Game City kicks off in Nottingham

It may be more renowned for a glimpse of green and the soft twang of arrow leaving taut bow, but this week the streets of Nottingham are reverberating with the sights and sounds of the games world with the launch of the first annual Game City festival.

Starting today and running until Sunday 29th October, Game City's aim is to celebrate interactive entertainment in the way that countless other festivals celebrate the arts of music, theatre and film.

There's a packed program spread across the five days, which kicked off a few hours ago with the opportunity to follow an Arcade Trail of classic coin-op machines or else Play the City, discovering video games icons placed around the town.

From Thursday there's a host of challenges (can you be Tekken champ?), workshops (including how to get into the game industry), film screenings (including some European premieres), art exhibits (notably the established Into the Pixel exhibition) and performances ranging from a B-Boy display to some rocking out with Guitar Hero. We're assured there'll also be plenty of surprises along the way (though that's less of a surprise now, we guess).

There's so much going on, we imagine that the event's director, Iain Simons, was sprinting between venues as he shouted over: "The interactive entertainment world is more sophisticated than ever. With the arrival of next generation consoles and handhelds, even more people will become involved with games of one sort or another. Game City will entertain, inform and educate individuals, industry and the public sector on the value and the potential of interactive entertainment for everyone."

If you're even faintly near Nottingham this week then do get yourself along to Game City. Check out the official site for details.