Facebook will buy Oculus VR, e virtual reality

[Geek-9pm]

In a move that surprised many, Facebook
has announced that they will buy Oculus VR, the virtual reality company best know for creating the Oculus Rift. This acquisition poses the question: will social networking one day be an immersive, 3D experience?

The deal was even more surprising because of the fact that Oculus
is a fairly small startup that hasn’t even released a product to the public yet. They are also somewhat of a niche company aimed mostly at hard-core gamers.

The deal is set for $2 billion, and Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and head of Facebook, said that the deal reflects the idea that virtual reality is the next big platform in computing. He also said that Oculus will focus on many more things than just games.

Source: NYTimes

[jackj]

Whether Oculus Rift is the breakthrough VR technology, I have no idea, but given the history of our desire as a species for escape from the here and now,* I don't think there's much question that virtual reality in one form or another is going to be very, very big.