Dare to be Digital, the UK's premier computer games design competition for students, has launched its eighth groundbreaking season with a call for entries from Scottish and Irish university students.

At the same time, Dare to be Digital 2007 also announced a completely new element in the competition: Dare ProtoPlay, a three-day showcase of all the teams’ work will be held on 12-14 August in Edinburgh alongside Edinburgh Interactive 2007.

The contest, hosted by Abertay University in Dundee, Scotland, is back for 2007 stronger than ever and now firmly established as the leading international event in its field. The organisers are planning for 60 to 80 or more talented young game developers from across the UK and Ireland to take part this year - almost twice as many as in 2006.

This year, for the first time, Dare to be Digital will be hosted in more than one location across the British Isles. Four teams from Scotland will be selected to spend the first nine weeks of the 10-week competition based at Abertay University designing and building a fully functioning prototype of their video game idea.

Contestants from last year's competition are now working for Codemasters, BBC Scotland, Rockstar North, Electronic Arts UK and Electronic Arts Shanghai.

Applications for Dare to be Digital 2007 should be made via http://www.daretobedigital.com/