Edinburgh Interactive, part of the Edinburgh Festival held at the Edinburgh Corn Exchange, played host to a number of conferences from representatives of a wide variety of pockets of the videogames industry this week. From Peter Moore’s candid address of the recent life-and-times of the multi-billion dollar brand that is EA SPORTS, to the performance of the free-to-play business model within social networks, to a discussion on the future of blockbuster home console releases, or lack thereof, as some may have you believe. The attendees of press, retail and industry spokespersons were given ample opportunity to reflect on the present economic climate, and how videogames can (and will) strive for more in the coming years.

            Further to the extensive conference line-up was the opportunity for both press and attending public to sample some of the latest titles, along with a handful of yet-to-be-released games. Eidos proved to be on good form, as seems to have been the case more-often-than-not recently, showing both Mini-Ninjas and Batman: Arkham Asylum on Xbox 360. Realtime Worlds were on hand to discuss future employment opportunities with interested parties, also promising some fresh APB revelations that turned-out to be little more than an introduction for the already initiated, and Nintendo exhibited their typical flair with the auditorium-filling sandy getaway for Wii Sports Resort, which would most likely have been most attendees star of the show were it not for one particularly obnoxious representative patrolling the grounds.

            Other industry players present at the event include a somewhat bemused – though thoroughly genuine – Dynamo Games demonstrating the iPhone version of their wholly owned Football Tycoon series, and Gamestation with a competition wherein the highest scoring player on the PLAYSTATION 3 version of Guitar Hero: World Tour would win a voucher for use in any Gamestation store. A main stage hosted competitions and live demonstrations, including a Challenge Room event from Batman: Arkham Asylum and a presentation of the forthcoming PLAYSTATION 3 exclusive EyePet, in which members of the audience were invited on stage to interact with the animated fuzzball.

            The show continued on Friday, with Electronic Theatre will once again on the show floor, and over the next few days will be bringing you hands-on previews of every game not yet released, and further highlights from the industry’s discussions.

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