Mass Effect: It smell like 'Tea-Wrex'

Made from tea? - this is absolutely sick!

I wish I had skill like this.

According to artist @dara_gold, this "Tea Wrex" design smells better than you might think for a Krogan. pic.twitter.com/BK4w3SfLKd

— Mass Effect (@masseffect) March 26, 2014

Facebook - Oculus Rift: We've Only Just Begun

Dumbstruck, In Awe, In Anguish...

I understand the backlash from ‘we, the gaming community’. I feel the pain, and overwhelming realization of desertion from designers (Notch, you still da man!) But at the same time – it’s hard not to realize what Mark Zuckerberg sees in the Oculus Rift.

From a purely fundamental perspective; the Oculus Rift is a multi-faceted piece of hardware, however, designed with games in mind – it can potentially serve well for his social empire.  Easily I could throw a pro-active analogy somewhere in here to the tune of: 

Individuals can choose to primarily use their consoles for Netflix, listen to music – even chat on Facebook – knowing very well that they could throw in or load up a game in an a heartbeat.  So what's the problem - it’s exactly what the manufactures intended. 

But people just don't wanna hear that crap right now, yet I persist.

Shit - the Xbox One’s etymology: All-in-one is a clear example – perhaps even a slice of insight of what Oculus and Zuckerberg want from the Rift, and the type of application it could prove to be for mobile platforms. 

Contingency, Contingency, Contingency 

For some folk, i.e., developers - the scary notion lurking just beneath the disdain towards Facebook is that developers who have invested their blood in the Rift still don’t know what to expect once all the legalities are settled. 

 Licensing and the all the red-tape that it comes with it is an investor’s game, and investors don’t think like the average Joe when it comes to money. Fuck, with $2 billion on the line - I'd say those investors are pretty cut-throat.

In their heads, there are no worries about the 'right-now' - so to speak; they’re worried about the long road; many, many years from now – as they should be.  Their mindsets are floating somewhere near: "What can we do to lock this market/device down, because leaving lose ends on a deal this big is a fundamental no-no."   

Royal Flush, Lock-Down

Before I continue on about investors – I don’t claim to be affluent in the dealings of business, I’m just speaking semantics. 

The whole decision to spend ten figures just seems like a chess move from the perspective of Zuckerberg and his investors. Yeah, it’s lot of money for Oculus, and their investors, but suppose Oculus has a change of heart sometime in the future. 

Perhaps they want to regain sole ownership of their invention; no-doubt that would be a challenge within itself for the ‘sapling’ company. Zuckerberg could just see Oculus’ $2 billion, and raise them - god knows how much. 

 Like I said, a whole different game which goes beyond the scope of this blog, but it’s definitely a relevant point to consider. 

'Mo Money, 'Mo Problems

To this day, ever since Oculus started shipping out those developer-kits, they've been known for maintaining an open-door philosophy with Rift developers. Justin Moravetz, developer of one of the first games for the Rift, Proton Pulse – spoke with Polygon 

"My other concern is how this affects developers. There are a few developers taking large risks creating VR content.  

It is very difficult to get publishing deals as it is.  This shift to Facebook may reset or even close the lines to Oculus the developers rely on to get the content moving. 
With crowd funding becoming an increasingly unreliable source, developers are left with porting existing content to reduce costs. The barrier of entry needs to stay open."