Edinburgh Interactive, part of the Edinburgh Festival, hosted a great deal of interesting developments at the Edinburgh Corn Exchange late last week. While you may already be aware of Ian Livingstone’s comments on the highly-anticipated Deus Ex 3, Electronic Theatre can today bring you further details on a very private discussion with the President of Eidos Interactive.

            The question and answer session begun with a discussion of the success of Batman: Arkham Aslyum, already being noted as a “success” without having yet seen retail shelves, and proposition Livingstone on Eidos’ pursuit of further licences. Livingstone stated that he was a firm believer in creating new content, establishing wholly-owned Intellectual Property (IP) granting the company responsible more power.

            The conversation quickly changed pace as Livingstone was questioned on his involvement in Edinburgh Interactive, stating that he enjoyed the “Melting pot of amazing thought” that was offered by a celebration of the industry such as this, as opposed to a commercial event, and that it was aiding the “Changing the perception of games.” At this point, most of the attendees of the intimate session voiced their agreement.

            When quizzed on the possibility of more support for social networks and iPhone releases, Livingstone simply replied with a reinforcement of Eidos’ commitment to “exploring all platforms”, and creating “platform specific experiences”. He then denied a seemingly left field question about Rocksteady acquiring the Hitman licence, stating that it was “absolutely not true”, and “pure speculation”. Given that IO Interactive retains the development rights to the franchise, Electronic Theatre would be inclined to agree.

            Livingstone then followed-up a discussion from the previous evening, suggesting that there will always be “blockbuster” videogame releases, stating that they offer “the wow factor” that drives the industry. The future of the Tomb Raider franchise was then discussed, in which Livingstone stated that there is a new title in development, but that he couldn’t “go into details”. What he did offer though, is the kind sentiment that Eidos have done extensive focus testing with the fanbase. When questioned about the already proven false rumour that Megan Fox may take the role of Lara Croft for the next Tomb Raider motion-picture adaptation, Livingstone simply shook his head and denied knowledge of everything.

            The conversation then turned to the forthcoming Just Cause 2, of which Electronic Theatre will be bringing you a preview shortly, with Livingstone suggesting that the storyline is more coherent than that seen in it’s predecessor, and that it “feels more real.” Deus Ex 3 was highlighted as a final subject, with the fan pleasing tagline “no room for mediocrity” being drawn from Livingstone’s lips.

            Eidos Interactive played some interesting cards at Edinburgh Interactive, clearly one of the greatest supporters of the event. Electronic Theatre will bring you previews of every title demonstrated by the publisher over the next few days, and you can be certain we’ll keep you updated with the progress of the plans revealed here by Ian Livingstone.

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