John Carmack joins Oculus!

Post by **V8Griff** » Wed Aug 07, 2013 8:06 am

Wow

Now who would have seen that coming?

http://www.oculusvr.com/blog/john-carma ... us-as-cto/

Congratulations on probably one of the smartest moves ever for VR. I think the future just got even brighter.

Post by **the_wretched** » Wed Aug 07, 2013 8:08 am

That is the mother of all news - never saw that coming, I'm thoroughly amazed!

Post by **Okta** » Wed Aug 07, 2013 8:15 am

Holy Crap!! Sneaky buggers. This is the most awesome news

Maybe now we can hear what happened to D3 support.

Post by **Syntax** » Wed Aug 07, 2013 8:18 am

As VR and Oculus couldnt have enough of attention allready... there comes John along and made a brilliant move (while QuakeConConvention)

This is the support that could boost VR in unkown limits we dont even conceive yet!
History has begun...

Post by **Flim** » Wed Aug 07, 2013 8:19 am

crazy...!

Saw they are opening a Dallas office... I wish I had more skills in this arena. I'm just a pilot...

Post by **crespo80** » Wed Aug 07, 2013 8:30 am

That's absolutely unexpected but amazing news!
I was led to think John had some friction with Palmer lately because of the Doom3 BFG affair and the lack of any word about Oculus from him; but man so I'm glad I was so wrong

Post by **Neil** » Wed Aug 07, 2013 8:33 am

Awesome news. Congrats to Oculus and John! Already front paged.

Regards,
Neil

Post by **przecinek** » Wed Aug 07, 2013 8:34 am

Just got the email, and had to rush immediately here to MTBS, to express my excitement

This is very, very good news. Oculus team is now almost like a dream team full of true vr enthusiasts.
Love seeing how some people are motivated by their passion rather than plain $$$.
-> Bright future just got even brighter. Well done John, Palmer and the rest of the Oculus gang.

Post by **urban** » Wed Aug 07, 2013 8:36 am

Bloody hell!

Massive and great news, the future is indeed looking bright

Post by **yunti** » Wed Aug 07, 2013 8:40 am

Oh my word that is incredible. Has he given up his other roles?

Post by **Popopinsel** » Wed Aug 07, 2013 8:41 am

przecinek wrote:Just got the email, and had to rush immediately here to MTBS, to express my excitement

This!

Now let his first act of state be full id Tech 4-5 Rift support!

Post by **laast** » Wed Aug 07, 2013 8:42 am

Unbelievable

Post by **rowanunderwood** » Wed Aug 07, 2013 8:42 am

crespo80 wrote:That's absolutely unexpected but amazing news!
I was led to think John had some friction with Palmer lately because of the Doom3 BFG affair and the lack of any word about Oculus from him; but man so I'm glad I was so wrong

I took the drop out of John from the VR scene as possible some kind of smack-down from upper management; however, more likely is he was just getting out of the way to give Oculus a chance to thrive on its own merits. But this . . . this is just incredible news. Talk about your dream teams!

Post by **RABID** » Wed Aug 07, 2013 8:43 am

yunti wrote:Oh my word that is incredible. Has he given up his other roles?

I sincerely hope not

Post by **Jose** » Wed Aug 07, 2013 8:44 am

WOW this is some crazy news.

The OVR website seems unable to handle all the traffic.

Post by **yunti** » Wed Aug 07, 2013 8:49 am

Also adds some clarity as to him devoting much of his talk at quakecon to VR

Post by **Kirito** » Wed Aug 07, 2013 8:50 am

everytime the oculusvr site crashes we know a good update is here ;p

and its epic to hear oculus is spreading by opening more offices :p

Post by **rowanunderwood** » Wed Aug 07, 2013 8:52 am

RABID wrote:
yunti wrote:Oh my word that is incredible. Has he given up his other roles?
I sincerely hope not

The ARS article says no.

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/08/j ... oculus-vr/

Post by **KBK** » Wed Aug 07, 2013 8:52 am

It's a good thing my second Rift is coming in the next batch for NA. I'd hate to be ordering one now.....

Looks like going forward with a HDMI to MIPI hack for the nexus 7/2 7" 1200p panel might be fruitful, time wise (which is the greater concern).

John is not the kind that is interested in holding still, but he's also not the kind to release, or say a word -until it is 'done'.

Post by **yunti** » Wed Aug 07, 2013 8:52 am

yunti wrote:Oh my word that is incredible. Has he given up his other roles?

Looks like that's a no..

"John has long been interested in the work at Oculus VR and wishes to spend time on that project," the (id) spokesman said. "The technical leadership he provides for games in development at id Software is unaffected."

Post by **mattyeatsmatts** » Wed Aug 07, 2013 9:04 am

That's like Michael Jordan joining in on my social bball team. Great news for Oculus and VR

Post by **zalo** » Wed Aug 07, 2013 9:14 am

I remember being really sad hearing that Armadillo Aerospace is winding down (like a week ago) and I remember a funny line from the article that said something like:

Aerospace just doesn't interest me as much any more, compared to other projects like Virtual Reality...

I would never have guessed that he'd now use his Armadillo Aerospace time to run a Dallas Oculus Office!

EDIT: Carmack just tweeted that Oculus is his PRIMARY employer now:

My time division is now Oculus over Id over Armadillo. Busy busy busy!

Post by **Hewster** » Wed Aug 07, 2013 9:18 am

This news cheers my heart..

Oculus team is looking very VERY strong now

I feel proud to be part (if only a small part) of this VR revolution !

Post by **RABID** » Wed Aug 07, 2013 9:21 am

Lol, so I guess we can expect that DOOM3 BFG support soon

Post by **stevetb** » Wed Aug 07, 2013 9:28 am

I just saw a post a few days ago that Armadillo Aerospace has been put on hold. I never thought I would see this news however a few days later. Great move Oculus!

-Steve

Post by **colocolo** » Wed Aug 07, 2013 9:43 am

I'm happy!

Post by **Ericshelpdesk** » Wed Aug 07, 2013 9:47 am

So THAT is what 16 million dollars can buy!

I'm so glad that their made up feud is over because I'm sure I totally bought into that.

Post by **Falan** » Wed Aug 07, 2013 10:13 am

HOLY SH*T!!!!!!!!!!! Best news ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's like your internet dying just before the most important email in your life has to be replied to immediately - calling the helpdesk, getting put through to an indian call centre and Geekmaster answering and fixing everything even your haircut in 4.36 minutes!!! =D

Post by **D3n** » Wed Aug 07, 2013 10:30 am

The VR future just went supernova.

Post by **Ryuuken24** » Wed Aug 07, 2013 10:36 am

Now OR will have software support out of the box, by this amazing joining. That's exactly what we needed to get things going, a professional software engineer.

Post by **daveo2013** » Wed Aug 07, 2013 10:49 am

That is truly significant news - congrats to Oculus.

[rambling aside] I'd been musing on whether there was a chicken-and-egg situation with the display panel - the Rift is possibly the only device that really needs a truly great small, hires, fast screen, but without a great screen can Rift 1 be enough of a success to drive the production of such a screen... but this news will surely be a huge step towards that success

I'm so excited to be involved in something so huge at this early point

Now what we need is real game support rather than just superficial mouse emulation head tracking with sickening keyhole crosshairs... I was really disappointed how few games used the Hydra as anything more than a fancy mouse, and I really hope the Rift doesn't go the same way. It may be up to us indies to show what can be done! [/rambling aside]

TLDR: blah blah blah Awesome!

Post by **TheHolyChicken** » Wed Aug 07, 2013 11:52 am

It's funny to think back to just over a year ago; Carmack requested Palmer's Rift prototype, and Palmer giddily agreeing and sending it - "because it's freaking John Carmack, right? You can't say no to him" (approximate quote).

Now Carmack is Palmer's employee

Post by **2EyeGuy** » Wed Aug 07, 2013 11:58 am

Wow! Wasn't expecting that!

Now I wish I'd put more effort into my Doom 3 BFG fixes. I never even got around to committing my RoQ cinematic support, or my higher refresh rate support. I'd better get back to work before I get overshadowed by the real deal.

I wish I was a mad genius like John Carmack, so I could work for Oculus.

Post by **KBK** » Wed Aug 07, 2013 12:10 pm

"When you're one step ahead of the crowd you're a genius. When you're two steps ahead, you're a crackpot."

Post by **Volte6** » Wed Aug 07, 2013 12:37 pm

This might be the first time I've ever felt light headed when I heard news.

Absolutely incredible. As far as I'm concerned, checkmate.

Post by **KBK** » Wed Aug 07, 2013 12:43 pm

TheHolyChicken wrote:It's funny to think back to just over a year ago; Carmack requested Palmer's Rift prototype, and Palmer giddily agreeing and sending it - "because it's freaking John Carmack, right? You can't say no to him" (approximate quote).

Now Carmack is Palmer's employee

I hear what you are saying, its a nice bit of humour.

I'm thinking (clarity on the subject) that it is more of an 'agreement' than employee/boss. If forced to guess, that John doesn't really ever work for people, he works with people. The rest is just paperwork.

Post by **whelanweb** » Wed Aug 07, 2013 1:00 pm

This is great news all round.

John can see the future and wants to shape it some more just like he has in the past. He had some great glory days in the past but I think the best is yet to come from him and the OR team. John and Palmer get to work on what they are passionate about and this is only the start of something special.

I'm really glad I ordered a Dev Kit last week as I would expect sales to go through the roof with all the press that this is going to receive in the coming weeks.

Its just like the saying ( The best , just got better )

Post by **blazespinnaker** » Wed Aug 07, 2013 1:37 pm

This is paradigm shifting news... Because John is a software guy, not a hardware guy.

This has the potential to change everything for Oculus Rift and VR as well.

Also, Palmer does not have executive control at Oculus. He's not the ceo, chairman or majority shareholder.

Pretty sure John reports to Brendan.

Post by **StellaArtois** » Wed Aug 07, 2013 2:36 pm

Amazing news! As people have said, a true dream team! Best of luck to Palmer, John and the rest of the team. Now where can I buy shares in Oculus?

Post by **Likay** » Wed Aug 07, 2013 3:22 pm

It's probably one of the best things that could happen for vr right now! It's always nice when a bunch of people that burns for a cause gets together. It shows promises for the future of vr!