Fringe Benefits From Refocused Edinburgh Interactive Festival

Tuesday 26th June 2007/... This year's Edinburgh Interactive Festival, which takes place on Monday 13 and Tuesday 14 August, will put an increased focus on the cultural impact and relevance of games. It will also bring together many of the industry's key decision makers in games publishing, hardware and development alongside emerging games talent, professionals from parallel creative industries and media - making it the world's only true cultural games event.

Now in its fifth year, the Edinburgh Interactive Festival is newly positioned to reflect video gaming's rise in popularity and influence, helping the festival celebrate the best of video gaming here and oversees. Some of the most influential names in entertainment will use the backdrop of the world famous Edinburgh Festival to examine the cultural issues of games and gaming.

The conference is staged at the Royal College of Physicians, in Queen Street, Edinburgh, starting with a keynote address delivered by Yves Guillemot, CEO of the French games company Ubisoft. 2007 also sees new partnerships for Edinburgh Interactive with Dare to be Digital and the inaugural academics' conference, the Digital Interactive Symposium, which takes place at Edinburgh University on Wednesday 15 August. EIF also hosts the annual EDGE Award in association with Future Publishing.

Chris Deering, Chairman of Edinburgh Interactive Festival said: "This year we have much to be excited about. We welcome Ubisoft President and Founder Yves Guillemot; Simon Nelson joins us from the BBC; we have a keynote from the Sony Computer Entertainment, a look at technology for Second Life with Linden Labs' Jim Purbrick and actor Steven Berkoff will join us to discuss how to capture performance within a game. We are also delighted to join up together with EDGE magazine, Dare to be Digital and the new academic conference, the Digital Interactive Symposium.

"The festival is now firmly established as one of the most important events in the interactive entertainment industry's calendar."

The Edinburgh Interactive Festival not only features new branding and positioning but, to bring games closer to the TV and Film festivals, the content committee this year has appointed festival specialist agency Arthur Leone PR, whose job it will be to bring the Interactive Festival closer to the fabric of the Fringe and the Festival.

The Edinburgh Interactive Festival takes place on 13 and 14 August at the Royal College of Physicians, Queen Street, Edinburgh.

For further details of the festival programme and events, along with details about registration and how to book, visit the Edinburgh Interactive Festival website at:

www.edinburghinteractivefestival.com

Ends.

For further information, please contact:

Tom Sargent

Barrington Harvey

Tel: 01462 456780

Fax: 01462 456781

Email: tom.sargent@bhpr.co.uk

About EIF07

The Edinburgh Interactive Festival is managed by a committee drawn from all areas of the 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.