Worried that Facebook will keep the much-hyped metaverse all to itself? Microsoft has something to say about that. The tech giant announced during its Ignite conference that it's building its version of the metaverse, with a big focus on work and corporate applications, Bloomberg reports.

Microsoft is currently preparing an alternate version of its Microsoft Teams chat software that will let employees use digital avatars and share Microsoft Office files, like Spreadsheets, in a virtual world. That's due out in the latter half of 2022.

Using its new Mesh technology, Microsoft is also working towards enabling shareable virtual worlds across multiple VR and AR headsets, including Microsoft's own HoloLens. Employees without VR/AR headsets will still be able to access these virtual worlds on regular 2D monitors.

The corporate focus doesn't stop at meetings, though. Microsoft also announced a product called Dynamics 365 Connected Spaces that allows users to move through virtual recreations of stores and facilities. It's not an entirely novel idea in the world of VR and AR tech (the tech has existed for several years in one form or another), but Microsoft executives like CEO Satya Nadella tells Bloomberg they had used Dynamics to visit a hospital's COVID ward, a Toyota plant, and the International Space Station in VR.

In a world where Epic Games seems to be ahead of the metaverse pack with Fortnite's growing success, Xbox isn't escaping Microsoft's metaverse plans either.

“You can absolutely expect us to do things in gaming,” Nadella said. “If you take Halo as a game, it is a metaverse. Minecraft is a metaverse, and so is Flight Sim. In some sense, they are 2D today, but the question is, can you now take that to a full 3D world, and so we absolutely plan to do so.”

It all raises an obvious question for tech giants like Microsoft and Facebook: If the metaverse is meant to be one immense, interconnected virtual space where brands, creators, and individual users can cohabitate, how will it work if every company wants to build its own metaverse, especially with their own software as the proprietary tool? Microsoft is focused (for now) on how the metaverse can be utilized in a profit-driven corporate sense, while Facebook and Epic appear to be focused on building a new type of social network, albeit one that's still interfacing with their brands.

Facebook is of course going all in on the metaverse, rebranding itself under a new parent company simply called "Meta." The rebranding has largely been seen as a move to both distance Facebook from solely a social media company to a more encompassing tech corporation, as well as a way to distance the company from numerous controversies, including a recent (and massive) leak of internal documents showing the company allegedly dodging responsibility for harm the company has caused with its products.

Image Credit: (Photo Illustration by Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/not looking forward to the Slack metaverse…for IGN.

The holidays are almost here, and it's time to figure out the perfect gifts for your family and friends. If you're shopping for an Xbox player this holiday season, you've come to the right place, because we've got a roundup of the best gifts to consider. From the latest Xbox consoles and accessories to the best Xbox games, here are the best gift ideas for the Xbox fan in your life.

The Top 3 Must-Have Xbox Gifts

While it may have released over a year ago, the Xbox Series X is still extremely difficult to find. The Series X is the most powerful Xbox ever, and along with Xbox Game Pass, the Xbox player you're shopping for will never run out of games to play. Plus, one of the biggest games coming this holiday season is Halo Infinite, Master Chief's first new adventure in more than six years.

Best Xbox Games Gifts

While many of Xbox's best games are on Game Pass, a lot of them still need to be bought separately. This year, games like Call of Duty: Vanguard and Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, are sure to be some of the holiday season's biggest sellers.

Best Xbox Clothing and Accessory Gifts

If you're not sure what games the Xbox fan in your life already has, you could consider getting them a piece of Xbox clothing or a collectible they can display. These Xbox clothes and accessories can help an Xbox fan show off their love for Halo, Fallout, and more.

Best Halo Nerf Gun Gifts

Halo Infinite is going to be one of the hottest games this holiday season, and the younger Halo fans may want to bring a Halo-themed Nerf gun to their next Nerf gun fight. Check out these Halo Nerf guns, including the iconic Needler.

Best Xbox Book Gifts

If you're looking to get your favorite Xbox fan a book, look no further than our picks for the best Xbox gifts. Whether it's an art book, cookbook, or a novel that expands the Halo universe, there's something for every type of reader.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, a drama about the development of the atomic bomb, has just added Robert Downey Jr. and Matt Damon.

According to Deadline, the pair are now in talks to join Cillian Murphy in Oppenheimer – Christopher Nolan’s upcoming World War II epic.

Unfortunately, there are no further details about who Downey and Damon will be playing in the upcoming film, with details reportedly being “kept under wraps”. However, it has been confirmed that Cillian Murphy will star as Robert J Oppenheimer – who is commonly referred to as the father of the atomic bomb.

Alongside regular Nolan contributor Murphy, it’s also previously been reported that Emily Blunt is also in talks for an unknown role.

Now, Robert Downey Jr and Matt Damon join this increasingly illustrious cast. Damon has previously worked with Christopher Nolan on the hit sci-fi epic, Interstellar, while this marks the first time Robert Downey Jr. and Nolan will have worked together.

Oppenheimer also marks the first time Nolan has worked with Universal, which picked up the rights to the movie following an extensive bidding war. His move to Universal follows controversial comments about Warner Bros. launching their films day and date on HBO Max – the director calling it “the worst streaming service”.

Nolan is also looking at a $100 million budget for Oppenheimer, which he considers “smaller-scale” compared to his previous films. He was also rather demanding when it comes to this project, expecting “total creative control, 20 percent of first-dollar gross, and a blackout period from which the studio wherein the company would not release another movie three weeks before or three weeks after his release.”

Christopher Nolan will produce Oppenheimer along with Emma Thomas and Atlas Entertainment’s Charles Roven. The film is based on the Pulitzer-winning book, American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and the late Martin J. Sherwin.

Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer is set to premiere on July 21, 2023.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Netflix announced today that it has expanded its gaming service to over 190 countries, including the United States and Canada. However, the gaming feature still requires subscribers to own either an Android smartphone or tablet to play.

Starting today, Netflix Games will be available to subscribers, which you can either download from the Google Play Store, though Netflix says that all five games coming to the service will slowly roll out to its official app beginning November 3. Among the games included in the service is Stranger Things 3: The Game. Unfortunately, you will not be able to use a wireless controller or a mobile controller like the Razer Kishi, as the games on the Netflix Games app use touch controls only.

Netflix notes that its games app requires a subscription to its streaming service, and that there are no ads, additional fees, or microtransactions. While iOS support is not available yet, Netflix says it will roll out "in the coming months."

The rollout to more countries supporting Netflix Games is no surprise as the company began testing the feature last August, with subscribers based in Poland having access to the service. In late September, Netflix Games expanded to subscribers living in Italy, Spain, and Poland.

Within the last several months, Netflix has been making a push to enter the gaming market. In July, ahead of its quarterly fiscal earnings, the streaming giant noted it would focus on mobile games first. In that same month, Netflix announced that it had hired veteran game executive Mike Verdu as its VP of game development.

Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

Most of the time, vampires are the villains in Hollywood movies. They're portrayed as soulless bloodsuckers who pose an existential threat to all humanity. But sometimes even a vampire can be a hero. That's the case with Morbius, a Marvel hero who's set to be portrayed by Jared Leto in Sony's upcoming Spider-Man spin-off movie.

The first trailer for Morbius revealed an unexpected Spider-Man connection, and the second trailer has now arrived. Here's everything you need to know about the man they call "The Living Vampire."

Morbius Explained: The Basics

Dr. Michael Morbius was a respected biochemist suffering from a rare and fatal blood disease. Desperate for a cure, Morbius performed dangerous experiments on himself using vampire bat DNA and inadvertently transformed into a "living vampire." While he wasn't actually bitten by one of the many vampires that live in the Marvel Universe, Morbius' condition has many of the same symptoms. He has a never-ending thirst for blood and must forever live apart from human society.

Despite the cruel hand life has dealt him, Morbius does his best to use his knowledge and his vampiric abilities for good. He's proven himself a hero many times over, both as an ally of Spider-Man and a member of teams like the Midnight Sons. But even so, his dark side always threatens to consume him.

Morbius' Powers and Abilities

Though Morbius isn't a vampire in the traditional, supernatural sense, he has many of the same abilities. He possesses superhuman strength and speed, limited flight and the ability to hypnotize others. He also has a Wolverine-like healing factor that allows him to recover from otherwise fatal wounds. Morbius can sometimes infect his victims with "pseudo-vampirism," though this only happens in rare cases.

Morbius also possesses some traditional vampire weaknesses. He has a constant need for human blood, a need that he does his best to satisfy through the use of serums rather than taking human victims. Morbius has developed a special formula using Spider-Man's blood that quenches his thirst for longer periods of time. His skin is also susceptible to burning in daylight, though not to the extent of most vampires. Morbius also lacks traditional vampire weaknesses to crosses, garlic, holy water, etc.

Morbius: Origin and Background

Morbius was created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Gil Kane and debuted in 1971's Amazing Spider-Man #101. That issue was actually the first not to be written by co-creator Stan Lee.

The character was conceived after the Comics Code Authority lifted certain restrictions on the use of vampires and supernatural creatures in comics. Morbius' status as a "living vampire" both made him unique and helped make him more marketable as a hero. The character was inspired by Thomas' love of classic science fiction films, while Kane specifically modeled Morbius' appearance on actor Jack Palance.

Initially, Morbius was cast as a tragic villain figure. His own story became intertwined with that of the Lizard, another Spider-Man villain who inadvertently transformed himself into a hideous monster while trying to cure a physical ailment. However, it wasn't long before the character branched out on his own. He became a recurring player in '70s-era anthology series like Vampire Tales and Adventure Into Fear. The latter series established Morbius' long-standing feud with the vampire hunter Blade.

It wasn't until 1992, though, that Morbius gained his own solo series in Morbius the Living Vampire. That series was one of several supernatural-focused books to launch out of a crossover called "Rise of the Midnight Sons." During this period, Morbius' adventures became closely intertwined with those of supernatural heroes like Ghost Rider, Hellstorm, Jennifer Kale and Werewolf by Night.

Following the end of Morbius' solo series at issue #23, the character continued to play a recurring role throughout the Marvel Universe. For instance, he appeared in Marvel Zombies 3, working alongside other heroes to prevent his universe from becoming infected by the zombie plague that had ravaged other universes. He also appeared in a Punisher storyline called "Frankencastle," where he helped bring the Punisher back to life as a Frankenstein-like beast following the character's fatal clash with Daken.

More recently, Morbius played a pivotal role in writer Dan Slott's Amazing Spider-Man run, where he was revealed to be secretly working at Peter Parker's new place of employment, Horizon Labs. Amazing Spider-Man and Superior Spider-Man paved the way for another short-lived Morbius comic in 2013, written by Joe Keatinge and drawn by Rich Elson.

Morbius Movie: Beyond the Comics and More

Given his vampiric trappings, Morbius has proven to be a difficult character to adapt to Marvel's other multimedia projects. The character made his animated debut in 1994's Spider-Man: The Animated Series (voiced by Nick Jameson), where he was depicted as a scientist transformed after being bitten by a vampire bat that had drank Spider-Man's irradiated blood. Because of strict censorship standards, this version of Morbius was only allowed to be depicted as draining blood through suckers on his hands, and his dialogue emphasized his need for "plasma" rather than blood.

Morbius later appeared as a recurring character in the animated series Ultimate Spider-Man vs. The Sinister Six (voiced by Benjamin Diskin), where he was re-imagined as a Hydra scientist who specializes in symbiotes. Morbius eventually transformed into his living vampire form on the series, with the main difference being that he absorbed the life force of others rather than consuming blood.

Morbius has appeared in several Marvel video games, including as a supporting character in 1993's Maximum Carnage (based on the comic book storyline of the same name) and certain versions of 2007's Spider-Man 3. He's also appeared as a playable character in Marvel: Avengers Alliance, LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2 and Marvel Super Hero Squad Online.

Morbius has yet to appear in live-action form, though there have been rumors of a Morbius movie for most of the last two decades. At one point the character was considered for the lead villain role in 2002's Blade II. In fact, an alternate version of the ending for the first movie features a masked character who was intended to be revealed as Morbius.

Instead, the character will make his film debut in Sony's upcoming Morbius movie. Jared Leto plays Dr. Michael Morbius, with Daniel Espinosa directing and Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless penning the screenplay. The movie might be set in the same shared universe as 2018's Venom and its 2020 sequel. Thanks to the first Morbius trailer and a cameo appearance from Michael Keaton's Adrian Toomes, it appears these movies also have a connection to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in some way. We'll no doubt learn more about Morbius and Venom's connection to the wider MCU when the film hits theaters in January, 2022.

For now, check out our exclusive interview with Leto for his thoughts on this iconic Marvel anti-hero.

Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter, or Kicksplode on MyIGN.