The history of the future : Oculus, Facebook and the revolution that swept virtual reality / Blake J. Harris.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Harris, Blake J., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Oculus VR (Firm).

Facebook (Firm).

Luckey, Palmer, 1992-.

Luckey, Palmer.

Virtual reality.

Computer industry--United States.

Computer industry.

Virtual reality headsets.

United States.

Virtual reality headsets--Design and construction.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xx, 569 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : colour illustrations ; 23 cm

Edition:

First William Morrow paperback edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Dey St., 2020.

Summary:

The dramatic, larger-than-life true story behind the founding of Oculus and its quest for virtual reality, by the bestselling author of Console Wars. In 2012, nineteen-year-old Palmer Luckey -- inventor, gamer, dreamer -- lives alone in a trailer in Long Beach, California, that he has transformed into a makeshift laboratory optimized to build virtual reality headsets -- a technology most believed died in the nineties. Luckey, however, is adamant about its resurrection; so, too, are other visionaries. Enter famed coder and video game pioneer John Carmack, who is developing a game that might be the perfect software companion to Luckey's hardware. Soon enough, the two team up, and with the help of a charismatic serial entrepreneur, a brilliant Russian programmer, and dozens of other colorful characters, Luckey's scrappy startup -- Oculus -- kickstarts a virtual reality revolution. What happens next turns out to be the ultimate entrepreneurial journey: a tale of battles won and lost, lessons learned, and never-ending twists and turns-including an unlikely, multi-billion-dollar acquisition by Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, who wants to help bring VR to the masses. The result is a modern-day tale of the American Dream that is a front-row seat to the birth of a game-changing new industry.

Contents:

Prologue

Part 1: The revolution virtual. The boy who lived to mod ; Carmack the Magnificent ; A tale of two trade shows ; The Scaleform mafia ; STK ; Pivots, prototypes, and partnerships ; Freedom is happiness ; That fateful promise ; Mount up ; Valve! ; Kickstarter

Part 2: How to build a company. The king of pop software ; Showtime ; The anomalies ; The Hong Kong shuffle ; Just kids ; Oculus vs. Ouya ; Good, better, and best at the 2013 CES ; Proverbs 29, verse 18 ; Wall-to-wall drama ; GDC

Part 3: The good old days. Move slow and build things (aka Facebook 2.0) ; Nine stories ; The future of gaming ; Andrew Reisse ; Ideas so crazy they just might ; The room ; Jockeying for position ; Zuckerbro intrigued ; Blue's clues ; The backlash ; The new normal ; Enter HTC ; Out of the woodwork ; Charging forward ; Canaries in the coal mine

Part 4: Politics. Twelve days in 2015 ; Awaken the sleeping giants ; Lockdown ; Entitlement checks ; The devil is in the details ; Nimble ; Internet drama ; The Daily Beast ; Exile ; The heist, the comedy and the fantasy vs. the documentary ; The verdict ; The seemingly impossible challenge ; Employee number one ; He's back

Epilogue.

Notes:

Originally published: 2019.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

9780062455970

0062455974

OCLC:

1148062594