Facebook And Oculus VR Acquire Xbox 360 Controller Designers, Carbon Design Group
Can you imagine what it's going to be like playing Candy Crush through an Oculus Rift headset? We only jest and certainly hope Mark Zuckerberg and the rest of the gang at Facebook and Oculus VR have some way cooler things in store than that (and we're not talking about the ticket blaster at Chuck E. Cheese). Giving us hope that they do, Oculus is acquiring the Carbon Design team, the same one responsible for designing the excellent Xbox 360 controller.
Though the acquisition is new, Oculus has actually been working with Carbon Design for almost a year on various projects. As part of the deal, the team will become a key component of the product engineering group at Oculus and continue to operate from the Carbon studio in the Seattle area.
"A few seconds with the latest Oculus prototypes and you know that virtual reality is for real this time. From a design and engineering perspective, building the products that finally deliver consumer virtual reality is one of the most interesting and challenging problem sets ever," commented Peter Bristol, Creative Director at Carbon Design.
"This is an entirely open product category. With consumer VR at its inception, the physical architectures are still unknown — We’re on the cutting edge of defining how virtual reality looks, feels, and functions. We’re incredibly excited to be part of the team and we’re looking forward to helping design the future," Bristol added.
This is a big deal for Oculus and it bodes well for its future. Carbon Design isn't some fly-by-night operation -- the company has been around for two decades designing consumer, industrial, and medical products. In addition to the Xbox 360 controller, the company has also helped design the world's first mutli-screen, multi-touch notebook and Microsoft's first multi-touch mouse, to name just two products on an extensive resume.
Though the acquisition is new, Oculus has actually been working with Carbon Design for almost a year on various projects. As part of the deal, the team will become a key component of the product engineering group at Oculus and continue to operate from the Carbon studio in the Seattle area.
"A few seconds with the latest Oculus prototypes and you know that virtual reality is for real this time. From a design and engineering perspective, building the products that finally deliver consumer virtual reality is one of the most interesting and challenging problem sets ever," commented Peter Bristol, Creative Director at Carbon Design.
"This is an entirely open product category. With consumer VR at its inception, the physical architectures are still unknown — We’re on the cutting edge of defining how virtual reality looks, feels, and functions. We’re incredibly excited to be part of the team and we’re looking forward to helping design the future," Bristol added.
This is a big deal for Oculus and it bodes well for its future. Carbon Design isn't some fly-by-night operation -- the company has been around for two decades designing consumer, industrial, and medical products. In addition to the Xbox 360 controller, the company has also helped design the world's first mutli-screen, multi-touch notebook and Microsoft's first multi-touch mouse, to name just two products on an extensive resume.
