Game screenings line-up for Edinburgh Interactive Festival 2008

Friday 8th August/… Looking to get into the video games industry? Want to check out the latest games and listen to some of the most influential people behind those titles? This year’s Edinburgh Interactive Festival screenings programme has a stellar line-up of speakers, amazing games screenings and workshops designed to help open the door to arguably the most creative industry in the world.

The latest games to be added to an already impressive roster being showcased at this year’s legendary screenings programme include: Ubisoft’s revolutionary real-time strategy game, EndWar™, David Braben’s LostWinds™ and a must-see unveiling of Introversion’s brand new multiplayer game, Multiwinia.

On Sunday 10th August Introversion, famed creator of the critically acclaimed Darwinia, will unveil for the first time to the general public an exclusive screening of its next highly anticipated PC title, Multiwinia: Survival of the Flattest, hosted by the developers themselves. Members of the public lucky enough to be attending will be privy to a sneak preview of the latest game modes, view exclusive secret footage from in-game and delve behind-the-scenes of this infamous indie studio.

Continuing a strong Scottish presence for Sunday’s screenings programme, Chris Wright of Dundee development studio Proper Games will unveil their first title ‘Flock’. First announced by Capcom at E3, this will be the first UK public showing. In the game, the player controls a giant UFO and the aim of the game is to herd a group of animals such as a flock of sheep or herd of cows and steer them through obstacles and landscapes.

Also on Sunday, the ‘WeeWorld’ screening will explore how to use and navigate WeeWorld (www.weeworld.com), the most popular interactive avatar community and trusted site for dynamic self]expression, creation and communication. Through an expansive palette of features, clothes, accessories, hobbies, and more, WeeWorld users can create their personalized WeeMee avatar, connect with friends, decorate their own visual space, send animated messages, play games and more. See why more than 23 million WeeMees worldwide are redefining avatar demographics and establishing the WeeMee as the world’s most widely used and recognized avatar.

Rounding off Sunday’s screenings programme, Travellers Tales will be unveiling a specially created showing of Lego Indiana Jones: The Movie! This 35-minute screening is an amalgamation of all of the game’s cut-scenes lovingly crafted together.

On Monday 11th August, Rebecca Thompson is chairing the ‘Talent Arcade’ day, which is aimed at people interested in getting into the games industry, new developers, indie developers, or people who want to establish their talents in the games industry. Talent Arcade has been created by Channel 4’s ‘4Talent’ initiative, which encourages and fosters new talent.

Also part of the screenings programme, Chris White, Head of Glu Mobile’s London studio, will be presenting ‘Get Glu’d to Mobile’ where he’ll be talking specifically about developing for mobile games and the games he will be discussing include: Transformers G1: Awakening, Vegas Hustler, Get Cookin, Virtua Fighter and Age of Empires 3.

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe’s Sandy Spangler, a designer for EyeToy, will be presenting ‘Drop That Controller! - The World of EyeToy’. The presentation is a rough guide to the world of the EyeToy USB camera for PlayStation. It will cover the history of EyeToy, the challenges in creating games without a controller, and the creation of a new genre - physical social gaming. The presentation at 14.30 on Tuesday August will also include a sneak preview of two new groundbreaking EyeToy titles with get-up-and-play demos, so be prepared to get out of your seat!

GamesPress