Games Digest going to EIEF 2005
Edinburgh: the city that each August throws
itself to the mercy of millions of tourists, artists, actors, comedians,
musicians, street performers and beer tents to provide the largest festival
known to man, lasting the whole month. Two years ago, not content with merely
being the international focal point for all the traditional visual and acoustic
arts, Edinburgh
decided to stake its claim on the videogames industry. Since then, the
Edinburgh Interactive Entertainment Festival (EIEF) has grown exponentially and
this year is promising five days of game screenings on top of cutting-edge
industry conferences, competitions and prizes aplenty.
The first event, in 2003, was a retro
themed fiesta with the most exhaustive selection of old titles from the days of
yore ever seen collected together in one place. Incredibly, its launch was
somewhat low key, the first that I, along with many of the cities residents knew
about it was Mario’s grinning face adorning the front of the National Museum.
In 2004 it upped the anti a bit more with a wide selection of modern game
screenings and during which I was lucky enough to have an early play around on
Doom 3 about a week before its UK launch and, more impressively, a hands on
preview of S.T.A.L.K.E.R., the finished version of which has still not emerged
(and by the way it was good, very very good).
EIEF 2005 boasts new venue and an
impressive line up consisting of early screenings of Zelda: Twilight Princess,
Nintendogs, 24: The Game, The Movies and more. Sister blog Games Digest will
be right there bringing you all the latest news from the event and trying not
to be overcome by schoolboy giddiness as we attempt to brush shoulders with
videogame legends such as Peter Molyneux. Check out Games Digest from 10-14th August for live updates from the UK‘s answer to
E3.
