Call for Papers

As fear is the oldest and strongest emotion of mankind (Lovecraft), human beings have always taken a malicious pleasure in frightening themselves. If literature and cinema were and still represent good means for the expression of horror, nowadays, the experience of fear is as intense in video games.

While academia has been studying horrific literature and films for a few decades, such an interest for the videoludic side of horror has not, until now, showed up. Yet, since the cinematic staging of fear in Alone in the Dark in 1992, the "Survival Horror" has become a prolific genre offering a wide selection of significant games such as the Resident Evil, Silent Hill and Fatal Frame series. Because it is at the crossroads of diverse cultural heritages and the latest technological developments, and because it exhibits the ins and outs of the matrix that governs all but a few games (spatial navigation and survival), horror video games require a deeper study.

This international conference wishes to study horror video games (not necessarily labeled survival horror) from an eclectic range of critical and theoretical perspectives. It aims to fill a gap in game studies between general theory and analysis of particular genres and games.

Possible Topics

Here are some examples of relevant themes we wish to explore in this conference:

Historical approach

Origins and history of horror video games
Impact of the technological evolution on horror video games
Theoretical approach

Simulation of horror, fear, terror

Narratives and themes of horror video games
Interpretation of individual works and series
Transmedial approach

Transmedial study of horror video games (game/film/literature)

Remediation in films, literature and video games
Socio-cultural approach

Transnational analysis of horror video games (United States/Japan)

Social and cultural meanings of horror video games
Horror video games and censorship
Analytical approach

Aesthetics of horror video games (lighting, sound, editing, 1st/3rd person perspective)

Study of specific games or series (Alone in the Dark, Resident Evil, Fatal Frame, etc.)

The organizing committee remains open to proposals that respect the general spirit of this call for papers.

Please submit your proposals before January 15, 2009 via email to the following address: thinking.after.dark@ca.inter.net.

Your proposal must include:

1. The title of your paper and an abstract (no more that 500 words).
2. Your academic status, your institutional affiliation, your department and your contact information (mailing address, telephone number, fax number and e-mail address).
3. A short biography underlining your work related to the themes of the conference (no more than 250 words).

A selection of papers will be published in a special issue of Loading…, the journal of the Canadian Game Studies Association (CGSA).

—-—--

Looking forward to meeting you in Montréal next April,

The organizing committee.

It might be the little touches, like the F5 Energy Drink that sponsors the doomed titular LAN party or the film's featured pro gamer "Mort@lity," or maybe I'm just watching the teaser trailer with blood tinted glasses.

LAN Party Massacre is obviously gory, so if you start to feel queasy when prosthetic throats are ripped out of spokesmodels, you may want to pass on the trailer at the official site.

LAN Party Massacre Official Site [thanks, Ryan!]

Someone hold me.

I've played the game a bit myself, and while there are points where it feels a bit like your standard Korean MMO given a fresh coat of paint, the game mechanics are actually rather entertaining. The only real problem I have with it is that it is hard to maintain an atmosphere of horror after you've killed the same monster 20 times, but it definitely has a few moments. Hit up the link below to get things started!

Requiem: Bloodymare Official Site [Gravity Interactive = Thanks Andthenjaredsaid!]

Leigh and I are very excited about this new venture. We are big gaming fans and we think it would a great opportunity to continue the SAW legacy into a different platform/medium. Keeps things fresh for us anyway. A lot of people have asked us if we would be interested in writing another SAW movie...well, we are writing another SAW story...but it's for the game. We're treating this story like the SAW movies with lots of twists and turns. We have no idea how that is going to apply to a computer game format, considering that most games are generally pretty simple in it's plotting. Maybe its a good thing that Leigh and I are naive to the video game world and that we're writing it like its a movie!

Ah yes, ignorance is bliss, and could make for a relatively blissful video game version of Saw, at least until the game developers get a hold of the script and pull a more horrifying hack job on it than anything Jigsaw could have come up with.

Still, it's good to see such an important person to the franchise working on the game. It's not every day you get the creator of a movie working on a video game adaptation, much less the creator who is also the executive producer of the most popular horror franchise of the last few years.

The New Year - 2008 [James Wan's MySpace Blog - Via WhatUpThug]

Play Daikatana Free [GameTap]

[Thanks, John]

Move over Alien, there's a new scary... alien in space. GameTrailers managed to nab a world exclusive trailer for EA's upcoming space horror game, Dead Space. I'm a big fan of the survival horror genre but usually my tastes tend towards the Silent Hill, Resident Evil end of things. I have yet, to my memory (which is admittedly poor) played a horror game in outer space much less zero gravity, so I'll be anxious to check this out when it hits next year. Definitely one for lights out...

We have no idea what we're meant to be doing or what we're meant to be achieving, so we resort to blind pointing and clicking and spinning in circles (At which point we note there's no bloody door into this room where we start, which spooks us pretty bad.). Through this we ascertain several things - that many objects are "interesting", without really giving any other reason why (And entirely unpick-up-able) and many labels are smudged. Papers? Can't tell the date. Bottles? Unreadable label and can't make out what it is (Clue: Looks like booze to me). Windows? Too dirty to see through.

There's not much to do. The full game apparently features some kind of Thinking Screen, which allows you to combine and mess around with objects, except that's not functional in the demo. Which strikes me a bit of a bad idea to not allow you to play around with one of the game's selling-points in the demo, much like giving a level of GTA where you weren't allowed to run over people or something.

Like so many blog posts, the comments are nearly as entertaining as the post itself. On the problems of staircases: "You know, it kind of dawned on me now - staircases are one of gaming's best, unsung archnemesis. As far back as I can recall, staircases have nearly always contributed to gamer frustration and prevented him from achieving success." In any case, if you're interested in an HP Lovecraft-inspired, point and click, adventure-horror PC game, you may want to take a look.

Things Man Was Not Meant To Click At [Rock, Paper, Shotgun]

Strauss Zelnick at Take-Two had explained to him:

This is still animation. It's not photo-realistic. It's not live action. And compared to an R-rated movie, which is intended for 17 and above, like 'Saw' or 'Hostel,' it's actually pretty tame. But you make your own conclusions when you play the game.

After playing the game, the NYT writer commented that, "(He) did not find Manhunt 2 particularly frightening or sickening, more like a violent interactive cartoon", but he did completely agree with the game being rated as Adults Only. Then Schiesel took Zelnick's advice by comparing it to Hostel and Saw II which the writer rented. The outcome? In Schiesel's words:

Banning the original version of Manhunt 2 may be a good way to demonstrate that the industry can police itself. Side-by-side, though, movies seem to be way ahead of games in delivering top-notch gore.

Couldn't have said it any better myself. Kim Phu

Gore Galore but a Violent Game Can't Hold a Gutbucket to the Movies [NYT]

Ok Atari, this is your last chance. I'm a real "once bitten, twice shy" kind of girl, so although I want to believe all of this is, in fact, fantastic in-game footage, and that this game is going to scare the fur right off my teddybears, I have my reservations.

Of course, that doesn't mean that the clip didn't peak my interest. The new Alone in the Dark according to Wikipedia is:

Set during 2006, the story continues with Edward Carnby, the main protagonist from the original game, looking for answers to strange supernatural and bizarre occurrences while battling his way through the opposition in New York City's Central Park. It has been mentioned that Atari wouldn't reveal exactly how Carnby is still running around in the present day considering that the first installment took place during 1926, but the game is most likely a franchise reboot.

It also mentions the existence of another Alone in the Dark movie, but I'm not even sure Christian Slater will even be considered an actor any more in 2009. As for the game, it's wait and see time, peoples. Status on teddybears will have to come from future updates. Kim Phu

Alone in the Dark Trailer (PC PS3 X360) [Gamertag Radio via Godfree]

Those crafty folks at Sega are apparently testing the next-gen waters with a new survey that multiple readers have claimed to receive. This is unconfirmed, but the survey states that the game will be for either the PS3 or the Xbox 360. From the survey, here's the plot details:

An open free-roaming action horror game where the player undertakes a terrorizing journey of suspense, fear, power, and discovery, And where every decision has multiple consequences... Uncover an ancient chest with unimaginable power that seduces you into evil, sin and corruption.

Uh, okay. And this being a survey asks folks how much they like this concept. Me, I think it sounds like a Choose Your Own Adventure story I read when I was 8. But, the best part is not the description (oh, no), but the proposed titles. They are:

• The Gift
• The Box
• Crucible
• The Sacrament

A game called The Box? I am so there. Not only that, reader Chris claims Sega goes on to provide definitions of what these titles mean! We haven't been able to confirm this (anyone else out in Kotaku-land?), but he tells us words are defined like this:

• Crucible: "A severe trial or ordeal where people or things are subejcted to forces that test them and often make them change."

• The Box: "A container meant to hold or protects objects of important significance or value."

• The Gift: "Something that is given."

Sega also asks which one of these titles best fits the game's description. So, we've decided to help out and are running a poll, doing our part to make The Box a reality. Brian Ashcraft

Gawker Media polls require Javascript; if you're viewing this in an RSS reader, click through to view in your Javascript-enabled web browser.

This October, I hope I will spend the vast majority of my days sitting in a rapidly expanding pool of hysterically evacuated urine. And I need your help to do it.

Let's face it: despite the fact that almost every game has monsters in it, there aren't many truly scary games. Games that have scared me, off the top of my head, include Silent Hill, System Shock 2 and, ironically, quite a few adventure games, like Gabriel Knight and I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream. Most of these games are frightening not because of monsters or mere spooky moments, but because there's something deeply unsettling philosophically behind them.

I want to spell all of October playing some truly scary games. The thing is, I don't really know of many that don't merely fall into the FPS with monsters mold. I'm looking for games with less monsters jumping out of closets to blaze down with a shotgun than I am looking for games that disturb on a deeper level. For example, I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream is terrifying because of the reality-shifting cruelty of an insane, malicious god willing to torture for infinity. System Shock 2 is unsettling because of the horrors of losing your humanity in infinite space, all alone. Silent Hill's dreamlike psychological symbolism touches something raw.

So help me, guys. Help me find some good horror games, fitting the above criteria. Any suggestions you have, no matter how old, would be welcome. Remember anyone can comment now: just enter your comment, a username and a password and you're on your way to becoming a Kotakuite! Florian Eckhardt

While Ashcraft and McWhertor hang out in men's restrooms; while Crecente sits gibbering "Mmmmsoft" over and over in a corner; while Eliza prepares her monthly "I would never, ever sleep with you in a million years" mass emailing to those who admire her... I've been phoning in this entire week and replaying F.E.A.R.

Random conversation with Eliza about F.E.A.R.:

Me: A little girl just spider walked up a vent at me in F.E.A.R. Those little girls sure are scary. Eliza: That was me. Sorry. I thought you said dinner was ready. Me: Then you should have worn your kneepads.

Needless to say, moments later, I was nailed with the first sexual harassment lawsuit in Kotaku history.

I know F.E.A.R. has it's issues. I know it all takes place in one huge industrial warehouse. I know that it's scares are actually just cat scares. I know there's basically one enemy in the game, the equivalent of a cannibal-controlled Episode Two clone trooper. I know just about everything about it is highly derivative.

But the combat's so good I still dig it and the cat scares still creep me out. And, heck, the expansion's coming out pretty soon... it's good to refresh my memory so I can be outraged at liberties they take with the plot. Although they'll be pressed to disappoint me, given that it apparently starts out with the protagonist being caught in a nuclear explosion. Although it also involves invisible guys. So maybe we should call it even.

What about you? What are you playing this weekend? Tell us in the comments. Don't have a commenting account? This is a good opportunity for you to earn your stripes: just enter the username and password you want, type in your comment, and click submit. If you're approved, you're in. Until we ban you, you monkey. Florian Eckhardt

If you still remain unconvinced that Bioshock is going to be one of the best games of 2007, set aside fifteen minutes and watch this video as Irrational's Ken Levine leads us through one of Bioshock's sub-aqueous Art Deco levels.

Please note that Motionbox requires Flash Player 9 to view, so if you can't see it above, you have the option of going directly over to IGN and watching it, at a higher resolution, no less.

This looks unbelievable: finally, a unique setting in a video game. Set your loins to quiver. Florian Eckhardt

If you have a PC and a modicum of sense, you're already a big fan of Monolith's survival horror with an uzi FPS, F.E.A.R. It starts off with a cannibal psychically controlling an army of clones; then a creepy little shades-of-Ringu dead girl with the ability to gelatinate cops with her minds starts showing up.

So good news, F.E.A.R. fans. A demo of the expansion pack, F.E.A.R. Extraction Point, was released last week. I have to confess, I haven't yet tried it — I'm currently running through the first game again in anticipation of the full expansion.

One odd thing I just discovered is that F.E.A.R. Extraction Point isn't being done by Monolith. Apparently, Sierra and Monolith have split up, with Sierra retaining the F.E.A.R. name and doing the expansion and console ports, while Monolith goes on to work on a F.E.A.R. sequel with the same characters but an entirely different title. I wonder if this means there's a chance we'll see two completely different F.E.A.R. sequels? Florian Eckhardt

F.E.A.R. Extraction Point Demo Released [Fearfans.com]

I generally dislike posting screenshots — there's a dozen sites out there that do it, and better — but when it's Bioshock, and one of the images involves shooting a small child with a Magnum, they simply have to go up, if only to elicit another flirty email from Jack Thompson, who — like many of you — mistakes my fruity name for that of a woman and recently sent "Miss Eckhardt" an invitation to meet up with him during his local College Tour. I wonder what he had in mind! Also, if explicit knowledge of my scrotal sack would change his intentions in the slightest.

Second screenshot after the jump. Florian Eckhardt

Screenshots flagrantly stolen from here. Click and give them some eyeballs for their trouble. [Xboxyde]

And there we go. F.E.A.R. Combat, the free multiplayer component of Monolith's truly excellent creepy little shooter that I mentioned last week, has been released.

It's the whole multiplayer package and this is truly one of my favorite recent shooters. So go on over and get downloading, already! Florian Eckhardt

F.E.A.R. Combat [Official Site]

In addition, they've also translated the other Silent Hill character and history resources "The Crimson Tome" and "The Sullivan Victims" from Konami's Silent Hill 4 official site, again only previously available in Japanese. While "Lost Memories" focuses on the entire series of psychological horror games, these two resources are simply backstory for the fourth game.

Every Silent Hill fan needs to bookmark this site immediately—and possibly print out a copy of the translated book for safekeeping. Michael McWhertor

Translated Memories Site

Ken Levine, the smartest writer in video games, gave an interview to Through the Looking Glass fansite SShock2.com about Irrational's upcoming "art deco underwater utopia participant-evolution inspired civil war" survival horror FPS, Bioshock. Subjects cover the evolution of Bioshock's story, art deco game design, the themes of horror in games, and morality in gaming.

On the latter subject Levine cites the typical moral choice of an RPG: a one-dimensional choice between good and evil.

What always bugs me about this is that it ignores the key component of what compels people to do nasty things: need. In BioShock, we put you in a terrible world that has exploited the weakest members of that world in horrible ways. Then we put you in a situation in which, in order to survive, it's pretty damn tempting to exploit the weak yourself. And there's no moral authority telling you what to do, what's right and wrong.

The people who exploited the Little Sisters in Rapture were motivated by ideology and their survival instincts. Any player who plays BioShock is going to be very tempted to exploit the Little Sisters, too, because now it's their life on the line. That's going to lead, I hope, to an understanding of how terrible things happen. It brings the player into the process of evil, and maybe makes them understand how terrible things happen, even when basically good people are involved.

Which is all very eloquently said, but ignores two aspects of what makes moral choices in games so paltry. Games simply are not dynamic enough to extrapolate those choices into subtle, pervasive, non-scripted consequences. Moreover, a player chooses to be good or evil because, ultimately, it's the same thing when you're the only sentient being amongst automotons. Moral choices in games do cover need: I need that +5 Vorpal Sword, so I'm going to kill that beatific monk.

Games can put the player in someone else's body, but until the worlds are filled with a more dynamic artificial intelligence in the non-player characters around you, they can't infuse you with that person's game world conscience. Which is why even the nicest of us simply weigh pros-versus-cons when murdering a Resistance fighter in Half-Life 2 for his shotgun. It sounds like Levine is looking to correct that with meaningful NPC AI, though. Let's see if he succeeds. Florian Eckhardt

Irrational Games Interview July 2006 [SShock2.com]

Demian sent this in and I'm very pleased with them. This is the newest Rule of Rose trailer, appropriately titled "Creepy Kids" over on GameVideos.

Lots of sadism, short skirts, and spooky smiles. And my special friend, the fishblimp, makes another spectacular showing at the very end.

This video is completely nonsensical but I couldn't look away. Eliza Gauger

I've been eagerly devouring everything related to Atlus' upcoming lolita-creepout, Rule of Rose, and while I wish i could deliver unto ye your own Kotaku-flavored gallery, that didn't work so well earlier today.

I will simply link, with a heavy heart, and give you the crowning image from this particular batch: fat scary kid with lipstick.

Unfortunately it looks like the difference between in-game and prerendered shots is going to be fairly astronomical, and it doesn't seem like much headway has been made in terms of play graphics. Still, the setting seems so bizarre, a sort of steampunk horror softened by childishness, that I imagine the atmosphere will fill in quite a bit. Eliza Gauger

New Rule of Rose screens here [Computer and Video Games]

The father of the Cenobites is coming back to horror gaming with Jericho, "an action horror title that will up the stakes in visuals and phantasmagorical special effect" for the PS3, 360 and PC.

Clive Barker's Jericho deals with the mysterious reappearance of a lost city in a remote desert. When a form of evil that goes right back to the dawn of days resurfaces from there, a Special Forces squad, trained in both conventional warfare and the arcane arts, is sent in. Their mission: Hunt down and destroy the evil that lurks at the heart of the city before it destroys humanity.

"Players will constantly be given new challenges, new environments, and yes, new horrors and abominations to face every step of the way," continues Barker. "However, unlike a conventional game in which the characters are attempting to escape at the end of their ride through Hell, our protagonists have a much more difficult task. The closer they come to the end of their trek into darkness, the nearer they get to the source of that darkness: Evil Incarnate, we'll call it for now..."

I guess how much you're excited by this depends on how you felt about Undying, a game, in my opinion, only truly horrifying in how many door knobs you had to rattle before you found the one the level designers had arbitrarily decided would open. Florian Eckhardt

Clive Barker's Jericho Officially Announced

Director Wes Craven (Nightmare on Elm Street, Scream) tells The Mercury News journo Dean Takahashi that he was in talks to create an original game. Full stop.

For better or worse, Craven, a casual player, seems like an ideal Hollywood person to work on games—his movies always have loads of sequels and appeal to young people. Thanks to his experience teaching college, Craven says he also understands those young people, pointing out that they are doing things like Motocross to show their creativity. Takahashi writes:

I also asked him how games could elevate themselves to the level of movies. He said that it would be good for games to embrace a wider array of topics beyond those that 'appeal to the 14-year-old males with too much testosterone.' Rather, he would like to see games that can teach something, like a simulation on how to combat world health problems.

'I haven't found many educational games, but a lot of things, like world politics, could be done in a really funny way,' he said.

Golly, I'm really looking too that humorous game on world politics and international health problems from horror filmmaker Wes Craven. He really knows what those Motorcross kids wants. Brian Ashcraft

More Here [Mercury News]

Kikizo has some beautiful screens (the first, they assure us, and our internet quasi-omniscience tells us they're probably right, maybe) of the upcoming PSP port of the first Silent Hill game, Silent Hill Origins. They certainly look more vivid than the muddy, foggy mess I remember playing on the Playstation many moons ago in a kingdom by the sea.

The Kikizo post stresses that the engine has been changed not only to offer a camera more appropriate for a portable but to be more engaging on the PSP, specifically citing a new combat system that allows you to drag obstacles in front of enemies to slow them down. That doesn't really seem all that engaging to us — more a nuisance. We don't really play games to drag stuff around... Silent Hill should be a game of eerie psychological horror and depravity, not a simulation of doing chores for my mom. - Florian Eckhardt

Silent Hill Origins Scares the PSP [Kikizo]

(Edit: We've since been informed that our quasi Internet omniscience has indeed failed us. This is a whole new title, apparently. We were confused - we could have sworn this was supposed to be a remake)

Has the Lost Been Found? [FiringSquad]

Here are a few choice quotes from the scant reviews online (It seems the film wasn't pre-screened for critics, usually a bad sign):

• "What will terrify the audience very early on is the realization that there's better acting in the video game than on the big screen"
• "Obviously earmarked as dead on arrival"
• "Crummy, asinine, incoherent schlock"
• "It's a test of endurance few will survive"
• "Proves itself to be the most idiotic film this year that wasn't directed by Uwe Boll" (ouch!)

I sure hope Frankie Muniz is saving those Malcom In The Middle dollars for a rainy day!

Today, video game movie Stay Alive hits American movie theaters. It stars Frankie "Don't Call Me Malcom" Muniz and follows a bunch of teens as they are killed in a video game or something. Can't find a review of the film, but know most will include this zinger: "Stay Alive? More like Stay Away." Cue the rim-shoot.

Watch The Opening [Kotaku] Thanks, Robert!

Apparently, Konami's absolutely thrilled by the positive buzz over the upcoming thank-god-its-Uwe-Boll-less Silent Hill movie. They sniff a marketing opportunity: a release of the first game with the protagonist — Harry Mason — replaced with Mason's wife, who is the heroine of the film.

Silent Hill is pretty close to the creepiest and most atmospheric world that gaming has managed to produce. Every pixel drips with the dread and delirium of the plotless nightmares it means to evoke. Even a remake of the first game is something to get excited by, especially if they tweak the plot to be about Mason's wife. A Silent Hill 1.5 could be a very great thing.

Silent Hill 1 Re-Release? [1UP]

Stay Alive [Official Site] Thanks, Oscar!

Think The Ring meets Nightmare on Elm Street mashed with your PS2 and some mouthy hipsters from Xbox Live. Hey, Hollywood, way to shoehorn gaming into some trite plot! The trailer for the upcoming gamesploitation film Stay Alive is online. The movie, set to hit theaters this spring, follows a group of teens as they (and I quote) "find themselves in possession of Stay Alive, a next generation horror survival video game based on the spine-chilling true story of a 17th century noblewoman known as 'The Blood Countess.'" Ya lost me at "spine-chilling," but whatever. The movie stars Frankie Muniz (Malcolm in the Middle) and Brian Crecente (pictured).

Okay, it doesn't really star Crecente, but some dude that looks like him.

Trailer Here [Apple] Thanks, Torokun!

ShackNews has a downright haunting post up about the story behind Michael J. Hardy and what inspires him to make games. Apparently, it's neither a desire to create or divine intervention, but instead, the kind of intervention, Ray, Egon, Peter and Winston would've needed to take care of. A ghoul named Karen Voorhees (omg Friday the 13th!), who apparently resided in Mike's house told him her favorite games were Asteroids and Space Invaders. So, Mike made X-Vaders and DisAsteroids, 3D versions of Karen's faves. This creeps everyone else out too, right?

Creepy First Post [Shacknews]