Guillemot to keynote EIEF 2007

Ubisoft boss Yves Guillemot is to keynote this year's Edinburgh Interactive Entertainment Festival, GamesIndustry.biz can reveal.

The CEO of the French publisher will deliver one of two keynote addresses, with the BBC's Simon Nelson also taking to the stage.

Nelson is controller of multiplatform and portfolio at BBC Vision, and spearheads the broadcaster's digital and Web 2.0 ambitions.

"This year we've moved towards looking at how we interface with other media with Yves Guillemot and the BBC's Simon Nelson," confirmed Fred Hasson, CEO of festival organiser TIGA.

This year marks the fifth year that the acclaimed videogame conference will take place, making it the longest running event of its kind in the UK.

Linden Labs' Jim Purbrick will also deliver a speech, as will a spokesperson from EVE Online publisher CCP.

"We've also got two good session covering online, including Jim Purbrick from Second Life with a peek at what happens in those online communities - the bits we don't hear about but moderators in online games have to deal with," said Hasson.

The Edinburgh Interactive Entertainment Festival will take place in August this year, with exact dates still to be announced.