts regarding customs and paying import duties, not the exporter/Oculus.
This is also a discussion regarding update 4.
Creator ElecTriX on August 16, 2012
@Brian, the issue was mainly that they don't inform anything regarding this and might make a couple of people angry because they haven't been informed. I just think that they should add this to the FAQ..
Creator Brian Monaghan on August 16, 2012
@ElecTriX
Don't expect them to lie on customs forms. If it is marked with a low value, then the customs agent can assume it costs as much as an expensive HMD and tax based on that.
Creator Thomas on August 16, 2012
Tony: Indeed i first thought it was a mechanical moving "rug" but the friction is a much better idea. Wonder if it will ever go to sale, and how much it would cost? I'd absolutely be interested in one.
Creator Tony Tavener on August 16, 2012
Hmm... Wizdish is kinda interesting. Much more practical than a giant hamster-ball or lawnmowerman harness. :) Their demo could benefit from momentum to reduce the stop-and-go of each 'step'.
Creator ElecTriX on August 16, 2012
Still no answer regarding the international customs/tax-issue? :/