The shortlist has been revealed for the 2006 EIEF (Edinburgh Interactive Entertainment Festival) Edge Award  which will be held at the Edinburgh Interactive Entertainment Festival (EIEF)

The award aims to reward titles which expand expectations of what games are capable of. Drawn from games reviewed by Edge over the past year, the shortlist rewards neither commercial success, nor necessarily popularity, but instead highlights the games which have marked out innovative new paths or achieved new standards of excellence. This shortlist is then considered by an international panel of game industry insiders: people whose professional insight into games hasn’t dimmed their personal passion for playing them.

Margaret Robertson, editor of Edge said: "The end of the hardware cycle is always seen as a great opportunity for innovation, and this year’s shortlist is clear proof of that. The arrival of Nintendo’s DS has enabled a whole range of entirely new ideas to be explored, but even on more traditional home consoles new approaches and graphical styles have been paired with unusually high standards of innovation and excellence."

The nominees for the EIEF06 Edge Award are:

• Amped 3 (360, developed by Indie Built, Inc., published by Take Two)
• Brain Training (DS, developed and published by Nintendo)
• Dragon Quest VIII (PS2, developed by Level 5, published by Square Enix)
• Electroplankton (DS, developed by Toshio Iwai, published by Nintendo)
• Fahrenheit (PC/PS2/Xbox, developed by Quantic Dream, published by Atari)
• Guitar Hero (PS2, developed by Harmonix, published by Red Octane)
• Killer 7 (GC/PS2, developed by Grasshopper Inc, published by Capcom)
• Ossu! Tatakae! Ouendan! (DS, developed by Inis, published by Nintendo)

The jurors for the award will be announced in an upcoming issue of Edge. Visit www.edge-online.com for more information.

The EIEF06 program of events consists of:

• Two days of conference sessions – The Conference will take place at the Royal College of Physicians on 21st August and at the Odeon, Lothian Road on 22nd August
• Game Screenings – Offering members of the public a chance to get up close with the creators of some of the leading video games at the Odeon, Lothian Road – 22nd August
• Edge Award and EIEF06 Networking Party – Key industry figures will gather at the Jam House for the annual Edge Award ceremony and networking party – 21st August

Visit the official website at www.eief.co.uk.