Soulframe is the next game from Warframe developers Digital Extremes, and this new project that is inspired by Studio Ghibli's Princess Mononoke looks to be the "mirror universe version of Warframe" set in a fantasy world.

As reported by The Washington Post, Soulframe was announced during TennoCon 2022 and is being led by Steve Sinclair, the director of Warframe who is stepping down from his current role to help bring this new adventure to life.

Soulframe is a free-to-play open-world adventure that is "heavily influenced by themes of nature, restoration, and exploration" alongside such works as Princess Mononoke and The NeverEnding Story. These inspirations will help the team build a world that is "the collision between industry and nature. In service of that, the world will show its displeasure toward players who occupy it."

“The conceit [in ‘Soulframe’] is that the world itself is a little angry about what’s been done to it, and the grounds underneath tend to shift throughout the day,” said creative director Geoff Crookes. “So there’s going to be proceduralism within the cave networks and crevasses and so on underneath the world.”

The game is still very early in development, but Sinclair notes that it will share Warframe's focus on cooperative player-vs-environment combat and procedurally generated environments. Furthermore, Soulframe will be a "suitably strange take on fantasy" and will differ from Warframe's "flesh-mech-powered spin on the sci-fi genre."

The differences don't just end there either.

"Where ‘Warframe’ is focused on shooting, this one’s focused on melee,” Sinclair said. “Where ‘Warframe’ is super fast and crazy high-speed, this one’s going to be a lot more slow and heavy. But it still has a lot of similarities to the genre that we have experience in.”

Soulframe looks to have a very open hub world which will be similar to Warframe's newer open-world planets, but it will have a greater focus on exploration that its predecessor. The team also wants to make it "feel more alive to players on a moment-to-moment basis."

Given the game is called Soulframe, it may seem as though Digital Extremes is also taking inspiration from FromSoftware's Dark Souls or Elden Ring. However, that wasn't the plan they originally laid out.

"I think it certainly isn’t an inspiration for the initial ideas or what we wanted to do,” Sinclair said. “Ironically, other titles that were maybe borrowing from ‘Warframe’ might have been some sort of reverse influence. But ‘Elden Ring’ has absolutely been a subject of some conversation — maybe to do with camera, maybe to do with how excellent their combat pacing is. And you know, screw those guys, because damn, ['Elden Ring'] was absolutely fantastic.”

The "basic concepts" for Soulframe began floating around the studio in 2019, and a very small team comprised of mainly artists had been the only ones working on it up until this February. So, why did Digital Extremes decide to announce the game now?

“Our work has been extremely community driven,” Sinclair said. “It feels disingenuous not to tell [players] about changes and who’s leading ‘Warframe.’ It’s way too early to announce ‘Soulframe,’ actually! But in terms of transparency and making sure they understand how we think, we tend to be a lot more open … than most studios.”

Sinclair and Crookes also said they don't plan to go silent for years as some games announced too early tend to do, and instead they plan on giving fans a "look behind the curtain" as soon as possible. Furthermore, "Digital Extremes die-hards will get to play a version of 'Soulframe' within a year."

“The thing we want to try is to do similar to ‘Warframe,’ which is, ‘Hey, watch us make the game and get your hands on the rough bits and tell us how you feel,’ ” Sinclair said.

For those interested in learning more about Soulframe, be sure to head over to the game's official website. While you have to solve a small puzzle to gain access, the website features a few images and a way to sign up for updates.

In addition to learning more about the game as new details are revealed, fans can also reserve their Envoy's Title (in-game display name) and instantly get the Alca's Eye item when the game launches.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Genshin Impact’s Summer Fantasia event is in full swing, and along with the boat races and character stories is a chance to earn the free new Fischl skin. It’s the first alternate costume for the four-star princess of darkness, though you need to jump through some hoops and hunt down elusive items before you can claim it.

The Fischl skin is part of an event under the Summer Fantasia umbrella, which means you need to meet the requirements to start Summertime Odyssey if you want a chance at the skin. These include:

• Reaching Adventure Rank 32 or higher
• Completing Mona’s story quest (normally requires Adventure Rank 40, but during the event, HoYoverse is lowering the AR level to 32)
• Completing the Chapter II Prologue: Autumn Winds, Scarlet Leaves

While HoYoverse lists Mona’s story quest as a requirement, it’s more of a recommendation. You can enter the Summertime Odyssey event and choose to skip Mona’s story quest, and you only miss out on some background character development. If you haven’t finished Mona’s story quest, the event page will have a “quick start” option you can choose to begin.

If you aren’t quite at AR 32 or Chapter II yet, you can still get Fischl’s skin. Instead of earning it, it’ll cost Genesis Crystals in the in-game shop once Genshin Impact’s version 2.8 update comes to an end.

After you complete the first quest in the event, Summertime Odyssey I, you end up in the Golden Apple Archipelago. Open the event menu, and choose “Resonating Visions” to see an overview of the event’s rewards.

To get the Fischl Skin, you need to collect 16 Phantasmal Conch shells. The event’s first day includes 14 Phantasmal Conch locations and the remainder will show up in the coming days when you get access to more islands in the archipelago.

IGN’s Genshin Impact wiki guide includes all Phantasmal Conch locations, but if you want to find them for yourself, keep an eye on the in-game mini-map. As you get closer, you’ll notice small shell icons indicating where to look for the next Phantasmal Conch.

After you collect 16 of them, open the event menu again. At the top of the “Resonating Visions” section is where you can redeem Fischl’s skin, Ein Immernachtstraum.

This is just the skin. It won’t give you Fischl as well, though you can take part in Summer Fantasia’s other events to earn Iridescent Flotsam. This event currency is exchangeable in the event store for a free Fischl. Once you obtain 2,400 Iridescent Flotsam don’t forget to redeem them for Fischl and other rewards.

Once you have both Fischl and costume in hand, you can change Fischl’s outfit by opening the character menu and navigating to Fischl’s page. Select the clothes hanger icon or press the button prompted on the bottom right of Fischl’s main character page, and then choose Ein Immernachtstraum to change her outfit.

For more on Genshin Impact, don’t miss our recommendations for the best Shikanoin Heizou build and our definitive Genshin Impact character tier list.

Former EA CEO and current Unity CEO John Riccitiello has apologized for calling game developers who don't focus on implementing monetization early on in the creative process some of the "biggest f****** idiots."

Riccitiello shared the apology on Twitter and clarified his comments regarding these devs he called both the "most beautiful and pure, brilliant people" and "some of the biggest f****** idiots."

"I want to talk about both what I said in the interview, and my follow up tweet," Riccitiello wrote. "I'm going to start with an apology. My word choice was crude. I am sorry. I am listening and I will do better.

"What I can do, perhaps, is provide more on what I was thinking when I did the interview. What I would have said if I had taken great care.

"First — I have great respect for game developers. The work they do is amazing. The creativity can be incredible whether on a AAA console, mobile or indie game, designed to be played by millions. Or a creative project, a game made just for the sheer joy of it.

"Second — one thing I have seen is that most game devs work incredibly hard and want people to play their game. To enjoy it. And, when appropriate for players to engage deeply. For the game devs I have worked most closely with there is often anxiety about whether players will love the game and appreciate all the work and love that went into making it.

"Third — Sometimes all a game developer wants is to have a handful of friends enjoy the game. Art for art sake and art for friends. Others want player $ to buy the game or game items so they can make a living. Both of these motivations are noble.

"Fourth — What I was trying to say, and clearly failed at saying, is that there are better ways for game developers to get an early read on what players think of their game. To learn from their feedback. And, if the developer wants, to adjust the game based on this feedback. It's a choice to listen and act or just to listen. Again, both are very valid choices.

"If I had been smarter in choosing my words I would have just said this… we are working to provide developers with tools so they can better understand what their players think, and it is up to them to act or not, based on this feedback.

"Anyway, that's it. Lots of words. And a sentence that I wish I had never said."

Riccitiello received a lot of negative feedback on his comments, including from Last Night developer Tim Sore who tweeted that he was "destroying the Unity we all loved."

For more on monetizing games and microtransactions, check out our look at how loot box and microtransactions addiction destroys lives and Valve's thoughts on microtransactions and their place in the industry.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Ah, the weekend after Prime Day. Some of the deals are taking the weekend off after a busy week, but there are still plenty of sales and deals to be found. Horror fans should check out a nice discount on The Quarry for PS5, while Nintendo fans can check out deals on games, travel cases, and Mario Hot Wheels tracks. And, if you missed out on the Prime stuff, don't sweat it. Some of the deals live on, including a deal on Apple AirPods.

The Quarry on PlayStation 5 Is $20 Off

The Quarry is a good follow-up to PS4 horror favorite Until Dawn, and you can save 20 bucks on the recently-released PS5 game today. If you love classic, campy horror stories, then The Quarry is sure to be a good time. It follows a group of camp counselers who face a night of horror… and it's up to you to see who lives and dies.

Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 Gaming Monitor Deals

This Prime Day deal lives on, with the absolutely ridiculous 49" 4K 240Hz 1ms Samsung Neo G9 curved monitor holding tightly to its sale price. It's not just the 4K model seeing savings: you can score Prime Day prices on the QLED 120Hz Samsung Neo G9 for $899 (normally $1,199), as well as the QLED 240Hz Samsung Neo G9 for $1,099 (normally $1,499). Not sure how much longer the Prime Day pricing will last, so I recommend acting sooner rather than later.

Apple Watch Series 3 for $149.99

While we had the best prices ever on the latest Apple Watch Series 7 models yesterday during Prime Day, the ever-popular Apple Watch Series 3 continues to be the best deal in smart watches going. Walmart is offering both the black and white versions for a mere $149.99. While this isn't the lowest price we've seen on Apple Watch Series 3, it's still a great price, and one you should capitalize on if you've been holding off. I have a Series 3 and I like it a lot. Yeah, it's missing some of the more complex features of the newer models, but honestly, I don't need those features. I like it for its fitness tracking, ease of notifications from apps, and also it's very convenient for telling time. Who could have guessed?

Save 15% on Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes

Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes is the latest Switch exclusive, and it's a wonderful return to the world of 2019's Fire Emblem Three Houses. With returning fan-favorite characters like Dimitri, Claude, Byleth, Edelgard, and more, this game tells a fun alternate version of the war for Three Houses' land of Fodland. It's a must for any Warriors fan, or any fan of Three Houses' lore. We said the game made meaningful changes to the Warriors formula in our Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes review, saying "Three Hopes is full of well-considered changes that should bode well for the future."

Save 20% on DualSense Controllers at Target

This was a popular deal on Amazon Prime Day, and now Target is striking back with its own version of the deal. You can grab a brand new DualSense controller for $59.99 today, which is a nice discount on the pricey gamepads. Plus, you can get it in one of the fancy new colors, like purple, pink, or light blue.

Stand Base for Valve Steam Deck

Who wants to hold their Steam Deck all the time? Certainly not me. If you're like me, check out this deal on a stand for the Steam Deck system, so you can play it in tabletop mode with your favorite wireless controller.

PDP Gaming Pull-N-Go Nintendo Switch Travel Case

This is a great case for any Nintendo Switch owner who travels with their Switch often. Not only does it come with a removeable case just for the console itself, it also comes with a larger case to fit controllers, the dock, cables, and whatever else you need to bring your entire system setup with you when you travel. PDP is one of the best brands for Nintendo accessories, and this case is as good as they come.

Lord of the Rings Illustrated Edition Lowest Price, Ever

Oh man. This edition of the Lord of the Rings is great, and at this price, if you have any interest in Tolkien at all, I implore you to buy it. The illustrations are by Tolkien himself, some of which have appeared elsewhere, but all of which have not been collected into one edition of the book like this. On top of having the charm of his illustrations, you also get one of the raddest books ever. I'm re-reading it now, actually. It's better than I remembered, too.

LG C1 65" OLED Deal at Woot

I out this deal a little lower than I normally would, just because it's a woot deal, which means it has a risk of selling out before I finish writing up today's deals. But yeah, the best OLED TV in the best size at the best price. Since Amazon owns woot, if you're a Prime member, you even get free shipping. These sets are still extremely popular in spite of having been replaced by the newer C2 models.

Apple Air Pods Pro With MagSafe Charger Still $169.99

Here's another Prime Day deal that's sticking around. In fact, this was the most popular deal of all, at least with IGN readers, so it's no wonder it's still with us. This is another one I'd recommend grabbing quickly lest it evaporate into the great deals ether.

Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade for $29.99

The PS5 update for Final Fantasy VII Remake is quite good. I prefer playing on performance mode, because while graphics mode has all the resolution a person could want, I am now spoiled on 60 fps. It still looks great on performance mode, so that's what I recommend at least. But I'm not here to tell you how to live your life!

Hisense UG6 55" Roku Smart TV for $399

When it comes to budget 4K TVs, the Hisense 6-series absolutely hits way above its weight. It has basically all the features you'd want in a gaming 4K TV, at a price that's borderline absurd. On top of that, this is the Roku model, which everyone knows is the superior streaming software to have cooked into your TV set. This is a Best Buy deal of the day, so this price will be gone tomorrow.

Hot Wheels Mario Kart Rainbow Road Set for $82

Both Amazon and Walmart are offering discounts on this excellent Hot Wheels track. It's seriously way more fun than it should be, with sound effects and lights and different configurations. You don't need to only use the Mario Kart Hot Wheels with it, either. You can have Mario race against any toy car that's the same scale. It's madness!

Maruchan Yakisoba Chicken for $5.92

These come in a microwaveable packaging, so you can save money while also saving yourself from having to do dishes. It's win-win.

GOVEE RGB Strip Lights for $14

There were a lot of chances to save on GOVEE RGB lights during Prime Day, but this deal seems to have just arisen from the Prime Day ashes. You have to clip the coupon on the itme page to see the savings, though. Don't forget that crucial step! You'd be amazed how many people do. I mean, $25 isn't too bad, but $14 is much better. It's $11 better to be precise.

There were moments during Amy Schneider's historic Jeopardy! streak where she felt a twinge of mercy for her victims. Schneider notched 40 consecutive victories and $1.4 million in winnings from late 2021 to early 2022, often trouncing everyone else at the podium. An average Schneider game wrapped up with her comfortably out of range from even the most brazen Daily Double wagers. She was ice cold, relentless, impervious, flexing unparalleled Potpourri superiority over us clueless bar-trivia novices.

Jeopardy! used to be a game filled with modest two-day champions and tightly contested matchups, but lately the wheat has been separated from the chaff. A new generation of players have unleashed a reign of terror on America's greatest game show. It's nice to know that Schneider was capable of remorse, at least, even when she was tripling, sometimes quadrupling, our score.

"I had to be really conscious of fighting [my mercy],” Schneider tells IGN. “When I was getting pumped up before the game I was telling myself, 'This is for a house. These people are trying to take away me and my wife's house. I can't let that happen."

Schneider's 40-game streak immediately propelled her into Jeopardy!'s all-time pantheon. Ken Jennings is still the king with his 73 victories, completed back in 2004 when stringing together more than four games was cause for celebration. But the more you scroll down the record, the more you'll see that an outsized number of great Jeopardy! runs occurred within the last two years. Matt Amodio plowed through 38 games just before Schneider's dynasty; Mattea Roach, a tutor from Toronto, knocked out 23 games in April and May with a ridiculous 93 percent correct-answer rate; and Ryan Long wrapped up a 15-episode campaign last month — an incredible feat that has been unfortunately diluted by the dominance of his fellow trivia sharks.

Jeopardy! has been on the air in some form since the ’60s and has kept the same competitive format since 1984. And yet, for some reason, its players have gotten significantly better at the game seemingly overnight. Nobody is sure why, but everyone who loves Jeopardy! has their own theories.

"When we first started seeing this barrage of winning streaks, there were a lot of people — including some of the champions themselves — who argued that this was just a statistical aberration. It was the infinite monkeys at infinite typewriters theory: If you put enough nerds at enough buzzers for enough time, sooner or later you'll get some very successful nerds back to back to back," says Claire McNear, a journalist at The Ringer who wrote the definitive book about Jeopardy!, Answers in the Form of Questions. "But there's no doubt in my mind that we're also seeing the Moneyball-ing of Jeopardy."

McNear is referring to a new metagame stratagem embraced by some of the more calculative Jeopardy! champions. The goal is to approach Jeopardy like a card-counter at a blackjack table, looking for any edge to beat the house. For James Holzhauer, the player who best embodied this approach and rattled off 32 games in 2019, that meant seeking out Daily Doubles early, and putting forth aggressive, all-in wagers when he found them. Those Daily Doubles are the unwieldy agents of chaos in an otherwise staid, measured trivia tournament, and Holzhauer correctly determined that they weren't being used to their full potential. It's like how the 2015 Golden State Warriors took advantage of a three-point line that was ignored by all the other teams; sometimes all it takes is one innovator to permanently change a game.

"My whole life I felt like people were too conservative with their wagering. It's hard to do it when you're on stage, because it's your own money. But people do wager more aggressively than they used to," says Schneider. "If you're successful it makes those late-game comebacks a lot less likely."

McNear points to some other, goofier innovations players have weaned themselves on as they continue to take apart the game mathematically. She mentions the practice buzzers the Jeopardy! community have built to better simulate the precise, nanosecond-to-nanosecond rhythms of answering a clue, and the ridiculous amount of data consolidated at the J! Archive, which is essentially a sports almanac for Jeopardy!. Log on, and you can find a full breakdown of questions, answers, and categories from practically every episode in the show's history. "As with anything else, how intensely you prepare isn't the only thing that matters, but there are now so many people in the Jeopardy! contestant pool who walk into the studio not just because they love Jeopardy! but because they've specifically studied how to play Jeopardy! and maximize their odds of winning," says McNear. Casuals beware.

But perhaps the most surprising hypothesis I’ve heard from various Jep-heads is that the game show's pandemic contingencies widened its overall player base. Andy Saunders, who runs the incredibly in-depth blog The Jeopardy! Fan, tells me that during the COVID-19 lockdown, casting producers for the show pivoted to online, Zoom-based auditions. Aspirant Jeopardy! challengers no longer needed to burn a day by hustling through an interminable series of trivia trials in some beige studio; no, they could just test their mettle anytime, anywhere, with the program's newly launched "Anytime Test" module, which serves as a digital pipeline for potential contestants. Perhaps there are a million Jeopardy! geniuses hiding in plain sight, like Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting.

"It reduced the barrier of entry for a lot of people, because prior to that, you had to make a pretty big investment of time or money, because if you weren't in a big city, you'd have to travel to the audition," says Saunders. "It was hard to commit, especially when there was no guarantee they were going to get on."

Schneider also mentions that the COVID-era Jeopardy! set is a bit less intimidating than it was before the pandemic. There was no studio audience for her run, which means that she didn't feel the eyes of strangers and loved ones on her as she laid it all on the line. "That might make things a little easier," she says. Of course, you'd expect Jeopardy! to get back to herding in viewers to the theater in the future, so that's at least one advantage streak-holders won't be able to count on going forward.

That's good news for some hardcore Jeopardy! fans. Some of them complain about the new direction of the show, mostly because watching an incredible, Mensa-level champion drub lesser players every weeknight isn't especially compelling. I will admit that I prefer a final category with some drama, and that's been in short supply lately. But as a longtime fan of the show, who mourned with the rest of the country after Alex Trebek passed away and watched with exasperated rage as a bitter power struggle consumed the search for his successor, it's oddly reassuring to know that, in 2022, there are still so many people obsessed with deciphering the mystery of Jeopardy!. The show will never die. In fact, against all odds, it's never been more alive.

"It's becoming more like a sport. There are people like I am who've been studying hard and going there to win," says Schneider. "It's more professionalized, and I think it's a great change."