Edinburgh Interactive Festival 2009

Monday 23rd March/... The Edinburgh Interactive Festival today confirmed that Gamestation will be the official retail partner for this year’s event. Gamestation, one of the fastest growing retailers of video and computer games in the UK, confirmed its support for the public event and conference which will take place in Edinburgh between 10th and 16th August 2009.

With over 250 stores across the UK, Gamestation will feature a retail area in the consumer focused free gameplay site of Edinburgh Interactive Festival 2009. The public will have the opportunity to buy the latest video games and enjoy exclusive Festival offers.

Gamestation, Dean Shaw, said: “We are proud to be at the Edinburgh Interactive Festival for the fourth year running, as this year it will be bigger and better than ever before.”

Edinburgh Interactive Festival Chairman, Chris Deering, said: “We are delighted to welcome back Gamestation this year as a key partner of the Edinburgh Interactive Festival. The Festival is a fantastic opportunity to build visibility within a wider cultural arena that celebrates the talent and creativity from all with a common interest in video games."

Gamestation will kick start the festivities this August with a one-off exclusive pre-Festival launch event. The event will be held at one of Gamestations biggest stores in Scotland on Princes Street, Edinburgh and will feature giveaways, competitions and free gameplay. Further details for this event will be available on the Gamestation website at the end of July.

Traditionally, one of the most popular aspects of the Edinburgh Interactive Festival is the free-to-public screenings programme – the consumer face of the Interactive Festival. The Screenings Programme offers the public a rare opportunity to catch an early glimpse at some of the year’s hottest titles before they hit the market. The sessions also allow gamers a chance to meet the people behind some of the world’s biggest games and learn a bit more about games design and development.

This year, Gamestation will support the Screening sessions as part of their association with the Festival. Tickets for this year’s screenings will be made available to consumer’s free-of-charge, through branches of Gamestation across Scotland. For anyone living outside of Scotland, tickets can be downloaded free-of-charge from the Gamestation website. Tickets will be available from 10th June 2009.

The 2009 programme is now open for screening submissions from developers, publishers and game creators, who would like to showcase their content as part of this year’s Festival. Edinburgh Interactive offers 45 to 60 minute screening sessions in dedicated auditoriums seating up to 100 people. The Festival is also open to feature any game-related short films, machinima and animations, which will be featured between the screenings line up. For anyone wishing to submit content to this year’s Interactive Festival, please contact screenings@edinburghinteractivefestival.com

Now in its seventh year, the Edinburgh Interactive Festival is set to bring the latest developments that the video games industry has to offer. Year on year, the Edinburgh Interactive Festive Festival is becoming more and more synchronised with the world famous Edinburgh Festival. With such rapidly growing popularity, Edinburgh Interactive Festival’s appeal has broadened considerably; it is now a massive draw for press and professionals from film, TV and interactive media backgrounds.

Press enquiries should be directed to sarah.hartland@bhpr.co.uk or tom.sargent@bhpr.co.uk

For more details about partnership opportunities please contact jodie.holdway@edinburghinteractivefestival.com

Please submit proposal papers for the Edinburgh Interactive Festival conference to Wendy Rosenthal at wendy@hyperentertainment.com

Ends.

About Edinburgh Interactive Festival 2009

Now celebrating its seventh year, the Edinburgh Interactive Festival is powered up to showcase the continued popularity, growth and influence of video games. And this year, the Interactive Festival is more synchronised with the world famous Edinburgh Festival than ever, appealing to the press, public and professionals from film, television and interactive media backgrounds alike, offering a bigger event for delegates, more consumer focusing – an overall spectacle for all.

EIF 2009 will again host a Free Game Play and Recruitment areas specifically tailored to cater for the public - allowing them access to the latest games and job opportunities in games.

As ever, the Interactive Festival wouldn’t be complete without the cornerstones of conferences, keynotes, panel sessions, debates, games screenings and even more people than ever jostling to get through the doors.

The Edinburgh Interactive Festival is managed by a committee drawn from all areas of the games industry, including publishers, developers and the two industry trade bodies: The Independent Game Developers Association (TIGA) www.tiga.org and the Entertainment & Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) www.elspa.com.