Edinburgh Interactive Entertainment Festival Announces Line-Up

The organisers of this year's Edinburgh Interactive Entertainment Festival (EIEF) have confirmed the participation of a number of notable companies in the event, including Nintendo, Microsoft/Xbox, British Telecom, Nokia and GAME. The festival will run at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre in Scotland from August 10th to 14th this year. Following the cancellation of the Game Zone Live event the EIEF will be the only video games event open to the public in Britain this year (although GDC Europe will still occur in the same timeframe as Game Zone Live in London.) The Go Play Games attraction will offer 1,200 sq metres of playable demos, and the Game Screening programme will allow enthusiasts to meet various developers. Key speakers and panelists confirmed for the Festival's conference programme include Charles Cecil, MD, Revolution Software; Adam Singer, CEO, MCPS/PRS Alliance; Janine Smith, Producer, Channel 4; Dan Hubbard, Hubbard Casting; Seamus Blackley, Creative Artists Agency, Hollywood; Tim Harrison, Vodafone Group Services Head of Games and Professor Ken Perlin, Director of Media Research Lab, New York State University. Conference topics include radical changes, mobile gaming, handheld gaming and the rise of mobiles, the strength of narratives in gaming and convergence. Following its launch at last years' festival, the event will also host the BAFTA Interactive New Talent Award to recognise creative innovation, technical excellence and production achievements. The Edge Award also returns for its third year, with the award juror’s from Future’s pro-sumer magazine judging those game released in the last year that have done the most to push boundaries and raise expectations in the industry. For further information on the festival, interested parties can visit the official EIEF website.