JIM Wallace, enterprise minister, is visiting the US this week to promote Scotland's excellence in the world of computer game technology.

The deputy first minister will meet Robbie Bach, vice-president of Microsoft's games division in Seattle to highlight Scotland's strong track record in this sector and will discuss investment opportunities for the software giant. Mr Wallace said: ''For a small country, Scotland is clearly punching above its weight in computer games development.''

He said it ''is home to a number of internationally known companies, such as Rockstar Games, Denki, Real Time Worlds and DMA Design, with several of the world's top selling computer games developed here. Our excellent universities also have academic strength in games development. With its mix of skills, innovation and technology, Scotland is well placed to become world leaders in this field.''

The digital media and creative industries employ nearly 7% of Scotland's workforce, and are worth about (pounds) 5bn a year to the economy, or 4.5% of its GDP.