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"John Carmack, the former cofounder of id Software and chief technology officer of Oculus VR, said he believes Facebook \u2014 which just acquired his company for $2 billion \u2014 gets the \"big picture\" of virtual reality.\nCarmack expressed his opinion on the acquisition in the comments section of a Tumblr post by Peter Berkman, a Brooklyn-based musician for electronic group Anamanaguchi. His most revealing note was that he wasn't expecting an acquisition this soon.\nSee also: Game Developers on Oculus Acquisition: From Feeling Validated to 'The Wrong Direction'\n\"I wasn't personally involved in any of the negotiations \u2014 I spent an afternoon talking technology with Mark Zuckerberg, and the next week I find out that he bought Oculus,\" Carmack wrote. \"Honestly, I wasn't expecting Facebook (or this soon). I have zero personal background with them, and I could think of other companies that would have more obvious synergies. However, I do have reasons to believe that they get the Big Picture as I see it, and will be a powerful force towards making it happen. You don't make a commitment like they just did on a whim.\"\nCarmack was hired as Oculus VR's CTO in August, though he has been involved with the company since its early days. During the 2012 Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, he showed an early Oculus Rift virtual reality headset prototype to some journalists and developers. \nHis comments were made in response to Berkman's concerns that Oculus VR was acquired too early, and that outside money would taint the experience of virtual reality. Carmack argued that virtual reality was too hot \u2014 and has too much potential \u2014 to not get snapped up quickly.\n\"The experience is too obviously powerful, and it makes converts on contact. The fairly rapid involvement of the Titans is inevitable, and the real questions were how deeply to partner, and with who,\" Carmack wrote.\nHe also tweeted about the acquisition last week, revealing he wasn't on Facebook.\n\nI suppose I will get a FB account now, so that may lead to some writing a little longer than tweet length...\n\u2014 John Carmack (@ID_AA_Carmack) March 26, 2014\n\nHowever, his comments on Berkman's Tumblr post were his longest to date.\nHave something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.\n\n\nThe Oculus Rift, Explained\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Oculus Rift\nFacebook announced its $2 billion purchase of tech company Oculus VR on March 25, 2014. Oculus VR makes the Oculus Rift headset, currently the biggest player in the virtual reality space.\n\nImage: Mashable Christina Ascani\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nKickstarter beginnings\nThe Oculus Rift headset debuted on Kickstarter in August 2012, raising nearly $2.5 million dollars as it offered developers a chance to get on the ground floor. For $300, developers could use Kickstarter to preorder the entire headset (which is not yet on the market). \n\nImage: Mashable Christina Ascani\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOculus dev kits\nBy March 2013, developers who had placed orders on Kickstarter began receiving their Oculus Rift headsets. Each Rift comes with a 1280\u00D7800 LCD display covered with a darkened-out headset, with optics to fit over each eye.\n\nImage: Mashable Christina Ascani\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOculus optics\nThe Oculus comes with adjustable eye pieces as well, allowing its users to adjust for all types of vision.\n\nImage: Mashable Christina Ascani\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDevelopers keep working\nAt the time of the acquisition, 75,000 Oculus Rift developer kits had been ordered from the company, according to stats jointly released by Oculus VR and Facebook.\n\nImage: Mashable Christina Ascani\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOculus Rift gameplay\nThe Oculus Rift hooks up to a PC, and the images seen on the headset are projected on another monitor. You'll see two images because the Rift projects a slightly different image to each eye, allowing for stereoscopic 3D.\n\nImage: Mashable Christina Ascani\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOculus dev kit, version 2\nOn March 19, Oculus VR announced it would be shipping a second development kit, complete with a higher resolution OLED screen that has a 1080p display, along with better positional tracking.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nHow Facebook fits in\nCEO Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook will help Oculus focus on accelerating the hardware development and look for new ways to \"connect the world.\"\n\nImage: Mashable Christina Ascani\n\n\n\n\n\n\n      window._msla=window.loadScriptAsync||function(src,id){if(document.getElementById(id))return;var js=document.createElement('script');js.id=id;js.src=src;document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0].parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);};\n_msla(\"//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\",\"twitter_jssdk\");"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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