Oculus VR, the Facebook-owned company behind the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset, is facing another lawsuit. As reported by Reuters, a new lawsuit filed this week makes serious accusations against Oculus VR and the Rift creator Palmer Luckey.
Per the report, the lawsuit accuses Luckey of “taking confidential information he learned while working with another company and passing it off as his own.”
The company in question is Total Recall Technologies. The Hawaii-based company says in its filing that it hired Luckey in 2011 to create a prototype virtual reality headset; he even signed a confidentiality agreement, the lawsuit says.
“Throughout the latter half of 2011 and into 2012, Luckey received feedback and information to improve the design of the display,” Reuters explains. “However, Luckey used information he learned from his partnership when he launched a Kickstarter campaign for his own head mounted display called the Oculus Rift, according to the lawsuit.”
Total Recall Technologies is seeking compensatory and punitive damages. However, a specific dollar amount was not mentioned in the suit. The lawsuit claims Luckey committed breach of contract and fraud.
When approached by Reuters, a representative for Facebook declined to comment on the lawsuit. We also reached out to Oculus, but the company declined to comment. Get the full story over at Reuters.
Welcome back to GameSpot Q&A, a weekly section where we ask our staff and readers an interesting discussion question about video games. Look at this as a forum where you and others can discuss and compare your opinions of this beloved hobby of ours. Let us know what your answer is to this week’s question in the comments below!
This week’s question is:
What game world would you want to spend a week-long vacation in?
With a three-day weekend coming up for a lot of our readers, there is finally time to relax and maybe go off on mental vacations to the worlds of some of our favorite video games. But what if you could real-life week-long vacation to a video game world? Which world would you choose? Below is what some of our editors had to say.
The Longest Journey
The Longest Journey | Kevin VanOrd
Arcadia, from The Longest Journey. This was tough for me–I almost cited Ni No Kuni or The Secret World here–but Arcadia is overflowing with character and style, and home to countless cultures and myths. I wouldn’t want just a week there, but an entire lifetime.
Broken Age | Alexa Ray Corriea
All game worlds are inherently perilous, so I’m not entirely sure I would want to spend a week in any of them. Given I’m into relaxing vacations these days, I’d probably want to spend a week on a beach somewhere… But if I had to pick I’d want to stay in Sugar Bunting from Double Fine’s Broken Age, because I have a cake problem. I have a massive sweet tooth. I never pass up dessert, I love sugar, and a whole town basically kind of made out of cake and filled with bakers always making cake? Please. Put me on the first flight.
Yakuza | Peter Brown
There are so many fantastical worlds that are interesting, but I would love to spend a week-long vacation in the world of Yakuza, a.k.a., Tokyo. Arcades? Unlimited ramen? Gangsters fighting in the streets with perfectly formed pompadours swaying but never fraying? Sign me up! I’ll take neon lights and Japanese video game shops over orcs and strongholds any day.
Rogue Legacy
Rogue Legacy | Danny O’Dwyer
Rogue Legacy seems cool. I mean, it’s not like I have a thing for haunted castles. It’s more the person-swapping element that appeals to me. I’ve always wanted to live a day in the life of somebody else; an old guy, a woman, somebody who’s blind. Rogue Legacy allows you to live, and die, as dozens of weird and wonderful people. Like some fantastical version of Quantum Leap where you die as a color-blind shinobi and wake up as a gay, narcoleptic dwarf. How cool is that?!
Super Mario 64 | Rob Crossley
I’m tempted to say Katamari Damacy, because it’s bonkers, but if it’s a week long I’d have to go for Super Mario 64. It’s the paintings dotted around the castle that seal the deal–you can literally jump into them and emerge on the other side in a completely different world. I really want to know how that feels.
Pokemon Fire Red/Leaf Green | Zorine Te
I would love to chill out in the world of Pokemon Fire Red/Leaf Green and command an army of creatures to take over the world and end all conflict as we know it have fun visiting each town, riding my bike, exploring caves, surfing, and cutting down bushes. There is much to see and do in the Kanto region, and I can imagine coming out of it relaxed and enriched. By the way, Australians call them holidays.
Dishonored | Daniel Hindes
Dunwall, so I can catch the plague and really live #belowtheline. I would also like to be mercilessly beaten by the City Watch, vomited on by infested Weepers, and very likely assassinated by a teleporting man wearing a freaky mask.
Castlevania | Matt Espineli
I’d love to spend a week in Dracula’s castle from Castlevania. Even though that place is filled with countless dangers that could very well threaten my life, I can’t deny how cool it would be to explore. What other place has an awesome ice cavern, a haunted Victorian ballroom, and a clock tower inhabited by the Grim Reaper all in the same building? Nowhere.
Super Mario Sunshine | Eddie Makuch
I’d love to spend a week inside the world of Super Mario Sunshine. It seems like such a lovely place to either go on an adventure or just sit back and relax. The sun is always shining and the world feels so alive. Plus, you can do good deeds for the city’s inhabitants by washing clear the mud from their world. Everyone wins!
Boku no Natsuyasumi | Justin Haywald
Boku no Natsuyasumi. For anyone who knows the series, that may seem like a pretty boring response. After all, the PlayStation games are simply about being a kid and enjoying summer vacation. You collect bugs and bottle caps, go swimming, and run errands; no explosions or guns or doomsday scenarios. But the idyllic countryside setting combines the measured pace of Animal Crossing and the with the intimate slice-of-life details from a Miyazaki film. Besides, if I’m only there for a week, I want a place I’ll enjoy, not a place where I’ll get blown up.
World of Warcraft? | Chris Watters
Only a week? Well, I’m gonna want to see some sweeping vistas and meet some colorful locals. I’d also like to ride on some strange creatures, and maybe fly if that’s not too much trouble? And it’d be great to visit a place with some history. I was thinking about Dinotopia or maybe Avatar when I wrote this description, but I think I ended up describing World of Warcraft. I’m alright with that, I hear they like dancing!
If you haven’t caught up with Mad Max: Fury Road yet, you probably should, since it’s emerging as one of the best action movies of the year. The only thing that could make it better is a touch of Nintendo, and that’s just what this fan-made trailer below does.
Created by aspiring filmmaker Kris Sundberg , the trailer subtly sets Mad Max in a Nintendo’s universe, with only a few added CGI and sound effect you’ll recognize from Mario Kart.
Digital games distributor Desura has been late to pay developers that publish games on its online store. The company admitted as much in a post to its official site yesterday where it apologized for the delay and tried to explain the issue.
“The issues have stemmed from a number of factors coming together in a bad way,” Head of Developer Relations Lisa Morrison said. “The acquisition of the company last year has presented us with a number of very difficult issues to tackle, and we have been clearing those hurdles as efficiently as we are able. This has been compounded by the office being relocated, and by the current hospitalization of our CEO.”
Developer Creative Assembly today released the first gameplay trailer for the free-to-play strategy game Total War: Arena.
This weekend, Creative Assembly will also show the first Total War: Arena live match. The developer will stream games from an exclusive ESL eSports event in Cologne, Germany. You can catch the broadcast on the official Total War Twitch channel, starting Saturday May 23, at 5:00 PM CEST.
If you want to try the game before it’s released, you can sign up to join the closed alpha, currently available in Europe, with United States servers coming soon.
Total War: Arena is a free-to-play, team-based strategy game where two teams of 10 players engage in large-scale battles. For more on the game, check out GameSpot’s preview of Total War: Arena.
Should I care about Neon Struct? Absolutely. What it lacks in complexity, it makes up for with pure stealthy satisfaction. It’s the original Deus Ex meets the original Thief. I’ve been wanting to play another stealth game like this for years.
We can hone our bodies and minds until they’re razor sharp—perfect tools of fistic destruction—but in the end we all fall to the same foe: mobile game microtransactions.
