News

Abu Dhabi Is Now Open For Virtual Tourists To Explore

Yas Island has recreated key landmarks and top-billed attractions within the leading gaming platform, Roblox.

Published

3 years ago

August 23, 2023

Nour Nasir

abu dhabi is now open for virtual tourists to explore

Roblox

Yas Island is ready to be discovered by a new global audience of digital travelers as it launches a unique virtual experience, allowing virtual tourists to digitally explore 25 square kilometers of Abu Dhabi’s premier entertainment and leisure district, plus other iconic Emirati landmarks.

The new initiative is part of a collaboration between the Department of Culture and Tourism, Aldar, Miral, twofour54, and Ethara.

The virtual Yas Island experience has been developed by Super League and is hosted on the leading gaming platform Roblox. Dubbed “Yas Island Tycoon – Roblox,” users will be able to take a thrilling journey through key Abu Dhabi landmarks across Yas Island and beyond, including SeaWorld, the Yas Marina Circuit, Etihad Park, Aldar Square, Al Jahili Fort, and many more.

abu dhabi is now open for virtual tourists to explore in roblox

As travelers wander the virtual destination and sample its attractions, they will experience theme park rides and race car driving, plus be able to construct virtual homes.

HE Saeed Al Fazari, Strategic Affairs Executive Director at DCT Abu Dhabi, said: “This immersive adventure in the virtual realm is the latest example of Abu Dhabi’s commitment to utilizing innovation and creativity to reach ever wider audiences. While we have shared Abu Dhabi with millions of visitors in the real world, today marks the start of a new phase in our journey”.

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Rashed Al Omaira, Chief Commercial Officer at Aldar Development, also noted: “The virtual Yas Island experience unlocks new opportunities for a global audience […] The effective use of innovative content creation enables us to tell the story of Abu Dhabi and allows people worldwide to become immersed in it. We are excited to see people interact with Aldar’s assets on Yas Island in the virtual world and hope it inspires them to take a trip to Abu Dhabi soon”.

You can visit the Yas Island virtual experience at Yas Island Tycoon – Roblox.

News

Nano Banana 2 Arrives In MENA For Google Gemini Users

Google brings its latest image model to Gemini and Search, adding 4K output and tighter text control for regional users.

Published

2 weeks ago

February 27, 2026

Nour Nasir

Google

Google has opened access to Nano Banana 2 across the Middle East and North Africa, pushing its newest image model into everyday tools rather than keeping it inside the exclusive (and expensive) Pro tier.

The rollout spans the Google Gemini desktop and mobile apps, and extends to Google Search through Lens and AI Mode. Developers can also test it in preview via AI Studio and the Gemini API.

Nano Banana 2 runs on Gemini Flash, Google’s fast inference layer. The focus is speed, but also control. Users can export visuals from 512px up to 4K, adjusting aspect ratios for everything from vertical social posts to widescreen displays.

The model maintains character likeness across up to five figures and preserves fidelity for as many as 14 objects within a single workflow. This enables visual continuity across scenes, iterations, or edits — supporting projects like short films, storyboards, and multi-scene narratives. Text rendering has also been improved, delivering legible typography in mockups and greeting cards, with built-in translation and localization directly within images.

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Under the hood, the system taps Gemini’s broader knowledge base and pulls in real-time information and imagery from web search to render specific subjects more accurately. Lighting and fine detail have been upgraded, without slowing output.

By embedding the model inside Gemini and Search, Google is normalizing advanced image generation for a mass audience. In MENA, where startups and marketing teams are leaning heavily on AI to scale content across languages and borders, that shift lands at a practical moment.

The move also folds creative tooling deeper into search itself, so that image generation is no longer a separate workflow. It now sits right next to the query box.