Through Meant to be Seen (MTBS)'s virtual reality and 3D discussion forums, Palmer Luckey, the founder of Oculus and longtime MTBS discussion forum moderator, developed the idea of creating a new head-mounted display that was both more effective than what was then on the market, and inexpensive for gamers.

The first rough prototype was hacked together in 2011 by Palmer Luckey (then 18 years old) in his parents’ garage in Long Beach, California.
Coincidentally, John Carmack had been doing his own research and happened upon Luckey's developments as a fellow member of MTBS.
After sampling an early prototype, Carmack favored Luckey's approach and just before the 2012 Electronic Entertainment Expo, Id Software announced that their future updated version of Doom 3, BFG Edition, would be compatible with head-mounted display units.


In June 2012, during the E3 convention, Carmack introduced a duct taped head-mounted display based on Luckey's Oculus Rift prototype, which ran Carmack's own software.
The unit featured a high speed IMU and a 5.6-inch (14 cm) LCD, visible via dual lenses, that were positioned over the eyes to provide a 90 degrees horizontal and 110 degrees vertical stereoscopic 3D perspective.
Through Meant to be Seen (MTBS)'s virtual reality and 3D discussion forums, Palmer Luckey, the founder of Oculus and longtime MTBS discussion forum moderator, developed the idea of creating a new head-mounted display that was both more effective than what was then on the market, and inexpensive for gamers.
The first rough prototype was hacked together in 2011 by Palmer Luckey (then 18 years old) in his parents’ garage in Long Beach, California. Coincidentally, John Carmack had been doing his own research and happened upon Luckey's developments as a fellow member of MTBS. After sampling an early prototype, Carmack favored Luckey's approach and just before the 2012 Electronic Entertainment Expo, Id Software announced that their future updated version of Doom 3, BFG Edition, would be compatible with head-mounted display units.

In June 2012, during the E3 convention, Carmack introduced a duct taped head-mounted display based on Luckey's Oculus Rift prototype, which ran Carmack's own software. The unit featured a high speed IMU and a 5.6-inch (14 cm) LCD, visible via dual lenses, that were positioned over the eyes to provide a 90 degrees horizontal and 110 degrees vertical stereoscopic 3D perspective.
Oculus Rift