By Daniel Etherington BBC Collective

Gamers will get a taste of Disney's The Incredibles

"It gives the games industry the opportunity to take its rightful place alongside other mainstream entertainment forms," says festival director Lisa Fox.

Ms Fox, who had previously worked in "advertising, music and the entertainment biz generally", got involved with the festival when she was by the two video game trade bodies, Elspa and Tiga.

"I didn't need to think about it too hard," she says. "I mean, it's a fantastic idea and a real step forward in positioning the industry within the overall cultural mix."

The festival comes at an interesting period in gaming history, when people are starting to take the medium seriously.

"The truth is that video gaming is growing up," says Ms Fox. "The people playing games are getting older.

"This means that they are expecting more and more sophistication from their gaming experience and developers are spending more time and effort looking into what makes the average games player tick.

Focus on fun

The festival organisers say the event is about the culture of games and a chance to examine their influences and their impact on all aspects of entertainment.

It's a place to explore the art, form and business of interactive entertainment Lisa Fox, Festival director Discuss this story on BBC Collective

"You wouldn't have had a film like The Matrix if not for the influence of comic books and video games. So we've specifically tried to position the festival as exploring the crossovers between film, TV, literature and music," says Ms Fox.

The challenge for the organisers is striking the balance between catering for the public and creating an industry forum.

"Actually that's a tough one and something we are still working on," explains Ms Fox.

"What we've tried to do is appeal to everyone. So we have a trade conference and two consumer events, which give the public the chance both to get hands-on with the games and to meet the people who make them.

"It's a place to explore the art, form and business of interactive entertainment."

Cultural context

The fact that the festival offers an arena where games can be discussed without the focus simply being on the hype of new products is refreshing.

The youth and idiosyncratic vision of the festival really seem to be working in its favour.

Gamers are growing up

"We were amazed at the huge amount of support at the outset from some of the biggest names in interactive entertainment who helped get us off to a very solid start," says Ms Fox.

"It was great to witness presidents and CEOs of companies chewing the fat with students just about to embark on their industry careers in such an informal and relaxed setting."

This is one of the most remarkable things about the games industry. Unlike say, Hollywood, there is not a vast chasm between producer and punter.

As for the future of the festival, that is anyone's guess.

"With the plethora of new devices and consoles on the horizon, not to mention the way that technology continues to advance in leaps and bounds, whatever happens in the future, it certainly won't be dull," says Ms Fox.

"The festival is in an ideal position to take these technological developments and put them into a cultural context.

"Only a handful of people understand the technology, but everyone can grasp a good story presented in an entertaining medium.

"At the end of the day, it's about the content and about the people."

The Edinburgh International Games Festival is at various venues in Edinburgh from the 8 to 22 August