Oculus "Rift" : An open-source HMD for Kickstarter

[C3DPO]

I'm surprised at the lack of excitement that the KS update created. I would much rather have this new HMD with the awesome sensor and superior screen than the older model.

Oculus might have phrased it like this. "Ok guys, you can still have the Rift we described in the kickstarter and it will ship in November.......Or you can have the Rift 2.0 if you wait till March, at the same price as the old Rift. After reading about the improvements how many of you technophiles would really go for the inferior product?

The harsh backlash makes me think that this community was already anticipating these major improvements and also felt entitled to them, and if so, you deserve disappointment.

As it is now, we are getting a much better product at the same price!

[android78]

Can't wait for this thing. It's not going to win any fashion awards and is about 10 years over due (surely if companies focused on creating a technically great product rather then something that looks 'cool', we could have had this ages ago), but I still think it will push the industry to a much better place and open up possibilities for future.
Given how long I've been waiting for something like this (As a 13yo I was trying to work out how I could counter balance a CRT monitor so I could play Doom with my head), another 3 or even 6 months really has little impact on me. Good to hear of the improvements too! Many of my concerns seem to be being addressed with things like the IPD adjustment, ventilation, and the fortunate addition of a magnetometer to enable stable reference for absolute direction (I was concerned that with games like hawken you would have a manual center reset for when in cockpit view). The unfortunate aesthetics with the larger screen should be negated once you put the thing on as you won't be able to look in a mirror anyway. The more I look at it, the more I like to anyway.
The only things that I would like to be different is to include a low power extraction fan that you can clip onto the vents. Just needs a 5v low current output... If it's not there, no big deal as I'll hack one in. Also, I have a HUGE nose, and the shape of the recess concerns me a bit. Hope I don't have to dremel it out to make it comfortable.

Keep up the good work guys. I hope things don't get thrown off track too much!

[C3DPO]

I can definitely understand a developer being disappointed if this delays their VR progress. They may have chosen the older, earlier arriving model in my fake scenario. But on the other hand any developer who "invests" in a kickstarter and has income dependant upon kickstarter promises......well good luck out there.

[LazloTheGreat]

So, it seems the confused disconnect between those of us taking the announcement in stride and those frustrated & upset by the announcement is over the competing ideas of having an issue with the *delay itself* versus having an issue with being *unduly informed about* said delay, the latter being under the suspicion that such, perhaps, may have been known for some time, in the order of weeks rather than days, prior to both the Oculus Team's announcement and their impending previously unaltered projection for a Nov. shipping date of initial kits.

Full emotional disclosure, I'm in the "take it in stride" camp, and am not at all inclined to take the OT to task for their handling of the latest developments as I feel they're handling an albeit imperfect situation with reasonably proper execution. And in imperfect situations, judgement calls are just that: calls. Though usually debatable and met with the disagreement of some by nature, they're not born of situations designed to leave everyone satisfied with the one ultimately made. Also, though I'm sure none of us, including the OT, wanted delays, to be fair to those that are taking issue with how the update was handled, as indicated in the above paragraph, I don't think they're actually condemning the delay itself.

Having said all that, in defense of the OT over what I believe those upset are truly, perhaps, understandably taking issue with, I feel another poster in the kickstarter comments made a valid and pertinent point:
"The people who are disapointed seem to not really understand what they backed up nor do they seem to know how a business and PR works.
Had they communicated a delay a month ago but WITHOUT a fixed realease date it would have been a PR-disaster. They would have to deal with that mess and thats time they could use on building a better DevKit instead. "

In other words, there is a legitimate managerial school of thought which says that it's essentially irresponsible business practice to announce unconfirmed delays absent a reasonable estimation of a revised timetable.

By the Oculus Team's updated rundown of things, sounds like what led them to the rock and hard place requiring this judgement call, is that they weren't sure about whether they'd be able to at least get the components for unassembled kits still shipped out in Nov. until confirmed realities in the last few days of both the feasibility of production processes and readily available supplies were finally made known to them. Thus, this was, perhaps, the part they couldn't confirm one way or the other until the eleventh hour, rather than weeks ago. Sounds like, pending that info, they *did* know they were, nebulously at best, either on track to crank out the secured supply of unassembled components starting this week through next, along with feasibly initiating an available method of mass production through December for reasonably maintained delivery projections... OR... they were only closer to a confirmed set of realities throwing the whole initial projection way off by months, then would soon have to relate the delay, but not before, as the posed school of thought regarding responsible business practice asserts, developing a soundly revised time-table estimate. This deeming the entire conjectured last month in a state of truly unconfirmed, thus, not yet prudent to be commented on "either will be or won't be delayed" possibility flux.

Thus, as such school of thought would follow, the responsible thing to do would be to wait and do it right (an encouragingly recurring theme of intention on their parts), and hold to take the requisite time to present a cogently informed re-assessment with diligently prepared revisions to the time-table, rather than fire off with, "Hey things might be delayed or might not be delayed, [which is already implicit throughout with their initial use throughout of the term 'estimated'] but we just wanted to give out this ambiguous statement first, without the clear situational context of having any of our facts straight."

No doubt, some people, given what they may tend to find frustrating, would've, perhaps, at least appreciated this versus silence.

And no doubt, some people, given what *they* may tend to find frustrating, would *not* have.

Judgement call.

It's, of course, an action that attempts to serve the better amount of interests for all, but by design of the difficult circumstance prompting it, will leave some legitimately frustrated. And though the sound rationale of one's own reaction will always be clear to oneself, sometimes which kind if reaction will or won't be in the majority can be tricky to project, absent 20/20 hindsight, by even the most experienced of all of us. To boot, you'll never truly know what the reaction to the choice you didn't make would've been.

Which reaction is in the actual majority here? I, personally, still can't tell. But this, having been their call over how to handle this brand of uncertainty, it's supposedly at least a soundly oft made one in these types of tricky to time out situations. Though perhaps being a made call preferred by some but not others, I'd say, despite preference, at least not an inherently unreasonable one to consider making at all. Imho.

One opinion I will say is likely to be truly unanimous is that I talk WAY TOO DAMN MUCH. JESUS, look at all this, thank GOD I at least added carriage returns this time! Who even made it DOWN this far?!

[MSat]

....The unfortunate aesthetics with the larger screen should be negated once you put the thing on as you won't be able to look in a mirror anyway. The more I look at it, the more I like to anyway.

I think it looks cool in a late 90s / early 2k sort of way, and a great example of form following function. Also, it looks pretty sturdy - something that I was worried would be traded in effort to keep it as light as possible.


@Palmer/Dycus

Now that the cat is out of the bag regarding the 7" display, can you confirm some of our earlier speculations that some of those prototypes you were demoing were in fact using the bigger panels?

[mahler]

... Who even made it DOWN this far?!

I did... trying to read it out loud and I couldn't stop laughing.
Damn, you have a talent for creating over-complicated sentences. They just never seemed to end!

[rhinosix]

Really excited about this update! Great work guys!

The delay will mean nothing in the end. The improved screen and sensor are a huge bonus. Thanks for doing all the work to upgrade the hardware. It's a lot of work to go from making hardware and software to having meetings, talks, setting up an office, and organising manufacturing and travelling all over the world. Doing business in China can be... slow at times, especially if you don't have an established relationship with people over there.

I think it was a good idea to announce everything at once when you had all details confirmed.

Stay motivated and keep kicking ass!

[android78]

Thanks LazloTheGreat, you seem to have touched on many of my feelings.
If they had a month ago said 'Sorry, we won't be able to ship in November. No, we don't know when we will be able to ship.', which probably would have been the most 'honest' then you can imagine the reaction from people both here and on kickstarter at not being able to provide a date. The alternative would have been to 'estimate' a new date, but this could have been worse. They say it will be shipped in Feb and then it's another broken promise.
I'm sorry to hear there's a delay, and it's unfortunate that it's taken so long to let us know of the delay, but I think they have handled it reasonably well. Maybe a more frank statement to explicitly say 'Sorry there is a delay', rather then the 'We appreciate your patience' could have made some people feel better?

[jf031]

I'm surprised at the lack of excitement that the KS update created. I would much rather have this new HMD with the awesome sensor and superior screen than the older model.

Oculus might have phrased it like this. "Ok guys, you can still have the Rift we described in the kickstarter and it will ship in November.......Or you can have the Rift 2.0 if you wait till March, at the same price as the old Rift. After reading about the improvements how many of you technophiles would really go for the inferior product?

The harsh backlash makes me think that this community was already anticipating these major improvements and also felt entitled to them, and if so, you deserve disappointment.

As it is now, we are getting a much better product at the same price!

Those who were following along already knew about the tracker and different display. Neither the size nor the quality of the new display was known, however. I'm personally very happy that it is better in every way (except added weight).

I don't think that it was a choice between "lower quality Rifts by January" or "higher quality Rifts by March." If it were a choice, I'm not sure if I would choose the higher quality version, as I want VR ASAP (I'm not willing to go the DIY route, though). However, as I have no choice, and the better of the two is going to happen, I'm obviously willing to wait another 3+ months.

edit: Re: delay, I was wrong about the screen. It was the main reason for the delay.

[LazloTheGreat]

... Who even made it DOWN this far?!

I did... trying to read it out loud and I couldn't stop laughing.
Damn, you have a talent for creating over-complicated sentences. They just never seemed to end!

I know, I never win at "Password." Too singular. But if they ever create a game called "Filibuster," I will KICK... ASS!

[Leahy]

we're still doing the best we can.

As much as I feel knee-jerk reactions, I'll just respond to this little tidbit and say "thanks, we all appreciate it."

[rhinosix]

If that's LED on the front, I want to swap it out for two yellow ones and paint this on the front:

[Modab]

Thus, as such school of thought would follow, the responsible thing to do would be to wait and do it right (an encouragingly recurring theme of intention on their parts), and hold to take the requisite time to present a cogently informed re-assessment with diligently prepared revisions to the time-table, rather than fire off with, "Hey things might be delayed or might not be delayed, [which is already implicit throughout with their initial use throughout of the term 'estimated'] but we just wanted to give out this ambiguous statement first, without the clear situational context of having any of our facts straight."

No doubt, some people, given what they may tend to find frustrating, would've, perhaps, at least appreciated this versus silence.

And no doubt, some people, given what *they* may tend to find frustrating, would *not* have.

Judgement call.

It's, of course, an action that attempts to serve the better amount of interests for all, but by design of the difficult circumstance prompting it, will leave some legitimately frustrated. And though the sound rationale of one's own reaction will always be clear to oneself, sometimes which kind if reaction will or won't be in the majority can be tricky to project, absent 20/20 hindsight, by even the most experienced of all of us. To boot, you'll never truly know what the reaction to the choice you didn't make would've been.

Which reaction is in the actual majority here? I, personally, still can't tell. But this, having been their call over how to handle this brand of uncertainty, it's supposedly at least a soundly oft made one in these types of tricky to time out situations. Though perhaps being a made call preferred by some but not others, I'd say, despite preference, at least not an inherently unreasonable one to consider making at all. Imho.

I understand that this kind of response, waiting until you know everything so you can have the good news with the bad news, is typical company PR. I think in the case of Kickstarter, however, it is inappropriate.
----------------------------------
From Kickstarter:
What should creators do if they're having problems completing their project?
If problems come up, creators are expected to post a project update (which is emailed to all backers) explaining the situation. Sharing the story, speed bumps and all, is crucial. Most backers support projects because they want to see something happen and they'd like to be a part of it. Creators who are honest and transparent will usually find backers to be understanding.

It's not uncommon for things to take longer than expected. Sometimes the execution of the project proves more difficult than the creator had anticipated. If a creator is making a good faith effort to complete their project and is transparent about it, backers should do their best to be patient and understanding while demanding continued accountability from the creator.
-----------------------------------

Between the successful finish of the Kickstarter, and today's post of delays, there was just *1* update. How transparent is that? The project has simply not been following the spirit of Kickstarter, despite their good intentions. In otherwords, I think the Oculus team is being honest, but not forthright.

It is also inappropriate, because this is a project for developers, and not consumers, and we should be mature enough to factor in negative or inconclusive reports. I am annoyed by all the people asking for refunds because they won't be able to gift it to people, or have it for Christmas, or resell it on Ebay, etc... There is nothing too ambiguous about the statement: "We cannot source the originally desired screens. There may be a delay as we have to meet with a new vendor and possibly retool our design". The annoying part is that these are precisely the kind of posts Palmer was doing before he formed the company, and it seems as though some business guy has told him to shush it up.

Optimistically, I hope that now that Oculus has posted the useful timeline chart, they will report in on a regular (weekly) basis as to how that timeline is shaping up. Will we receive reports on how the injection molds are going? I sure hope so!

[MSat]

Thus, as such school of thought would follow, the responsible thing to do would be to wait and do it right (an encouragingly recurring theme of intention on their parts), and hold to take the requisite time to present a cogently informed re-assessment with diligently prepared revisions to the time-table, rather than fire off with, "Hey things might be delayed or might not be delayed, [which is already implicit throughout with their initial use throughout of the term 'estimated'] but we just wanted to give out this ambiguous statement first, without the clear situational context of having any of our facts straight."

No doubt, some people, given what they may tend to find frustrating, would've, perhaps, at least appreciated this versus silence.

And no doubt, some people, given what *they* may tend to find frustrating, would *not* have.

Judgement call.

It's, of course, an action that attempts to serve the better amount of interests for all, but by design of the difficult circumstance prompting it, will leave some legitimately frustrated. And though the sound rationale of one's own reaction will always be clear to oneself, sometimes which kind if reaction will or won't be in the majority can be tricky to project, absent 20/20 hindsight, by even the most experienced of all of us. To boot, you'll never truly know what the reaction to the choice you didn't make would've been.

Which reaction is in the actual majority here? I, personally, still can't tell. But this, having been their call over how to handle this brand of uncertainty, it's supposedly at least a soundly oft made one in these types of tricky to time out situations. Though perhaps being a made call preferred by some but not others, I'd say, despite preference, at least not an inherently unreasonable one to consider making at all. Imho.

I understand that this kind of response, waiting until you know everything so you can have the good news with the bad news, is typical company PR. I think in the case of Kickstarter, however, it is inappropriate.
----------------------------------
From Kickstarter:
What should creators do if they're having problems completing their project?
If problems come up, creators are expected to post a project update (which is emailed to all backers) explaining the situation. Sharing the story, speed bumps and all, is crucial. Most backers support projects because they want to see something happen and they'd like to be a part of it. Creators who are honest and transparent will usually find backers to be understanding.

It's not uncommon for things to take longer than expected. Sometimes the execution of the project proves more difficult than the creator had anticipated. If a creator is making a good faith effort to complete their project and is transparent about it, backers should do their best to be patient and understanding while demanding continued accountability from the creator.
-----------------------------------

Between the successful finish of the Kickstarter, and today's post of delays, there was just *1* update. How transparent is that? The project has simply not been following the spirit of Kickstarter, despite their good intentions. In otherwords, I think the Oculus team is being honest, but not forthright.

It is also inappropriate, because this is a project for developers, and not consumers, and we should be mature enough to factor in negative or inconclusive reports. I am annoyed by all the people asking for refunds because they won't be able to gift it to people, or have it for Christmas, or resell it on Ebay, etc... There is nothing too ambiguous about the statement: "We cannot source the originally desired screens. There may be a delay as we have to meet with a new vendor and possibly retool our design". The annoying part is that these are precisely the kind of posts Palmer was doing before he formed the company, and it seems as though some business guy has told him to shush it up.

Optimistically, I hope that now that Oculus has posted the useful timeline chart, they will report in on a regular (weekly) basis as to how that timeline is shaping up. Will we receive reports on how the injection molds are going? I sure hope so!

Seriously? Get over it. Do everyone a favor - ask for a refund, and come back when the consumer version is sitting on store shelves.

[Charge]

Dycus

thank you for replying. It does not wash really though does it? eh?

Do you really expect people to believe that you drummed up to a factory in china on November the 11th and said "can you make this" and they said "ok then".

So you gave them some money and went away? No contracts, no timescales, no delivery dates - nothing.

And then got a phone call last Monday from them saying "But you did realise we have to make molds, fine tuning, testing, verification etc etc and oh we have a national holiday as well in ...Feb .... so we are looking at March April time"

Sorry mate. As soon as you guys knew the timescales you should have told us and you must have known them before. Its a commercial impossibility you didn't.

No one would have cared. No one actually does care really. Everyone wants the Rift to be a success.

But no one believes that you could not have known earlier and could not have let us know.

Oh for goodness' sake. *facepalm*
Working with factories and making a working, shippable product takes a LONG time. Do you honestly think we haven't been working with them, or that we haven't been trying to avoid delays?

We couldn't say anything sooner because we actually didn't know. When it comes down to it, a delay of one or two days does mean a delay of months because of the Chinese New Year. Palmer's recent trip to China was to try and see if we could get everything done before the New Year. We couldn't, as we found.

I'm not sure why Oculus didn't say anything earlier, but we actually didn't know until just a week or two ago.
From what you've seen of us, do you think we're a malicious company? Have you seen Palmer's speeches and keynotes, how passionate we are about VR? We're trying to ship this product. We're just as excited as you are.

Besides, we are shipping. No doubt about that, this dev kit is 100% gonna happen, unless the apocalypse comes or something. It's just gonna be a bit longer. :/


By the way, my word isn't the word of the company, it's just mine. And I may not be posting here quite as often any more. And I'm not allowed to say anything about features unless there's been an official announcement... Brant is right, I do have a big mouth.

Please keep posting here! It's great to get your information and opinions, and it would be a shame that a vocal minority caused you to stop. I expect that most people do, (or at least will) understand that delays happen and I personally appreciate the detail that has been given regarding why the delays have occurred.

[Krenzo]

From Reddit:

We planned on having the tooling going before now. When we took a trip to the factory a few weeks ago to review the design, we had to make the tough call to hold off on tooling, fix a few design issues we discovered, and delay so that we could do things right.

The screen was a big hurdle, too. Instead of having our design completed and ready to go like we initially thought, we had to completely redesign the enclosure. Had we been able to stick with our initial screen, these things would have been shipping in a few days.

Those of you who are upset that you weren't informed months ago about a possible delay need to calm down. I applaud Palmer for deciding to hold off and take a delay over shipping with known problems. Palmer has acted very professionally and managed the whole project very well so far to even get to this point. We shouldn't forget that.

Modad, you might want to take a look at this article. The current trend of Kickstarter is for projects to not release on time. Oculus/Palmer is doing a great job at being transparent and forthcoming with information about the delay compared to many other projects. There's this one project where a backer had to sue the project creator to find out he had squandered the backers' money, and no backers would be receiving their rewards.

[coresnake]

Rhinosix, custom skins for the headset is actually a really neat idea! You could have La Forge and Cyclops models too, it would be like a cover that you could slip over the front of the device.

[DFP]

I won't even complain, though I feel bad about Christmas. You know I backed the Pandora console, and the running joke was "2 months", but it ended up being 2 years until the first people got theirs. These guys are pulling this off in a little over half a year, which isn't bad at all. That just means there will be more content closer to completion by the time you get one.

[coresnake]

Am I the only one who's totally stoked with the screen upgrade?

[m3rc1l3ss]

I admit I did not buy one, but for those of you who are irritated from the FAQ on the first posting on Kickstarter.

Stretch Goals and the Developer Kit

We’re receiving a lot of questions about whether we can add stretch goals, especially ones that might improve the technical specifications of the developer kit.

The short answer is that changing any the technical specifications of the Rift developer kit may delay the ship date of the Kickstarter. Since we plan to ship the dev kits before the end of 2012 (less than 5 months away), we just don’t have room for error or unexpected delays that might cause us to slip. Sorry!

"We don't have room for error or unexpected delays" Not being able to source the panels and having to redesign the device is a rather large unexpected delay. Think of it this way, yes delivery will be later than expected, but 3 months is nothing compared to some Kickstarters, and the final product is going to be better albeit slightly heavier and less attractive than the original design.

[Modab]

Modad, you might want to take a look at this article.

Thanks for the link! I'm not trying to beat a dead horse, but the very first company in that article, making the Double Fine Adventure, is a sterling example of a company that, though hitting an understandable delay, is constantly reaching out to its backers and involving them in the development effort. If Oculus wanted to follow the Double Fine standard, I would be ecstatic.

To the many users loudly complaining about my complaint (:-P) I will make a sincere effort not to clutter this thread, and reply over PM going forward. My intent was not to make a mountain out of a molehill, though I certainly was trying to bring some amount of attention to the issue.

[brantlew]

Rhinosix, custom skins for the headset is actually a really neat idea! You could have La Forge and Cyclops models too, it would be like a cover that you could slip over the front of the device.

This will be my skin.



(Instead of that wimpy blue eye they got now)

[Chriky]

Man, I remember when people were chipping in logos, now Palmer is flying to China to set up a factory run. Crazy times

[wavefunction]

I like this logo better than the one they've got now.

[DFP]

Rhinosix, custom skins for the headset is actually a really neat idea! You could have La Forge and Cyclops models too, it would be like a cover that you could slip over the front of the device.

[mahler]

Received my order of Ready Player One yesterday... and can't put it down. Reading it while listening to the audiobook, searching YouTube for the song references in the book. Thanks to everybody who recommended it!

[coresnake]

Haha, DFP nice!

[jis]

For me the big thing is the confirmation of an 9Dof integrated chip. This was my major issue with the preceding kit. This will really change the gameplay code and the experience if it means absolute head orientation. If that means that it also include head positioning, then that would be huge by meaning that we could just advance our head to see an virtual object closer. But I have the intuition that the goal here is still having a precise absolute orientation.

[MSat]

Am I the only one who's totally stoked with the screen upgrade?

Nope

[Owen]

Someone probably brought this up already, but I noticed that there is one adjustment dial on each side of the new Rift. They are clearly not just assembly latches since they have several regularly spaced pips.

This suggests to me that it either has independent diopter adjustment per eye, or combined diopter adjustment plus pupillary distance adjustment which seems more likely.

Since pupillary distance is always symmetrical it wouldn't make sense to have two dials for it alone, unless the physical constraints of the headset are too tight. Also in the front on shot you can see that the eyepieces are slightly off-centered from the faceplate with some space which could be just a rubber diaphragm.

[coresnake]

Another nice article on the Rift's delay here

[EdZ]

If that means that it also include head positioning

It won't. It simply is not possible to do pure-inertial position tracking with any sort of consumer available MEMS accelerometer.

[jf031]

Tons of responses to comments, by Nate from Oculus at http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/152 ... 0#comments.

[Volte6]

You've all scared Palmer into lurking.



Hopefully none of the negativity gets to him. It can be hard putting a ton of effort and feeling like you're doing well only to get shot down by the vocal turds.

I spend my hour drive home each day thinking about VR and what I hope to see, hope to experience, and create. This is going to open a new world for video games, and Palmer is the one making it happen (with the intial help of Carmack of course...). He should be proud of each of these steps he's taken.

[Okta]

You've all scared Palmer into lurking.



Hopefully none of the negativity gets to him. It can be hard putting a ton of effort and feeling like you're doing well only to get shot down by the vocal turds.

I spend my hour drive home each day thinking about VR and what I hope to see, hope to experience, and create. This is going to open a new world for video games, and Palmer is the one making it happen (with the intial help of Carmack of course...). He should be proud of each of these steps he's taken.

Palmer is a great guy but Oculus is now a big tough corporation and needs to stand up to some scrutiny. The delay announcement was extremely late by any standard and is very light on details about the device like what affects the larger screen has on the optics. Being that the housing is decided upon there should be concrete answers at this stage?

[3dvison]

Thanks for the update Oculus. I think it was very well done.
The update has all the information I could ask for from an update. It even has a chart/graph that gives me insight into why the delay was needed and why I can believe you will make your new time table for shipment.

I think Oculus gave use an update with all the How & Why facts, that makes you feel you can trust it.

[Randomoneh]

Seems like those with high IPD could easily lose good part of horizontal FOV.

[Okta]

Thanks for the update Oculus. I think it was very well done.
The update has all the information I could ask for from an update. It even has a chart/graph that gives me insight into why the delay was needed and why I can believe you will make your new time table for shipment.

I think Oculus gave use an update with all the How & Why facts, that makes you feel you can trust it.

The update was good in that sense. I guess what is bugging me are the affects of that screen width. More details on teh affects of that would make me happy, teh delay doesn't bother me so much.

[zalo]

If I was the PR manager at Oculus, I wouldn't have done it any differently.

They couldn't reveal the delay when they found out the screen wouldn't source because all of their credibility would go out the window.

Once they found an alternative screen, they couldn't reveal it because they hadn't gotten the case molds sorted out.

Once they discovered the molds would take until next year, they couldn't reveal the delay until they knew they for certain couldn't prevent it.

Judging by how this relatively confident update was interpreted, thank goodness it wasn't even slightly more open-ended because it could have ruined their whole company.

[Volte6]

Palmer is a great guy but Oculus is now a big tough corporation and needs to stand up to some scrutiny. The delay announcement was extremely late by any standard and is very light on details about the device like what affects the larger screen has on the optics. Being that the housing is decided upon there should be concrete answers at this stage?

That may be the public perception, and it may be the direction they are heading, but I don't' think it is the reality of the situation just yet. Besides the fact that I believe they 100% stand up to scrutiny (really, they in theory had the ability to warn everyone a week earlier), it is a young company that is struggling to get prototypes out the door. They have big aspirations, and I hope they succeed, but they are by no means a "big tough corporation". I can think of several reasons as to why it would be irresponsible to jump out and blare "there are issues and delays" prematurely, but not a lot that say it would be more effective to be premature about it. At the end of it, they clearly spent time crafting the message so they have clear concerns over how it will be taken by the public (and the game industry, no doubt)... I'd say the only real failure was the attempt to spin it into good news.

I personally would like to see more frequent updates to the community, because making the community a part of this can only help them more. I'd like to see blogs about what they tried last week, and what didn't work out, or even boring details about what they've discovered about the manufacturing process. The reality is people want to be part of the journey, even if only in spirit.