Happy Monday degens,

How are you feeling today - productive? Probably not. It’s been found that the productivity of workers is at an all-time low on Mondays. In fact, people are up to 30% less productive, only managing 3.5 hours of work throughout the day (don’t tell my boss).

Let reading this Metaverse round-up kick off your day, in a productive way.

Happy reading.

📈📉Weekly Metaverse Moves

Metaverse Markets: Let’s talk about Darwinia Network. Darwinia is the Web3.0 cross-chain bridge hub built on Substrate. Its major applications include Defi, NFT, Game. Darwinia is also written in the Polkadot light-paper.

RING is the native token of Darwinia and the primary asset of the Metaverse game Evolution Land.

🌑Full Moons: Field Trips, Dance Off’s & Hip-Hop Culture - The Metaverse Got It All!

Cultureverse: 50 Years Of Hip-Hop Into One Metaverse!

Walmart and People of Crypto Lab (POClab) team up for the ultimate virtual experience – 'Cultureverse.' This immersive journey celebrates Hip-Hop's 50th anniversary and the profound impact of Black culture. It's all about inclusivity and innovation!

• POClab, known for their tech-savvy cultural endeavors, joins forces with key partners like The Sandbox and Animoca Brands.

• Cultureverse debuts in September on Spatial, honoring Hip-Hop pioneers while boosting tech access for Black creators.

Walmart's Black & Unlimited platform is a major player here, empowering Black creators through custom programming. Justin Breton, Walmart's Director of Brand Experiences, calls it a bridge to the virtual world.

Cultureverse isn't just an experience; it's a movement. It's about representation, inclusivity, and celebrating Black culture's lasting impact.

Simone Berry, POClab's co-founder, sums it up: "Cultureverse inspires a new generation and cultivates innovation."

Dance The Night Away On Numi!

Valicit, the blockchain ticketing champ, is on fire thanks to the metaverse buzz surrounding Numi Stories Club 404's grand opening. Numi Stories, known for its adorable anime-style characters, joins forces with Valicit to attract blockchain enthusiasts.

• Tickets on Valicit Marketplace unlock early access to Numi's multiplayer features, and over 230,000 have vanished on Venom's testnet, showing metaverse gaming's incredible appeal and web3's potential.

Numi trusts Valicit for transparent, foolproof ticket sales. The debut event promises a PvP dance-off in Numi, kicking off September 5. The top 100 dancers also get to grab exclusive NFT RadLad sets.

So, snag your ticket, hit the dance floor, and go for the win!

Meta Quest 2 Brings VR Field Trips To Life!

In 2015, Oculus founder Palmer Luckey envisioned a future where VR headsets transformed education, and now, Optima Academy Online is turning that vision into reality.

• Using Meta Quest 2 headsets, the school offers virtual "field trips" to places like Mount Everest base camp, redefining learning experiences.

• OptimaEd, led by Erika Donalds, a proponent of classical education, is at the helm. Florida's school choice program and recent legislation make it an attractive option.

Optima Academy enrolls over 170 students in Florida, expanding to Arizona and Michigan. It combines VR sessions with online classes, shaping a more immersive and customized educational landscape. VR Survival Skills Toolkit coming soon? Does this mean no more TV’s get smashed into??

🔭The Scope

Is the metaverse the new events space? As IRL events become less popular (thanks to inflation, lingering pandemic concerns, and wild weather (CC: Burning Man) URL events continue to thrive. We are imagining the future of virtual-festivals - all of the fun, none of the travel and mud.

🌓Half Moons

Casio is diving into the metaverse with NFTs, aiming to launch a range of digital products including NFT watches, digital assistants, and virtual fashion accessories. The company's trademark application signals its intent to bring immersive experiences to Web3, with a rollout expected in 2024.

Metaverse Evolutions In 2023: Several Metaverse platforms are gaining attention for their cutting-edge features and functionalities this year. These include Somnium Space, Second Life, Sandbox, Blue Jeans, and Meta (formerly Facebook), all offering unique experiences and opportunities in the evolving Metaverse landscape.

🔭The Scope

Every week, someone new is joining the Metaverse. It can be hard to keep up with all of these developments, but one thing is for sure - the Metaverse knows no limits.

⚪Total Eclipse

DID YOU KNOW…

The Japanese video game company SEGA gave us the earliest metaverse examples. The firm came up with arcade machines known as SEGA VR-1 in 1994 and installed them in theme parks in Japan, London, and Sydney.

It involved a headset—the “Mega Visor Display,” to be precise—that would go over the user’s eyes in a manner nearly identical to how modern-day VR headsets work. And, truth be told, it wouldn’t be until the 2010s that someone would finally match its capabilities.

💫Shooting Star

This week’s shooting star is HERE&NOW

HERE&NOW are creators of immersive experiences. (From the website): These highly acclaimed experiences work hand in hand with the artist, drawing from their work to build an immersive world around it. The process has created a new dimension to the audience/viewing landscape; the original pieces are then sold inside the experience.

It is an exploration into the new world of the art. This is not a just a gallery, this is a sensory experience, unlike anything, we create completely custom made experiences- featuring artists like Sutu, Rubenfro, Tim Maxwell, Shvembldr, Mactuitui, Jenni Pasanen and The Giant Swan.

🌚Dark Side of the Meme