Executive summary
Welcome to your weekly briefing on the metaverse and spatial computing. Here are your snippets to sound smarter in meetings this week:
Top story: An exhibit about Ramses II has a VR experience — and these are our thoughts (read below).
Event: Worlds in Action will host the #WorldsinAction Hack in San Francisco from 13–15 March, bringing together XR and spatial AI developers for a hands-on event featuring generative environments, Unity and Unreal tools, PICO devkits, workshops and multi-track awards.
Hackathon: Cambridge RealityX Hackathon (7–13 March 2026) invites interdisciplinary teams to build applied AI × XR solutions across education, healthcare, commerce, and the arts, culminating in a final onsite expo with a £1,000+ prize pool.
Resident Evil Requiem is excellent. Camp fun with a little dash of horror.
Top Story
In 1818, Percy Shelley published his iconic poem Ozymandias, which tells of a colossal wreck of a statue, the remains of the great works of “Ozymandias, King of Kings.” The poem reflects on the impermanence of human creation and the hubris of any man who believes their legacy will withstand the test of time. Yet, as it happens, much of Ozymandias, better known as Ramses II, still survives. Now, thanks to Neon, some of his works, along with a plethora of other remarkable Ancient Egyptian artifacts, can be viewed just outside Battersea Power Station.
The exhibition traces the life and 67-year reign of Ramses, arguably Egypt’s greatest pharaoh, focusing on the highlights of his great temple complex at Abu Simbel and the Battle of Kadesh. It also features the temple of his wife, Nefertari, and concludes with his death, funeral complex, and the 19th-century rediscovery of his mummy. Alongside Ramses’s artifacts are items from other periods of Egyptian history, providing a broader historical and religious context. Among the most fascinating are discarded drawings, rough drafts, and doodles left behind by artisans tasked with decorating the pharaoh’s astonishing monuments — all providing an extraordinary humanising glimpse into the life behind the legend of Ramses II.
But that is not why you are here. You are here because the team also included a VR experience called Ramses & the Pharaoh’s Gold.
The experience takes users through Abu Simbel and Nefertari’s tomb, offering context on the locations and wall depictions. The VR setup was thoughtfully designed, with a chair that moves left, right, and up, guiding the user without causing motion sickness. One particularly interesting element is the subtle horror components added during the transition between the two locations, adding a bit of unexpected spice to the journey.
There is also a thin storyline about Ramses II needing guidance to the afterlife, which is charming but minimal, understandable given the ten-minute runtime.
One issue with the experience was its placement at the end, by the gift shop. We had gone through many objects about Ramses II, all with great context and information. The VR experience showed more details about the locations, but much of it was touched on by the rest of the exhibit beforehand. That said, it did a great job of showing the locations and “vibes” in great detail.
Overall, the experience provides an immersive way to explore these sites without visiting them in person, supported by a narrative that is intentionally lightweight due to time constraints. We both enjoyed the immersion and what we learned, but we hoped for more.
Tom Ffiske and Alex Roberts
This week’s stories
Barcelona Cathedral is hosting Gaudí: The Workshop of the Divine, a VR experience by Landscapes and Stromboli that lets visitors explore Antoni Gaudí’s atelier and assume the role of his assistants, celebrating the centenary of his death and his ties to the cathedral and Gothic Quarter.
Cognitive3D has launched an MCP (Model Context Protocol) Server, enabling organisations to access and interpret XR spatial analytics data through natural language queries via LLMs and AI assistants.
CoSTAR National Lab’s “Grassroots Music Venue Innovation” project will host an interactive R&D gig at The Bath House in Hackney Wick on 7 March, using responsive floor tiles, spatial audio and real-time audience feedback to explore how immersive technologies can support UK grassroots venues.
St Mark’s National Bowel Hospital has partnered with Revolve Labs to create immersive VR experiences, starting with a filmed robotic pan-proctocolectomy, to train surgeons outside the operating theatre.
The University of London has launched Narrative Foundations for Immersive Media and Video Games, an accessible online course covering immersive storytelling techniques, industry case studies, ethics, safety considerations and project pitching.
VIVERSE has launched the VIVERSE Partner Program, a performance-based rewards scheme that pays creators based on unique views and engagement time rather than ad impressions, offering direct monetisation without contributing content to AI training models.
The Wales Millennium Centre is hosting Haunts, a VR experience exploring the 2000s adolescence of a queer teen in rural North Wales, combining surreal storytelling, archival media, and English and Welsh narration to reflect on millennial youth culture.
Note: The Immersive Wire is run by Tom Ffiske, who also works at Accenture. The contents of the newsletter should not be regarded as Accenture’s views.
All spelling mistakes are deliberate, actually.
