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How do you profit from virtual reality without the need for customers or products? You sue! Fresh from winning a $500 million judgment against Facebook/Oculus, ZeniMax Media is now suing Samsung:
Carmack, whose company id Software was acquired by ZeniMax in 2009, was one of the driving forces behind the Gear VR. While the headset was released by Samsung, it's described as "powered by Oculus," with heavy software optimizations developed by Carmack. But the lawsuit alleges that Carmack owed much of his success at Oculus to software he developed as part of a team at ZeniMax.
Among other things, the Texas court filing claims that Carmack secretly brought Oculus (and former ZeniMax) employee Matt Hooper into id Software's offices to develop an "attack plan" for mobile VR, which Oculus would later take to Samsung. The Samsung Gear VR was also built on some of the same code as the Oculus Rift, which was the subject of ZeniMax's earlier lawsuit.
Also at Ars Technica and PC Gamer. Zenimax v Samsung lawsuit. Gear VR.
Previously: Zenimax Sues Oculus on Trade Secrets
Mark Zuckerberg Will Testify in Oculus VR Trade Secrets Trial
Facebook/Oculus Ordered to pay $500 Million to ZeniMax
John Carmack Sues ZeniMax for $22.5 Million
Founder of Oculus VR, Palmer Luckey, Departs Facebook
Related: Samsung to Open VR Movie Studio in New York
Goodbye Cardboard: Google to Create VR Headset to Compete with Samsung's Gear VR
Samsung Gear VR Adds a Tracked Controller
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Wednesday May 17 2017, @02:54PM (3 children)
So much for innovation I suppose. The lines are drawn and patents filed.
(Score: 2) by tibman on Wednesday May 17 2017, @08:41PM (2 children)
Vive is still in play and it does sound like the better one.
SN won't survive on lurkers alone. Write comments.
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Wednesday May 17 2017, @08:45PM (1 child)
Best I've tried so far.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 18 2017, @05:01AM
OSVR project?
They run like 300 and 400 dollars for the headsets, plus maybe a hundred if you want different tracking technologies.
And unlike the Oculus based stuff they are trying to have the whole ecosystem open for third party development to help keep from having a big few companies controlling the industry.
Shame how everyone focuses on the HTC/Samsung/Oculus stuff and ignores the Razer stuff.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday May 17 2017, @03:54PM (1 child)
I'm happy the industry is destroying itself legally because its too lame.
The one thing. THE ONE THING I wanted 3d was modded Minecraft and the marketplace in its current iteration is to lame to provide it. So flush it and lets try again in a decade.
Logically instead of shitty startups getting traded like poker chips the whole "3D thing" should just be a pair of glasses from a 3-d graphics card mfgr. No special software. No new engines. Maybe a new driver OK. No new games (well, new games are OK but not crappy 3d ones). No gratuitous yet useless 3d effects as seen in 3d movies. Just these glasses and that new nvidia driver automagically renders 3d. Thats all. The marketplace is going to have to get flushed repeatedly to wash away the scammers and the useless middlemen and the startups.
Imagine if shitbirds like that were trying to sell hard drives or cases, how badly they'd F it all up. Of course you can't keep a good cockroach down so flushing the scammers out of 3-d will probably just screw up power supplies or memory SIMMs. I can't wait to see the new screwups.
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Wednesday May 17 2017, @06:55PM
There are lame aspects such as the hype. Though, one thing is for sure, we finally have affordable, working VR. I played with the Vive, Oculus and the Microsoft hololens (technically not VR but AR though the concepts are the same). Needless to say the Vive is amazing.
There is potential for the tech but right now we have everyone cumming themselves thinking about money instead of the technical aspects.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday May 17 2017, @03:55PM (6 children)
I'm going to major in patent trolling. It looks more lucrative than doctoring or lawyering, and it's a lot less work.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday May 17 2017, @03:55PM (5 children)
Move to Texas.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 17 2017, @03:59PM (2 children)
You may all go to Hell, and I will go to Texas.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday May 17 2017, @04:03PM (1 child)
You seem confident that Texas isn't Hell. Or perhaps hell for people who lived and died in other states.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 17 2017, @09:07PM
No worries. Hell [wikipedia.org] is in Michigan.
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Wednesday May 17 2017, @04:05PM (1 child)
Surely not for the BBQ: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/07/why-do-patent-trolls-go-texas-its-not-bbq [eff.org]
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"- --Daniel Patrick Moynihan--
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 17 2017, @04:23PM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bull_(2016_TV_series) [wikipedia.org]