David Braben to open GameCity 2007

David Braben, founder of Frontier Developments, is to be the star guest at the opening day of this year's GameCity festival in Nottingham.

Braben, creator of the classic game Elite, will host several events at the festival on 25 October. He will offer advice to students, demonstrate some of Frontier's technology and present the first public showing of Thrillville: Off the Rails, the sequel to Frontier's LucasArts-published title.

"It's a unique opportunity to encourage students to enter the industry by discussing some of the exciting things they could be working on," said Braben.

Alongside Thrillville, Frontier is currently working on an ambitious next-generation thriller, The Outsider.

Braben joins Katamari Damacy creator Keita Takahashi on the roster for the video game culture and careers event. Takahashi will give GameCity's keynote address, and show his new game Nobi Nobi Boy, on 27 October.

Other developers involved in GameCity 2007 include Freestyle Games, Traveller's Tales, Free Radical Design, Rare and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe.

GameCity takes place in a variety of venues across Nottingham from 24-28 October this year. The festival has strong local support from the City of Nottingham and Nottingham Trent University.

The full programme for GameCity 2007 will be announced later this month.