
KyleEberly
There was some very sad news this week, on Thursday 5/30 Andrew Scott Reisse the co-founder and lead engineer at Oculus VR was killed when he was hit by a speeding car which was being pursued by the police. Reisse was crossing the street in a crosswalk when 21-year-old Victor Sanchez ran a red-light and hit him. Sanchez and two other suspects were in a Dodge Charger fleeing from the police after allegedly committing some unnamed criminal activity when they struck and killed Andrew Reisse.
The brilliant 33 year old computer graphics engineer was working on the highly anticipated Oculus Rift Virtual Reality Headset. This headset while still in early development stages has been heralded as the first virtual reality that matches what we have been dreaming about since the conception of gaming. It promises close to complete immersion within the world of the game you are playing with its live tracking of your head’s movements. Reisses’ code can also be found in countless games still being played by people all over the world.
This news is sad for many reasons, first and foremost the loss of any life, especially one so young, is a tragedy. Our prayers and sympathies go out to Reisse’s family and friends for their loss. It is also sad to think of all of contributions to the world that have been taken away with his death. I have been looking forward to the Rift and though I am sure others will pick up his work I wonder how much this loss will affect the timeline and quality of the product. There is no question that this is a terrible loss but hopefully his work will come to fruition through his colleagues and his memory will remain through that.
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