The Walking Dead: Onslaught is now available on PSVR and PC VR. The sixth title from developer Survios has garnered mostly mixed reviews from critics, who say it's more basic and less nuanced than "The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners" but channels elements from the AMC series. It was released digitally today and will have a disc release in October.

Here's what you need to know:

• The post-apocalyptic action game, which is official series canon, allows gamers to play as Rick, Michonne, Daryl, and Carol to collect resources, rebuild Alexandria, and defend themselves against zombies.
• It's set between Season 8 and Season 9 of the series. A campaign stars Daryl (played by Norman Reedus), but players can control other characters on Scavenger missions to hunt for supplies.
• UploadVR's David Jagneaux gave it 2 out of 5 stars, writing that it's "not a very good game, but it could have been."
• IGN's Gabriel Moss called it a "scaled-down implementation" that feels more like a "generic zombie game with a little extra walker skin," though he did say it has movement and comfort options that "feel well-paced for VR play."
• Pure Playstation's Chris Harding said he thoroughly enjoyed the game and noted its reasonable price point of $29.99. Compared to "Saints & Sinners," he leans toward Onslaught for its "sheer fun factor" and ability to play favorite characters from one of his favorite shows.

Tips for playing

Survios' Amy Pantea shared eight tips from the development team to better survive the game:

1. Choose your loadout wisely.
2. Pay attention to your surroundings.
3. Harder difficulties yield higher rewards.
4. Get physical with melee combat.
5. New to VR? Experiment with settings and find your fit.
6. Position yourself to gain combat advantage.
7. When push comes to shove, try both.
8. Grab everything you can find.
9. Bonus: For a more immersive experience, try the Minimal HUD and Phantom Limbs options in the menu.

VR glove maker HaptX received a $1.5m government grant to develop a full-body haptic system. The National Science Foundation grant will allow the Seattle startup to continue work on its ForceBot project, which combines a robotic exoskeleton with microfluidic touch feedback to deliver realistic feedback to the whole body in VR.

More:

• HaptX has been quietly co-developing ForceBot with research partners Virginia Tech and the University of Florida for the last four years.
• The goal is to allow VR users to feel and touch virtual objects, manipulate them from afar using an avatar, move across terrain, and experience realistic movement constraints.
• Unlike current haptic feedback tech, it's focused on a user's arms and legs as well as their hands, eyes, and ears. HaptX CRO Joe Michaels said the larger vision is "something akin to the Holodeck" from Star Trek.
• Initial enterprise applications will focus on sports, emergency response, and industrial skills training.
• HaptX, which debuted its first-gen VR gloves in 2017, has raised $19m to date.

The NewImages Festival for digital creation and virtual worlds wrapped up in Paris two days ago, with many panels and announcements about VR experiences. In this special feature, we take a closer look at what XR leaders had to say about the industry's future, what VR experiences won accolades, and more.

Virtual panel of tech leaders

• The future of the VR market depends on developing and cultivating a stronger user base, according to last week's panelists, who included Ubisoft's Deborah Papiernik, Facebook's Colum Slevin, MWM Interactive's Ethan Stearns, and YouTube VR's Sarah Steele.
• Slevin, Facebook’s director of AR/VR, said the path to sustainability for VR creators "needs to be preceded by scale" that comes from user-generated content...

Festival announcements

• Allegorical fairy tale “A City of Foxes” won the festival's XR financing market prize.
• Immersive VR piece “Bodyless,” from director Hsin-Chien Huang, won Masque d’Or for best VR work and nearly $7,000 in prize money...

Amazon has launched its invite-only Amazon Explore tech platform for live virtual experiences around the world. This includes walking tours of places like Prague, Mexico City, and Quebec City, virtual cooking demonstrations, and personal shopping.

More:

• The platform launched in public beta today after months of "secretive testing." Work on the private beta actually started prior to the pandemic.
• Price for each experience range from $10-$200, with sessions ranging from 35 minutes to 1 hour. Most experiences are international with a few in the U.S.
• It's similar to Airbnb's marketplace for live virtual experiences and tours, which includes “Sangria and Secrets with Drag Queens" and Luca and Lorenzo's "Our Family Pasta Recipe."

Virtual Desktop developer Guy Godin says he's enabled wireless PC VR streaming at 90 Hz for the Oculus Quest 2. UploadVR's Ian Hamilton says Godin's software, which provides desktop computer access in headsets, reported streaming his PC to his Quest at 90 Hz in regular desktop PC mode as well as PC VR game streaming. Higher frame rates equal smoother and more realistic gaming.

More:

• The original Quest runs at up to 72 Hz and the Rift S at 80 Hz. While the goal was to have Quest 2 run at 90Hz at launch, the default function is delayed until later this year, allowing developers and Oculus Link to automatically run games at 90 Hz.
• At launch, Quest 2 owners will be able to use Home, the Browser, and more at 90 Hz via Experimental Features.
• Hamilton notes that Facebook is developing its own wireless “Air Link” to run PC VR content.
• On his Twitter page, Godin says he's "hard at work" on a mobile version of Virtual Desktop for Oculus Go/GearVR/Quest.
• Godin, who has had his share of run-ins with Facebook, doesn't have an Oculus Quest 2 yet. The headset ships on Oct. 13.

Viveport is giving Infinity users a free copy of "The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners" to celebrate its fourth year in business. The game will be available to both existing and new annual subscribers of HTC’s VR subscription service through Oct. 11.

More:

• Vive also announced two more games in the Viveport Infinity library: "Moss" and "L.A. Noire: The VR Case Files."
• The annual Infinity membership now costs $107.88 a year, which users can pay in monthly $8.99 installments.
• To get the free game permanently, monthly users can switch to annual memberships. Infinity also supports Oculus Rift, Quest via Link, HTC Vive, Valve Index, and Windows Mixed Reality headsets.

Quick Hits

• YouTuber Mike Cussell from Virtual Reality Oasis describes two ways to play PC VR games from Oculus and SteamVR on the new Oculus Quest 2.
• Oculus AR/VR writer Hayden Dingman compiled a list of recommended games for VR newcomers, ranked by intensity.
• Three live VR plays from Black creators will debut on Altspace this coming Thursday. RSVP here.
• AR company NexTech acquired the AirShow app, which turns musical artists into AR-based interactive holograms.
• A video shows WSJ tech columnist Joanna Stern testing out VR headset and meeting platform Spatial.
• Accenture will purchase virtual demand generation platform N3, terms undisclosed.
• UploadVR shared new details about the progression system and competitive ranked matches for "Star Wars: Squadrons," due out this Friday for PSVR and PC VR headsets.
• Waterworld Abu Dhabi debuted VR experiences for ocean and space exploration viewable through VR masks.
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Tweet of the Day: DJ David Guetta has joined social VR platform Sensorium Galaxy, which is scheduled to launch next year.