Oculus Has Bungled The Launch Of The Rift

Megalith

Megalith

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Is the honeymoon for the Rift already over? Apparently many have no idea when they will be getting their units, but the company seems to be dousing the flames with free shipping for some orders.

The Oculus subreddit has been filled with threads by redditors furious that their pre-orders have not been fulfilled yet and about the lack of communication from Oculus on the situation. Palmer eventually responded to a couple of these threads, stating that he "won't give in-depth updates on any situation without knowing it is solid, true, and finalized," and that "many thousands of Rifts (are) out there" in consumers' hands. While all the details aren't clear, there are glaring problems with the Oculus Rift launch.
 
I guess we can't miss an opportunity to cry ourselves a river because our toys aren't here on time.......waiting another day, week, month..seriously, unless you're in Hospice or about to Ship Out.......
 
HeadRusch said:
I guess we can't miss an opportunity to cry ourselves a river because our toys aren't here on time.......waiting another day, week, month..seriously, unless you're in Hospice or about to Ship Out.......
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There is some absolute crybaby shit going on in this article. He has three main points...

#1: Kickstarter backers are getting full retail kits, even though those were not promised. Writer feels like original backers should not have gotten those, because he preordered a retail kit so he wants his first. Wwwaaahhhhhhhhhh!

#2: Some people preordered a few minutes before the scheduled preorder time. Writer thinks this is bullshit and not fair. Wwwaaahhhhhhhhhh!

#3: He was told on March 24 that his order would be processed in 1 to 3 weeks. Even though we aren't even halfway through the three weeks, he wants more information RIGHT NOW god damnit. Wwwaaahhhhhhhhhh!

This guy is a manbaby who is only upset because other people are getting toys and he wants to throw a tantrum.
 
I'm not ready to jump on board yet. Both the Oculus and the Vive look like a lot of fun, but I am pretty happy with my monitor set up for right now and would like to see how well games and other applications are going to support the hardware. One of my concerns is exclusive titles for each platform. I hope that the VR headsets will be treated more like a peripheral than an actual game system. In other words Game X will be playable on both (or all) VR devices and not Game X can only be played on the Rift and not Vive, and vice versa.
 
Palmer's statement is ridiculous. They would have known WEEKS a head of time that they wouldn't be able to fulfill all of the pre-orders that THEY specifically allotted for around launch. If this was a case of them getting an overwhelming number of pre-orders and not being able to make enough units in time, that's one thing. However, they set a number the expected to be able to fill around launch. That allotment sold out quickly and the expected delivery date slipped to June. Shit happens with manufacturing electronics. It comes with the territory and that is fine. However, the failure of Oculus here is not actually informing their customers of an expected delay. Posting a vague tweet the day before is downright terrible communication. Palmer's vague, basically saying nothing at all, statement on Reddit isn't much either. Customers should have been informed via more than a single Tweet that something was wrong. It's not that much work to create a mass email to all people the purchased a Rift saying something like "We have experienced some delays in shipping. We are aware that several of you were greatly anticipating getting a Rift and we thank you for your enthusiasm. At this time we are, unfortunately, not able to provide details on what happened or when some customers can expect units. Some customers will still be getting their units, we have thousands of models out to customers and still going out. We apologize to those of you that expected a unit near release and are sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused. We will update customers further when we are sure of the details. We do not wish to release information that we have not yet been able to solidly confirm." Then toss in some details about following Lucky on Twitter or following the subreddit for up-to-date information or something. I hate PR double speak yet somehow I seem to be more capable of coming up with this crap than a lot of companies. Why do they make it so hard on themselves when it seems so bloody easy to calm the situation down? Well, calm down the more rational people at least and give the rest of them something to look at and pick over while the company comes up with a better excuse. Hell, my hastily written up thing probably isn't amazing PR speak either, but at least it would be something and it includes an actual apology (which, coming from PR, would likely not be entirely sincere but good PR people can sell their bullshit well enough to make it sound good) to customers instead of dry non-answers.

Now, yes, some of this bellyaching is a bit of "first world problem" syndrome. However, we should expect companies to deliver on their promises or to properly inform their customers when issues crop up. I think most people understand that stuff happens, they just tend to get more worked up when the response for the company is severely lacking or non-existent (which it essentially was prior to Lucky's Reddit post). Lucky's post confirms that people likely will not be getting their units within that 1-3 week timeframe mentioned in the email. However, he offers nothing other than a dry "we're not able to talk about it right now and will not until we know more".
 
I am not at all surprised.. Typical kickstarter BS give Occulus another 6 months at least......Gotta give this VR scam time to grow.......
 
HeadRusch said:
I guess we can't miss an opportunity to cry ourselves a river because our toys aren't here on time.......waiting another day, week, month..seriously, unless you're in Hospice or about to Ship Out.......
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I don't agree, but that does not mean I agree 100% with the article or the complaints.

This launch has been almost a disaster, no blame is with the consumer. We did not set the launch date, all we did was preorder a product.

Oculus set the launch date, as a company it is their responsibility to meet that date, they have not. This is their failure and their reputational damage. Coupled with the dickery on price, this could irrevocably damage their brand, and perhaps it should.

To turn around and blame the paying consumer for being upset that the launch date, set by the provider, has been not only bungled but marred by a complete lack of communication and transperancy, is catagorically wrong.

Having said that, I don't agree with his point on kickstarters.

I do however find peoples willingness to shaft the consumer (even other consumers) disgusting. Again, we did not pick the launch date, oculus did nothing to communicate the situation ahead of time. People have a right to ask for answers, especially to the legitimate question of "when will my day x ordered oculus ship"
 
Weren't they charging like $30 for shipping as well? I'd be pretty pissed.
 
Is there any kind of redditor other than "furious"?

I don't really care that my Rift is delayed, although they haven't clarified how much of a delay they're talking about, just that we'll find out in the next couple of weeks. Meanwhile, my Vive shipped yesterday, which is weeks ahead of when I expected to see it. Maybe HTC took all those pesky components for themselves.
 
After reading bad reviews of the Rift I might cancel my Pre-Order, If they would have shipped it on time that wouldn't have happened.
 
zalazin said:
I am not at all surprised.. Typical kickstarter BS give Occulus another 6 months at least......Gotta give this VR scam time to grow.......
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Im also not surprised...

qnagoZQ.gif
 
Some of the ToS bits are likely going to make some people paranoid/pissed as hell.

Assuming people even read through it that is.......
 
Damar said:
Some of the ToS bits are likely going to make some people paranoid/pissed as hell.

Assuming people even read through it that is.......
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Does it say anything about going blind or having a screendoor effect on your vision for the rest of your life? I'm holding off until the first ginea pig (no testing required for most products of any kind in this world) early adopters test if for the company to see what type of long term damage is done.

Anyone else waiting for a video wall I can stand in front of with really high resolution that will do basically the same thing as VR?

I have a decent 27 inch monitor in a dark room and I get a pretty good VR effect even with no head tracking. Here's how it works. When I move my head a little, I move the mouse. After a while you begin to get an immersion out of just a slight turn of your head along with the corresponding mouse movement. It is a decent VR setup with no goggles or unknown side effects. I even get vertigo in games with heights occasionally. Been doing it since 1991 or so.
 
triwolf said:
Does it say anything about going blind or having a screendoor effect on your vision for the rest of your life? I'm holding off until the first ginea pig (no testing required for most products of any kind in this world) early adopters test if for the company to see what type of long term damage is done.

Anyone else waiting for a video wall I can stand in front of with really high resolution that will do basically the same thing as VR?

I have a decent 27 inch monitor in a dark room and I get a pretty good VR effect even with no head tracking. Here's how it works. When I move my head a little, I move the mouse. After a while you begin to get an immersion out of just s slight turn of your head along with the corresponding mouse movement. It is a decent VR setup with no goggles or unknown side effects. I even get vertigo in games with heights occasionally. Been doing it since 1991 or so.
Click to expand...

That's not VR at all. VR uses different frames for your left and right eye which is where the 3D depth comes from. VR is a combination of many factors, just a sitting in front of a large monitor doesn't count.
 
triwolf said:
Does it say anything about going blind or having a screendoor effect on your vision for the rest of your life? I'm holding off until the first ginea pig (no testing required for most products of any kind in this world) early adopters test if for the company to see what type of long term damage is done.

Anyone else waiting for a video wall I can stand in front of with really high resolution that will do basically the same thing as VR?

I have a decent 27 inch monitor in a dark room and I get a pretty good VR effect even with no head tracking. Here's how it works. When I move my head a little, I move the mouse. After a while you begin to get an immersion out of just a slight turn of your head along with the corresponding mouse movement. It is a decent VR setup with no goggles or unknown side effects. I even get vertigo in games with heights occasionally. Been doing it since 1991 or so.
Click to expand...

Tens of thousands of people have been using the Oculus DK1 and DK2 for years with no ill effects. And yeah, like the poster above explained, sitting real close to a larger monitor is nothing like VR.
 
Ocellaris said:
That's not VR at all. VR uses different frames for your left and right eye which is where the 3D depth comes from. VR is a combination of many factors, just a sitting in front of a large monitor doesn't count.
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Ok, I have used VR goggles and it was fun for a few minutes, after that it became too obtrusive for me. I can live without the 3D effect and just have a psudeo 3D effect even in 2D is enough for me on a normal monitor or TV screen. I can do without the "feel like I'm in something" effect for now, as I've been doing without it for the whole of my video game enjoyment.

If they get them to essentially sunglasses with super high res, then I'll see what that is about.

I'm wondering how many millions think just like me.
 
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x3sphere said:
Tens of thousands of people have been using the Oculus DK1 and DK2 for years with no ill effects. And yeah, like the poster above explained, sitting real close to a larger monitor is nothing like VR.
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Why have I read several reports that after people had been wearing them, due to the low resolution, they saw a screen door effect in reality that did not go away, and could be permanent? I'm not risking my vision, what others do is their own choice.
 
triwolf said:
Why have I read several reports that after people had been wearing them, due to the low resolution, they saw a screen door effect in reality that did not go away, and could be permanent? I'm not risking my vision, what others do is their own choice.
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Link to this? I have never heard such a thing, sure you can see a screen door effect inside the headset due to the lower resolution, but I don't understand why this would also happen in reality after prolonged usage.
 
triwolf said:
Why have I read several reports that after people had been wearing them, due to the low resolution, they saw a screen door effect in reality that did not go away, and could be permanent? I'm not risking my vision, what others do is their own choice.
Click to expand...

Why have I not read any reports of permanent SDE "burn in"? Probably because I don't waste my time on reddit. Or because it's clearly bullshit. I can totally believe there might be long-term effects from extended use, but that is not one of them. But since apparently you can't tell the difference between VR and moving your head in front of a big monitor, you're probably best out of it.
 
I got an email from Oculus apologising for the lack of communication.
They said they have been working through an unexpected component shortage and will give an update by the 12th.
 
x3sphere said:
Link to this? I have never heard such a thing, sure you can see a screen door effect inside the headset due to the lower resolution, but I don't understand why this would also happen in reality after prolonged usage.
Click to expand...

Probably similar to what happened if you stare at something very bright it will leave an impression, like sunlight off a glass windshield. We've all seen it and while annoying it's not permanent. It's due to saturation of various rods and your nerves start adjusting to the new baseline signals and it goes away after awhile. Of course anyone afraid of these types of effects probably shouldn't own a rift, or go outdoors and I will gladly accept any Rift donations so I can give one to my wife.

Honestly though, the glare issue is slightly annoying, if I had took guess, they didn't coat the inside of the lens with an effective antireflective coating. But it's not present at all in bright scenes, well have to see how the Vive fares.
 
Vercinaigh said:
Or expect to get a product you paid for on the time advertised......
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es·ti·mate
verb
ˈestəˌmāt/
  1. roughly calculate or judge the value, number, quantity, or extent of.
    "the aim is to estimate the effects of macroeconomic policy on the economy"
    synonyms: calculate roughly, approximate, guess;
 
zalazin said:
I am not at all surprised.. Typical kickstarter BS give Occulus another 6 months at least......Gotta give this VR scam time to grow.......
Click to expand...
So which part of VR do you consider a scam, pray tell.
 
All the pre-orders (before today) are getting their shipping fees waived. Pretty big deal for foreign orders where the shipping runs north of $130 or more.

On the whole, I can wait a few more weeks. I was told an April ship date when I ordered... Last I checked, there's another 4 weeks left in the month...

Just a bunch of cry babies.... Meh... 1st world problems!
 
DPI said:
Who cares, get a Vive
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Listening to people complain and complaining about people complaining is just good Monday morning coffee entertainment. Otherwise, agreed - I'm thinking the Vive is more deserving of my money. Though I'll happily wait for more of an informed consensus. : )
 
Has there ever been a completely smooth launch of new popular tech? They seem very far and few between to say the least...
 
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Youn said:
Has there ever been a completely smooth launch of new popular tech? They seem very far and few between to say the least...
Click to expand...
For some reason (especially on HardOCP), some people are tripping over themselves to denounce how VR is a fad and is doomed to fail, despite there literally being nothing close to it and offering a quite unique experience. Yes, Oculus has made multiple screw-ups, but there's plenty of life behind VR.
 
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Derangel said:
Palmer's statement is ridiculous. They would have known WEEKS a head of time that they wouldn't be able to fulfill all of the pre-orders that THEY specifically allotted for around launch. If this was a case of them getting an overwhelming number of pre-orders and not being able to make enough units in time, that's one thing. However, they set a number the expected to be able to fill around launch. That allotment sold out quickly and the expected delivery date slipped to June. Shit happens with manufacturing electronics. It comes with the territory and that is fine. However, the failure of Oculus here is not actually informing their customers of an expected delay. Posting a vague tweet the day before is downright terrible communication. Palmer's vague, basically saying nothing at all, statement on Reddit isn't much either. Customers should have been informed via more than a single Tweet that something was wrong. It's not that much work to create a mass email to all people the purchased a Rift saying something like "We have experienced some delays in shipping. We are aware that several of you were greatly anticipating getting a Rift and we thank you for your enthusiasm. At this time we are, unfortunately, not able to provide details on what happened or when some customers can expect units. Some customers will still be getting their units, we have thousands of models out to customers and still going out. We apologize to those of you that expected a unit near release and are sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused. We will update customers further when we are sure of the details. We do not wish to release information that we have not yet been able to solidly confirm." Then toss in some details about following Lucky on Twitter or following the subreddit for up-to-date information or something. I hate PR double speak yet somehow I seem to be more capable of coming up with this crap than a lot of companies. Why do they make it so hard on themselves when it seems so bloody easy to calm the situation down? Well, calm down the more rational people at least and give the rest of them something to look at and pick over while the company comes up with a better excuse. Hell, my hastily written up thing probably isn't amazing PR speak either, but at least it would be something and it includes an actual apology (which, coming from PR, would likely not be entirely sincere but good PR people can sell their bullshit well enough to make it sound good) to customers instead of dry non-answers.

Now, yes, some of this bellyaching is a bit of "first world problem" syndrome. However, we should expect companies to deliver on their promises or to properly inform their customers when issues crop up. I think most people understand that stuff happens, they just tend to get more worked up when the response for the company is severely lacking or non-existent (which it essentially was prior to Lucky's Reddit post). Lucky's post confirms that people likely will not be getting their units within that 1-3 week timeframe mentioned in the email. However, he offers nothing other than a dry "we're not able to talk about it right now and will not until we know more".
Click to expand...

How many consumer electronics product launches have you shepherded? Reading this comment gives the strong impression that it is zero. Next time you hop on a Sunday night red-eye flight to China with only 2 hours notice, let me know.

I have seen first hand how 11th hour surprises from subcontractors or factories can create catastrophic yield issues that no one knew about until the day of. It happens all the time when working against a fixed deadline.

Now if Oculus had the luxury to ship when it is ready, then this would have been a complete non-issue and they would have had "WEEKS" to deal with it. That is not the case. Oculus had to put a date out there, for marketing or whatever reasons. Now people have put down money. Many of those who put down money are very adamant that nothing slow their order down.
 
tetris42 said:
For some reason (especially on HardOCP), some people are tripping over themselves to denounce how VR is a fad and is doomed to fail, despite there literally being nothing close to it and offering a quite unique experience. Yes, Oculus has made multiple screw-ups, but there's plenty of life behind VR.
Click to expand...

The [H] forums are among the most shockingly Luddite corners of the internet. It seems that the primary reason to own PC components is to belittle those who own different components. No one "does" anything with the components. No joy is derived from them beyond ownership and bragging rights.
 
tetris42 said:
For some reason (especially on HardOCP), some people are tripping over themselves to denounce how VR is a fad and is doomed to fail, despite there literally being nothing close to it and offering a quite unique experience. Yes, Oculus has made multiple screw-ups, but there's plenty of life behind VR.
Click to expand...

Quoted for truth. Though it's just a small handful that probably have weird personal issues that have nothing to do with the subject at hand.

Billions are flowing into VR. And only someone that's never tried a Vive or Rift could lazily conclude that it's "just another 3DTV" or "didn't they already try VR in the 90's, derp"

Now that VR products have actually materialized, they've moved the goalposts to" there are no AAA's". Once there are AAA's, whoosh the goalposts will shift again, "derp it's not wireless tho". And eventually they'll crawl to the next controversy.

Some people are just perpetually unhappy, and want to drag everyone else down. I for one am enjoying have some child like excitement about new tech, the likes I haven't felt in a long time. We *should* be getting excited about this stuff if we purport to be tech enthusiasts, nevermind on [H]
 
Dunnlang said:
The [H] forums are among the most shockingly Luddite corners of the internet. It seems that the primary reason to own PC components is to belittle those who own different components. No one "does" anything with the components. No joy is derived from them beyond ownership and bragging rights.
Click to expand...

Except, you know...the tons of people on here who game, fold, benchmark, etc.
 
Youn said:
es·ti·mate
verb
ˈestəˌmāt/
  1. roughly calculate or judge the value, number, quantity, or extent of.
    "the aim is to estimate the effects of macroeconomic policy on the economy"
    synonyms: calculate roughly, approximate, guess;
Click to expand...

Don't need Google quotes on definitions of words you barely remembered quitting your high-school in freshman year. Especially when it was in context to a comment made and nothing to do with any article so few actually care about, thanks.
 
Well, at least the EULA didn't disappoint. It's an FB product alright. Stay away people, stay away.
 
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