Jason Rubin Joins Oculus

We’re thrilled to announce that Jason Rubin, co-founder of Naughty Dog and games industry veteran, has joined Oculus as head of worldwide studios!

Jason is a former game programmer and director, best known for his work on the Crash Bandicoot® and Jak & Daxter™ series at Naughty Dog, a team that helped pioneer high-frame-rate 3D console games in the earliest days of PlayStation®. Jason has shipped over a dozen games across multiple console generations, working with some of the best game developers in the world.

“There have only been a handful of times in my life where I saw something that I knew would change everything. The awe-inspiring tech Oculus is building is a portal into an incredible world that my daughter will one day consider to be normal. The moment I put it on, I wanted to help define that future.

After decades of game innovation on traditional screens, the longtime dream of true presence inside a virtual world is finally here. Virtual reality requires an entirely different approach; from systems and protocols to game design and storytelling, everything is being reimagined from the ground up to deliver experiences that are entirely new and magical.

The team at Oculus has been working to push the boundaries of what’s possible with hardware and software. I’m excited to bring together a new division dedicated to building high-quality VR content that helps define the platform and inspire others to do the same.

Thanks to the Oculus community for making this all possible and for having me as part of the team!”

Jason will be heading up the Oculus first-party content initiatives in Seattle, San Francisco, Menlo Park, Dallas and Irvine. If you’re interested in working with Jason and the talented and growing development team, let us know by checking out open roles at www1.oculus.com/careers.

E3 2014 Starts Today

We’re at E3 this week, talking virtual reality and next-generation gaming with some of the best game developers from around the world.

The second Rift development kit (DK2) represents a significant step toward true consumer virtual reality. It opens up all sorts of new possibilities for game designers and content creators, and we’re thrilled to unleash it upon the community when it begins shipping next month.

The very first glimpses of what’s possible with DK2 are playable in our booth here at E3. We’ve been working closely with a few developers with pre-production kits, and we’re excited to showcase some of the incredible games they’ve been building with the new headset.

If you’re at the show, swing by the Oculus booth (West Hall #5222) to check them out!

SUPERHOT is a unique first-person shooter game where time moves only when you move, making each level a deadly puzzle fueled by fluid time mechanics and relentless foes. It’s one of the most fun experiences we’ve seen on the Rift.

“The project started out during last year’s 7 Day First Person Shooter game jam, where we decided to make something that really stood out in the genre – a title that felt satisfying, while not requiring superhuman reflexes. Something like a game of real-time chess, except that all the pawns are out there to murder you.” – SUPERHOT Team

SUPERHOT’s Kickstarter campaign is actually live right now at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/375798653/superhot, so if you like the game, contribute to making it a reality!

Lucky’s Tale is a new made-for-VR adventure by the team at Playful. Introduced in last week’s blog, Lucky’s Tale is a “delightful platforming adventure game” designed exclusively for the Rift that reimagines the genre from the ground up.

Lucky’s Tale is premiering for the first time here at E3 2014, so be sure to swing by the booth and check it out on the Rift!

Creative Assembly’s Alien: Isolation™ is a new survival horror game set in the Alien™ universe. A terrifying experience, particularly in virtual reality, Isolation is all about survival.

In the E3 Rift demo, you’ll use every tool at your disposal to escape from a ruthless Alien in the wreckage of your spaceship. Underpowered and underprepared, you’ll scavenge resources and improvise solutions; not just to succeed, but to survive.

EVE: Valkyrie is the highly anticipated multiplayer, space-dogfighting shooter being developed by CCP and co-published by Oculus. Valkyrie, running on the Rift HD Prototype, was a contender for Game of Show at last year’s E3. It returns, but with an all new style, running on the graphical horsepower of Unreal Engine 4.

These are just a handful of the ground-breaking experiences the community is developing today. We have 190+ games on Oculus Share with more being added every week, all of which were developed using the original development kit — We can’t wait to see what the world does with DK2.

We’ll see you at the show!

– The Oculus Team

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