As many of you know... screw it, as all of you know I'm a junkie for comic book, sci-fi and other pop culture conventions like that (except anime because that shit is just lame). One of my favorites is actually a local horror convention called Spooky Empire. Over the years I've gotten more and more involved in this particular convention, and this year it looks like I'll be hosting a panel on horror video games. I figured not only is it something I like talking about, but I will also get a chance to get a little more press for Power Level Marketing.
Basically it will be a 30 minute tour of the history of horror games starting with the beginnings of the genre in the 70's on the PC, going through the rise and fall of the survival horror subgenre, and eventually to the "where the hell are all the horror games" question of today (they're on the Wii that's why no one knows).
Anyway, I was hoping some of you could help me out with it. I want to make sure I really hit all the high points and mention all the big names like Resident Evil, as well as some obscure classics like Sweet Home for the Famicom (which was arguably the grandfather of Resident Evil).
First things first though... I need a catchy name for the panel. My wife is hosting a costuming panel called "Dressed to Kill: Costuming for Horror 101." For my own I'm currently leaning towards MacVentures to Mass Murder: The History of Horror Video Games. I'm not 100% sold on it though so if anyone has an idea for the title I'm open to suggestions.
I'm going to try and get someone to get video of it for me, and maybe put it up on uStream or something like that.
And is 30 minutes enough? No, not at all but it's probably all I can handle on my own. I haven't hosted any kind of convention panel in about 5 years and that was shared duty with 2 other people. Most of my friends are not gamers so I don't have a whole lot of back-up on this and will likely go it solo. If this does work out though, next year I'll shoot for 45 minutes to an hour.
As it is I'm still trying not to get too far ahead of myself. It's still not official, but the idea for the panel is sound and I my wife is friends with the guy who runs the show so I think my panel is around 90% approved. Once it is I'll start going forward and put an outline together for it.