KFC's own VR training game teaches you to cook chicken

KFC has come out swinging with marketing ideas lately, with their own smartphone that they partnered with Chinese smartphone giant Huawei on, and now they have their very own VR training game.

KFC's own VR training game teaches you to cook chicken

In the KFC VR training app, it provides potential employees with a chicken cooking simulation - in a way that has never, ever been done before. You're stuck in a room, and need to escape - but how do you do that? Oh, you will learn how to cook chicken, and that's your only way out. Yeah, weird, isn't it?

The Colonel says in the KFC VR training game: "This game will teach you how to make my Original Recipe chicken ... the hard way. Until you learn how to make my chicken right, you will not be allowed to leave!"

Continue reading: KFC's own VR training game teaches you to cook chicken (full post)

Quake Champions enters Steam Early Access on the PC

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Aug 23, 2017 11:37 PM CDT

Quake Champions has hit Steam Early Access, offering up the first-person gibfest for $29.99 - even though it's a free-to-play title. What do you get for $30? Well, you get access to all of the upcoming fighters through to the end of 2018, and a little more.

Quake Champions enters Steam Early Access on the PC

The $30 entry price into Quake Champions on Steam Early Access will get you the aforementioned Champions through to the end of 2018, but you'll also get an exclusive look at Ranger, and three boxes that you can open for cosmetic items, yay.

What you'll get in the Sample Package:

Continue reading: Quake Champions enters Steam Early Access on the PC (full post)

Destiny 2 rocks on the PC with its new 4K 60FPS trailer

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Aug 23, 2017 10:37 PM CDT

Bungie is showing that PC gamers really are important, working with NVIDIA very closely on making the PC version of Destiny 2 the best version on any platform.

Destiny 2 rocks on the PC with its new 4K 60FPS trailer

The new video showcases the Inverted Spire Strike mission in Destiny 2, something that will be featured in Destiny 2's upcoming PC beta which kicks off on August 28 for those on Early Access, and August 29 for everyone else.

Destiny 2 is launching onto the PC in its best form, offering up HDR support, as well as SLI for those with multiple GeForce graphics cards. UltraWide display owners will enjoy 21:9 aspect ratio support, and more when Destiny 2 launches on the PC on October 26.

Continue reading: Destiny 2 rocks on the PC with its new 4K 60FPS trailer (full post)

ASUS tease ROG Strix RX Vega 56 OC Edition graphics card

Anthony Garreffa | Video Cards & GPUs | Aug 23, 2017 8:41 PM CDT

It seems ASUS is working with AMD closely on the new Radeon RX Vega series of graphics cards, with ASUS being the first with a custom RX Vega 64 graphics card, and now again with RX Vega 56.

ASUS tease ROG Strix RX Vega 56 OC Edition graphics card

The new ASUS ROG Strix Vega 56 OC Edition 8GB features Aura Sync RGB technology, a triple-fan cooler and 2.5-slot design.

The card requires dual 8-pin PCIe power connectors, and rocks a DVI connector if you're still running an older LCD.

Continue reading: ASUS tease ROG Strix RX Vega 56 OC Edition graphics card (full post)

Intel Core i3-8350K perf: competes with Core i7-7700K

Anthony Garreffa | CPU, APU & Chipsets | Aug 23, 2017 7:50 PM CDT

Intel's upcoming Coffee Lake CPU architecture could be exciting for the mid-range Core i3 processors, with leaked performance of the new Core i3-8350K showing very promising results.

Intel Core i3-8350K perf: competes with Core i7-7700K

The leaked Core i3-8350K performance teases the 4C/4T processor @ 4GHz will have multi-threaded performance that will battle against Intel's higher-end Core i7-7700K processor. In leaked benchmarks, we see that the Core i3-8350K scores 503.3 points in single-threaded performance, while the 7700K scores 492 points.

Even the multi-threaded performance is impressive, with the Core i3-8350K pushing 1982 points against the 7700K and its 2648... but remember the Core i7-7700K is a 4C/8T part, with double the CPU threads, but not double the multi-threaded CPU performance.

Continue reading: Intel Core i3-8350K perf: competes with Core i7-7700K (full post)

Galaxy Note8 will be $425 cheaper if you had the Note7

Lana Jelic | Mobile Devices, Tablets & Phones | Aug 23, 2017 7:25 PM CDT

Samsung didn't forget about the disappointed customers who had to return their Galaxy Note7 after the faulty batteries issues.

Galaxy Note8 will be $425 cheaper if you had the Note7

During the unveiling of the Galaxy Note8, the company announced that they would be offering a significant discount on the Note8 to those who bought the Note7.

In the US, eligible customers will get a $425 discount, which is almost 50% off, if they trade in their current phone for the new Note8. The deal will be available through Samsung's own online store.

Continue reading: Galaxy Note8 will be $425 cheaper if you had the Note7 (full post)

Skyrim is awkward to play on PSVR

Skyrim is supposed to be one of virtual reality's killer apps, but it's actually tedious and clumsy to play on Sony's PlayStation VR.

Skyrim is awkward to play on PSVR

After launching on all platforms known to man (only slightly joking here), Skyrim is coming to PlayStation VR--and not just a small slice as per the usual PSVR release, the full open-world game. But the experience is hindered by one critical aspect: teleportation. Like most Vive VR games, users will have to teleport from point-to-point to traverse Skryim's in-game world while using Move controllers. According to IGN's Alanah Pearce, Skyrim on PSVR is awkward and tedious when using these motion-tracked wands, and there's more than a few glitches.

The wands are there, of course, to track your hand movements and translate to in-game interactions, from pulling a bowstring to slicing and dicing with a sword and blocking with a shield. The Move controllers aim to add the critical point of immersion to the virtual reality experience, but at the cost of smooth movement. According to Ms. Pearce, teleporting makes for strange-feeling traversal throughout open-world areas as well as congested dungeons, and doesn't feel very smooth or natural.

Continue reading: Skyrim is awkward to play on PSVR (full post)

HP posts earnings growth for fourth straight quarter

Derek Strickland | Business, Financial & Legal | Aug 23, 2017 5:43 PM CDT

Technology giant HP Inc has reported its fourth straight quarter of strong earnings growth driven by its Personal Systems segment.

HP posts earnings growth for fourth straight quarter

HP's fiscal third quarter 2017 earnings mark the fourth consistent period the company has one-upped its total net revenues. The company earned $13.1 billion in net revenues in the three-month period ending July 31, 2017, up 10% year-over-year. HP's Personal Systems segment, which includes its lucrative commercial and consumer PCs as well as workstations, thin clients, and tablets, accounted for roughly 64% of fiscal Q3'17 net revenues, or $8.404 billion in net revenues and up 12% year-over-year. Commercial and Consumer segment net revenues increased by 11% and 14% respectively, and Notebook segment revenues were also up 12% with Desktop units down 3% year-over-year.

The tech titan's Printing segment earned $4.698 billion in net revenues in the period, up 6% year-over-year.

Continue reading: HP posts earnings growth for fourth straight quarter (full post)

Final Fantasy XV on PC to get mod support

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Aug 23, 2017 4:24 PM CDT

UPDATE: Square Enix has provided us with an official statement that specialization requirements for Final Fantasy XV's incoming Windows Edition on PC were published in error. "The recommended specs text that accompanied the Windows Edition trailer were posted in error and have since been removed," a Square Enix representative told us. "The specs listed were not final as the game is still in development. We will officially publish both minimum and recommended specs for the game once we finish development, so that they are fully accurate."

Final Fantasy XV on PC to get mod support

Final Fantasy XV Windows Edition should get mods at some point, opening up a massive wealth of pontential for PC gamers.

Just yesterday I wrote up an opinion piece that Final Fantasy XV is the new modern-day Skyrim. Now that game director Hajime Tabata says we should expect mod support for Final Fantasy XV's newly announced Windows Edition, that comparison is even stronger. Earlier this year Mr. Tabata said he'd love to include mod support in Final Fantasy XV's PC version, and at Gamescom 2017 he's sticking to his words.

Continue reading: Final Fantasy XV on PC to get mod support (full post)

Elon Musk reveals SpaceX's official spacesuit

Lana Jelic | Science, Space, Health & Robotics | Aug 23, 2017 3:45 PM CDT

Elon Musk has posted the first official photo of the SpaceX spacesuit on Instagram. Musk noted that the photo shows an actual working suit and not just a mockup.

Elon Musk reveals SpaceX's official spacesuit

According to Musk, the space suit was already tested to double vacuum pressure. The suit looks elegant, and Musk admitted that it was incredibly hard to balance aesthetics and function. However, you can see that the result is good.

SpaceX suits are meant to be worn by astronauts inside the company's Dragon capsule. The suits aren't meant for spacewalks but during the ride inside the capsule.

Continue reading: Elon Musk reveals SpaceX's official spacesuit (full post)