In the ’90s, virtual reality looked like this:
Today, it is much sleeker, lighter and, well, actually functional. And it could soon look even better: Oculus acquired Carbon Design on Tuesday, which means the team behind the Xbox 360 controller and the original Kinect could be behind the design of the company’s virtual reality headset.
The purchase price has not been disclosed, but the companies plan to close the deal by the end of the summer. Carbon Design’s team will remain in Seattle.
Oculus said it has been working with Carbon Design for nearly a year on upcoming projects.
A remote designed by Carbon Design. Photo courtesy of Carbon Design.
The Oculus Rift headset, which has yet to be offered to consumers, has been released to developers in two different versions. The final consumer version will potentially be smaller, lighter and cordless.
"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,” Carbon Design creative director Peter Bristol wrote in a blog post. “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.”
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