Star Citizen (finally) Officially Confirmed for Linux by the man himself!

YES, Star Citizen (finally) Officially Confirmed for Linux by the man himself!!!

"... by the way, we'll gonna be supporting Linux."

"We'll be on Linux ... we like it. I think most engineers will tell you that they prefer Linux ... to Windows actually, especially in the back-end server world."

1st quote is at 21:45 (already skipped to in that video link above.
2nd quote is at 45:20 (question & answer). CR (Chris Roberts) also says "all the major engines are supporting Linux" at [47:25]. =)


Here's another great video of Linux love and DRM hate (with an interesting developer's opinion on piracy) from last year's PC Gamer panel with more indies and game devs at PAX:




Click here for a brief history of speculation of Star Citizen on Linux on my part.
And here for an article about the rise of Linux (including gaming on Linux).

Here's also a new blog I discovered covering gaming on Linux which updates fairly frequently (multiple articles per day) as opposed to steamonlinux.com
It's like Phoronix but for games! (Since Michael is a self-professed non-gamer).

Facebook Acquires Oculus Rift VR

So earlier today, we saw this: FB buys Oculus Rift for $2bil in ~300-400mil cash and rest stock and the internet has been virally complaining.
People have been massively disappointed (myself included) and posting things like "FACEbook is taking things a little too literally", with a FB logo plastered on the front of the OR, but I think our fears shouldn't make us lose hope as explained throughout this article. 

Great article analysing both sides and future outcome of things:
http://gizmodo.com/facebook-could-give-you-the-oculus-you-always-wanted-1551561433 
Some other news outlets:
http://kotaku.com/facebook-buys-oculus-rift-for-2-billion-1551487939
http://techcrunch.com/2014/03/25/facebook-to-buy-oculus-vr-maker-of-the-rift-headset-for-around-2b-in-cash-and-stock/
Minecraft backs out of OR:
http://www.theverge.com/2014/3/25/5547626/minecraft-oculus-vr-cancelled

At first I was like "What. In. The. World." Mark Zuckerberg's even considering ads!?

Palmer tries to allay concerns, which is nice, but to small effect, although does confirm their independent status and FB not screwing them over like MS or Apple buying out a company and disassembling it (which was amusing for me, as most indie techs/devs probably has similar sentiments, especially supporters of Linux and open source or just people who were screwed by M$/Apple):
http://www.reddit.com/user/palmerluckey/comments/?sort=hot

But now that OR ultimately seems to be able to operate independently and do stuff as they've always had without excessive FB intrusion like needing an FB account to connect to OR, I am cautiously optimistic again. Especially with Palmer saying stuff like: (double quoted passages are Palmer quoting redditors)

Sure, we could have made more money down the road, but this deal was not about making the most money. It was about doing the best thing for the long term future of virtual reality.

This lets us make CV1 everything we want it to be, which is going to drive much larger sales and adoption.

We defined the milestones. They are exactly in line with our prior plans.

We promise we won't change. If anything, our hardware and software will get even more open, and Facebook is onboard with that.

They are champions of open hardware and software.
Our relationship with the community is not going to change, and we are not going to spy on anyone. Feel free to rag on me if things turn out the way you predict, but you have my word that nothing will change for the worse.

However, if anyone has more control or say on ANY decision then Palmer and John do, then I'm out. They were the top, they didn't answer to anyone but the consumers.

We have had to answer to people since the Kickstarter, and even more so after raising two rounds of funding from investment partners to hire the people we need. This deal gives us more freedom to make the right decisions, not less!
Facebook has a good track record for letting companies operate independently post-acquisition, and they are going to do the same for us. Trust me on this, I would not have done the deal otherwise.

Just promise me there will be no specific Facebook tech tie-ins.

I promise.
Why would we want to sell to someone like MS or Apple? So they can tear the company apart and use the pieces to build out their own vision of virtual reality, one that fits whatever current strategy they have? Not a chance.

And:

This deal specifically lets us greatly lower the price of the Rift.

We have not gotten into all the details yet, but a lot of the news is coming. The key points:
1) We can make custom hardware, not rely on the scraps of the mobile phone industry. That is insanely expensive, think hundreds of millions of dollars. More news soon.
2) We can afford to hire everyone we need, the best people that fit into our culture of excellence in all aspects.
3) We can make huge investments in content. More news soon.

And:

Nothing changes. Keep in mind that Mark Zuckerberg has publicly spoken against NSA surveillance.

is that 75-100 million dollars of VC not enough to bring the CV1 to market?

It it enough to bring a consumer product to market, but not the consumer product we really wish we could ship. This deal is going to immediately accelerate a lot of plans that were languishing on our wishlist, and the resulting hardware will be better AND cheaper. We have the resources to create custom hardware now, not just rely on the scraps of the mobile phone industry. There is a lot of good news on the way that is not yet public, so believe me, things will become a lot more clear over time.

Why did Oculus VR choose to risk their reputation with their core supporters in such a substantial way, before there is even a real product on store shelves?

Because it is the best thing in the long term for virtual reality, and the best thing in the short term for our core supporters. We are going to stay as community focused as we have always been! We now have the freedom to make the right decisions without worrying about short financial profit or investor returns.

Facebook is making a long term bet on VR, not a short term run on profit. We have more freedom to do what we want now that our investment partners are out of the picture.

 We are already working on our own VR game platform/launcher, but we are not going to force everything to go through it. Facebook has no interest in changing that, they believe in what we have been doing all along.

 I guarantee that you won't need to log into your Facebook account every time you wanna use the Oculus Rift.

And:

The appeal of Oculus (as compared to Sony, for example) is because it is on a PC platform, and thus allows us, the developers, freedom over what we want to do with it.

None of that will change. Oculus continues to operate independently! We are going to remain as indie/developer/enthusiast friendly as we have always been, if not more so. This deal lets us dedicate a lot of resources to developer relations, technical help, engine optimizations, and our content investment/publishing/sales platform. We are not going to track you, flash ads at you, or do anything invasive.

The Rift is absolutely targeted towards the gaming population, which tends to be teenage to early 20s/30s, which is the exact population that Facebook is currently losing. By partnering with Facebook, you are gaining access to a massive userbase of people that the rift is not targeted towards, which people might feel is a very bad move.

Almost everyone at Oculus is a gamer, and virtual reality will certainly be led by the games industry, largely because it is the only industry that already has the talent and tools required to build awesome interactive 3D environments. In the long run, though, there are going to be a lot of other industries that use VR in huge ways, ways that are not exclusive to gamers; the current focus on gaming is a reflection of the current state of VR, not the long term potential. Education, communication, training, rehabilitation, gaming and film are all going to be major drivers for VR, and they will reach a very wide audience. We are not targeting social media users, we are targeting everyone who has a reason to use VR.

What we fear is not that Oculus will be partnering with Facebook, but that you are selling out the company to Facebook and no longer retain control over Oculus. I can say that I, personally, support Oculus because I believed in the goals and visions that you had.

This acquisition/partnership gives us more control of our destiny, not less! We don't have to compromise on anything, and can afford to make decisions that are right for the future of virtual reality, not our current revenue. Keep in mind that we already have great partners who invested heavily in Oculus and got us to where we are, so we have not had full control of our destiny for some time. Facebook believes in our long term vision, and they want us to continue executing on our own roadmap, not control what we do. I would never have done this deal if it meant changing our direction, and Facebook has a good track record of letting companies work independently post-acquisition.

If I ever need a Facebook account to use or develop for the Rift, I'm done. - You will not need a Facebook account to use or develop for the Rift.
If I ever see Facebook branding on anything that's not optional, I'm done. - Not really reasonable in a literal sense, but I get your drift.
If I ever see ads on anything that I've already paid for, I'm done. - That is a developer decision, not our decision. If someone wants to sell a game with built-in ads, they will have to deal with the natural consequences.

I'm just wondering if OR will go public and about how kickstarters don't actually get shares in the startup ... I know some kickstarters already feel betrayed, screwed over and that OR sold out.


Update: More interesting articles -
From a VR non-believer
A positive spin on things (or devil's advocate =P)

BREAKING: CryEngine on Linux Officially CONFIRMED (and therefore Star Citizen =P)

Yes, after years of speculation, Crytek has announced that CRYENGINE will finally officially build natively for Linux.
Here's the excerpt pertaining to Linux:

During presentations and hands-on demos at Crytek's GDC booth, attendees can see for the first time ever full native Linux support in the new CRYENGINE.  The CRYENGINE all-in-one game engine is also updated with the innovative features used to recreate the stunning Roman Empire seen in Ryse – including the brand new Physically Based Shading render pipeline, which uses real-world physics simulation to create amazingly realistic lighting and materials in CRYENGINE games.

I first learnt about his when someone posted to the Star Citizen forums of a thread I was following. 
Obligatory Phoronix post. 

My speculation history to date:
Just recently Star Citizen advertised Kingdom Come: Deliverance which utilised the same CRYENGINE and promises a Linux port.  It's triply funded on Kickstarter now!
Remember in this post I talked about that Linux programmer position they were hiring for Frankfurt (Crytek HQ) as proof of "almost fully official" Linux builds? Filled.
Or that time Chris Roberts said in the 24 hour livestream for Star Citizen that they can't say anything about non-Windows builds yet but Linux (and Mac) users will be "pleasantly surprised"?
And then me wondering about it here?
And these posts were a year after I read Phoronix' article back in 2012 where I first speculated about CryEngine on Linux. Of course, at that time I thought the more the merrier, but in 2013 Star Citizen changed that thought into "Come out on Linux already!"

Linux is complete with gaming rant
Yes, you're getting another (slightly reworded) one ;P
With Valve's SteamOS, Steam on Linux and Source, Unity, Unreal and CRY Engines being native on Linux, games ARE moving en-masse to the Linux OS. This is welcome news, since gaming, and atm, only one particular game -Star Citizen- is the only thing holding me back from never booting Windows on my laptop.
Games I also like and play on Linux are: Dota 2, KSP, Guns of Icarus Online, L4D2, TF2, X-series, Bastion, Killing Floor, Gemini Rue, Dust, Monaco, Surgeon Simulator, and an ever increasing amount of games, indie and big-publisher alike. I find if I'm looking at a game purchase/Humble Bundle, availability on Linux is a deciding factor. I also find I can usually get a good old game on Windows that wasn't built for Linux working on Wine. Especially with WineHQ database and PlayOnLinux. =P

The past year has been - and the next few years will be - very interesting for Linux =)

_________________________________________________________________

Star Citizen Update!

So they just reached $40 million and every backer who pledges/pledged before the $42million mark will get a special Galactapedia (Hitch Hiker's Guide, if you will) viewer. They'll also get a TOWEL! HAHAHAHAHA!!!! xD

Also, since I've done an SC update on this blog, a lot of things have happened - they're at patch 11.1 with OR support in the Hangar Module; check out the stretch goals, which are just examples of the ways SC improves with the money and were usually planned long ago.
Also check out their new monthly reports (link to Feb 2014) for those of us who don't have time to follow every website post.

And they now have 3 update videos every WEEK:

• Monday - 10 for the Chairman where Chris Roberts answers 10 questions from subscribers (monthly pledgers of $10/$20).
• Wednesdays - Wingman's Hangar (now moved to Wednesdays; the original development update show). 
• Fridays - The Next Great Starship, a kind of reality TV show featuring a competition for teams to make the next starship in Star Citizen with the judging and feedback of some folks from CIG (Cloud Imperium Games, RSI's real-world company name)!

Also Jump Point print copies are available, they look gorgeous! They're also a great example of how the folks at CIG tend to over deliver on promises and are always looking for the good of the game and the players - they promised 4-6 full colour pages of magazine format development updates for monthly subscribers and now they're averaging 50 pages a month! They've released some past Jump Point sections  to everyone before, check it out on their website (link goes to all slideshows in Comm-Link)! Check all their WIPs and Jump Point stuff at the link.

Can't wait to try the Dog Fighting Module after PAX East in mid-April!


Last Updated: 2014-03-16 06:39:53 AM AEDT; corrected Jump Point frequency to "monthly", added a few links.

Oculus Rift VR

Oculus Rift. (OR)
VR's big comeback. Or at least the biggest name in VR these last couple of years.

The set up OR of the day - we played on a laptop

I was, and still am extremely excited by the immense possibilities the OR brings to VR and can't wait to see how things will develop in the future!
Especially with Star Citizen "coming out" at the end of this year. This VR/AR headset has so many different applications that VR/AR comes with including remote tele-operations, education, entertainment media including games, videos, etc.

I was able to try the OR thanks to a fellow Computer Science student, after I participated in his research at the CSIRO/RSISE in ANU. He said many people experienced nausea and couldn't take more than 10 minutes with the OR on, but surprisingly, I didn't want to vomit at all, and quite enjoyed it! This might have been partly due to my biggest disappointment - being able to see the pixels and pixel borders after the LCD screen's light passes through the OR's lenses. The lenses let your eyes see the screen from individual perspectives creating a 3D experience, as well as helping you be able to focus your eyes to infinite distance while being able to look at the light from the screen.

Here are some photos:

Always RTFM first right? I like Friendly Manuals.

Includes 3 different lenses for near-sighted people. Otherwise, you can wear your glasses inside/under the headset.

 Le treasure chest. And headset.

 Side - angle views. The viewing angles on the display were pretty darn good.

Too bad you can clearly see the black pixel borders when you put on the goggles through the lenses. It's worse than it appears in this photo with my camera.


An OR with one lens cap (left) taken off.








And a close up of that area below:

I think the biggest thing going for the OR is that it makes you feel like you're there. This makes for just the wonder and awe of exploring the world that you're now in - when you wear the headset - to be quite a delight.

The biggest problem I had that broke the immersion was seeing the black pixel border lines, I hope this will be fixed in future higher resolution versions. It also alerted me to having to try before I buy the consumer version, since I definitely wouldn't spend $300 on the immersion breaking and awfully low-res to the point of blurriness (720p screen divided into half for each eye) dev-kit as a consumer product.

I could also feel a bit of latency or probably judder, although it's being worked on, and I think my head naturally compensated by moving my head slower. (Valve is supporting Oculus Rift and aren't manufacturing hardware for now, preferring to be a platform where OR users will seamlessly launch apps and games from). Unfortunately, this must also be checked out before I buy for gaming purposes, as when you're desperately looking around the cockpit for that hostile spacecraft, you don't want your vision to be blurry and laggy, creating more nausea or noobplay.


A little Carmack envisioning a SoC (running Android) 4K integrated headset/future OR:
http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/18/oculus-rift-john-carmack-interview/


And most recently:

CES 2014 (Crystal Cove) updates:

• 1080p OLED (still not sure that's enough resolution after the lenses)
• New Positional tracking via IR-LEDs on the OR and an external camera on your monitor. 
• Lighter, smaller
• Lower latency, via OLED & technologies as talked about in the video in the link below
• Apparently winner of "Best of CES 2014"
• Still aimed to price accessibly at ~$300
• No release date but 2014 "big year" for OR

http://www.engadget.com/2014/01/09/the-oculus-rift-crystal-cove-prototype-is-2014s-best-of-c/
So apparently they sold 55k units, with only 7.5k units sold during their Kickstarter!

For those worried about nausea, with positional tracking, it might be better. Someone does a write-up of their pleasant experience with Crystal Cove after previous nausea with the old version:
http://www.pcgamer.com/2014/01/10/oculus-rift-crystal-cove-prototype-hands-on-at-ces-2014/

AMD Mantle

Having announced all their new value/bang for buck Volcanic Island cards - with one being reviewed by Phoronix here - AMD/ATI have now announced their new Graphics API Mantle.

It pretty much replaces OpenGL and DirectX, giving developers a closer, lower level access to the graphics card chips and such. This being similar to NVAPI and Glide from 3dfx. Firstly heard it from Star Citizen, which will be supporting it, characteristic of it supporting all cool advancement in PC technologies like the Oculus Rift. What this means is considerable improvement in GPU utilisation, and hopefully a Linux client via Mantle. There could also be a PS4 version if Sony lets CIG do their stuff on it, how they like. Here's some more info:


However, John Carmack (now at Oculus VR) says OpenGL can reach that (9x faster draw calls) performance, when utilising extensions from nVidia. Speaking of Oculus, a post about that should come somewhat later. =)

There should be a lot more info released during the AMD Conference on the 11th-13th this month.

Hand Gesture Design and Visualization

So Elon Musk does it again with this video from SpaceX:


Using the Leap Motion, Oculus Rift, some glass projection thing like in Iron Man apparently. 3D printing gets a mention too.

While this is really wow and pro, I would definitely like to see if they use hand gestures beyond visualising to do some designing work.

Control another human via your brain

While this isn't has hardcore as River Tam's psychic abilities ("I can kill you with my brain"), researchers have done an experiment where a colleague controls another colleague's hand movement to press a key.

Vods:



It's no where near the Nerve Gear but we're getting there ... to the point where the Matrix prison could be a concern ... and taking control of people, or killing them via the brain interface could easily happen. Like in Surrogates or Ghost in the Shell.
Cyberpunk ftw.

NASA uses the Rift and Omni

So NASA uses the Oculus Rift and Omni. Specifically JPL, who do everything (friends, see my recent Facebook album on the AIAA Sydney Section's Sydney student tour of Canberra and its CDSCC, AITC, ATSB and ADFA/UNSW@Canberra.

Video here:
Iframe here:

Can't wait to just strap one of these with translation sensors on and start up Star Citizen. =)

IllumiRoom

Great idea, and looks pretty cool. So it's apparently being integrated in Xbox 720, but will probably make it to the PC/Linux platform via hackers/makers.
(wii was pretty good, and also hacked to work on PC/Linux =P - yes, an upcoming project - I've got it to connect and work, but need to make an IR light setup on my laptop for the pointer to work properly =D That said, I should blog more on my projects instead of reblogging cool stuff >_> )