Edinburgh Interactive, a part of the Edinburgh Festival and the Media Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival announced today that they plan to bring the gaming and television decision makers together in one room this coming summer.
On the closing day of the Edinburgh Interactive, August 26th 2010, the two groups will host the first creative industries event in the UK, bringing television and games industry bigwigs together for not only information sharing, but to see where to two can go together.
The MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival, or MGEITF will feature a keynote by “a games industry leader” (i.e. yet to be confirmed), while the Edinburgh Interactive branch will feature a televsion industry leader. The MGEIFT will also host a creative Masterclass, bringing games developers and artists together to discuss the game dev. process, and which opportunities for crossover into the TV market, particularly interactive television. In the UK alone, there are 13 million next generation consoles (Wii, Xbox, and PS3), all with access to the internet, as well as the BBC’s iPlayer or Sky’s Player.
Chris Deering, Chairman of Edinburgh Interactive, said: “Games have had a significant effect on the use of the television in the home. Over the last 12 months this has moved on dramatically with recent research showing that 10 per cent of all BBC iPlayer requests are being driven by games consoles. The debate between the two industries has not yet begun; it will begin in August at Edinburgh Interactive and MGEITF.”
With the dawn of the next generation 3D HD TVs just around the corner, titles such as I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here, Countdown, Family Fortunes and Ready Steady Cook the interactivity is already underway. The question the Edinburgh conference seeks to address is: what’s next, and how do we get there?
Deborah Turness, Editor of ITV News and Advisory Chair of the MGEITF Advisory Committee, said: “This is an exciting opportunity to explore joint format development between television and games and is a natural evolution driven by major advances in technology. In bringing together executives from these two entertainment industries to discuss, network and share ideas, we place both Festivals at the centre of a new global debate in Edinburgh.”
If any of this sounds familiar, remember, US television network SyFy has already started to kick things off, most recently featuring an interactive tie-in with the release of the MMO Star Trek. Likewise, USA Network, a part of NBC Universal has been steadily building up it’s casual games catalog. Naturally, it would be a good bet that UK developers will be closely following SyFy’ and USAs progress over the next few months, and will surely discuss what their American counterparts are up to.
