Last week, Oculus VR announced that John Carmack, The co-founder and lead programmer of classic Richardson-based game developer id Software, has joined the gaming hardware startup as chief technical officer.
Oculus VR's pilot project is a head-mounted display called The Rift. This direction-tracking headset hopes to deliver interactive, 360-degree, high definition graphics to the consumer market. It not only amazes people in their 90s -- The Rift is a dream for anyone who watched a bunch of cheesy TV shows and movies depicting Virtual Reality in the early '90s and had to settle for gimmicky VR stands at the mall for five bucks a pop.
The Oculus Rift first appeared as a Kickstarter a year ago. The project earned $2,437,429 in pledges, more than 10 times its original goal. Carmack was among the first industry leaders to support the Rift.
VR displays to date have run the gamut of clunky helmets with delayed head tracking to expensive prototypes and university projects. This headset paired with a Houston-based VR project, an omnidirectional step tracker called the Virtuix Omni, promises a fully-immersive gaming experience for less than a Macbook Pro.
Carmack will continue working at Id Software on a reduced basis. Oculus VR will also open an office in Dallas alongside its Irvine, California, headquarters.
