A killer app for the metaverse? Fill it with AI avatars of ourselves – so we don't need to go there

By Alex Connock, Fellow at Said Business School, University of Oxford, University of Oxford

Big numbers coming. Microsoft’s US$75 billion (£55 billion) acquisition of Activision Blizzard has landed – true to Call of Duty vernacular – “like a bomb” on the US$200 billion revenue video games industry.

It heavily arms the Xbox giant for its vision of the metaverse, in which gaming is the marketing adrenaline of this much-touted online future that is to be experienced immersively through virtual reality (VR) headsets or augmented-reality (AR) glasses. The stock market knocked US$10 billion…

Read complete article

~	Rugby stadiums are sold as an economic asset – but NZ needs to ask if they’re really worth it

~	The ‘devil comet’ 12P/Pons-Brooks has finally become visible from Australia. What can we expect?

~	Some families push back against journalists who mine social media for photos – they have every right to

~	I wholeheartedly recommend The President: a brilliant revival of a play of decay, terror and revulsion

~	Many prisoners go years without touching a smartphone. It means they struggle to navigate life on the outside

~	Good news: midlife health is about more than a waist measurement. Here’s why

~	Are 2 mid-career AFL retirements a sign Australian athletes are taking brain health more seriously?

~	Thirty years ago today, West Indies cricketer Brian Lara made history

~	It is industry, not government, that is getting in the way of a ‘just transition’ for oil and gas workers

~	Earth Day: ‘Green muscle memory’ and climate education promote behaviour change