The first rule of PAX East...

I've mentioned this a few times on Twitter but never on the blog so, I'm going to PAX East, which kicks off tomorrow in downtown Boston. I have a three-day pass so I can almost go to any panel I'd like, with the exception of a few hours on Saturday. I plan on attending the following panels:

Girls and Games: The Growing Role of Women in the Game Industry

Manticore Theatre
Friday, 8:00pm

According to the ESA, more than 43% of video gamers are female, making women the single largest untapped market segment in the gaming industry. Look at the milestones crossed and the hurdles to come as developers and publishers reach out to this previously overlooked demographic. Are current strategies effective? What does this mean for the game industry as a whole?

Panelists Include: Brittany Vincent [Editor-in-Chief, Spawn Kill], Julie Furman [Founder, SFX360], Jeff Kalles [Penny Arcade], Alexis Hebert [Community Relations Manager, Terminal Reality], Padma Fuller [Product Marketing Manager, Sanrio Digital], Kate Paiz [Senior Producer, Turbine]

The Dead Space Universe: Creating a World of Horror in Games and Beyond

Naga Theatre
Saturday, 1:00pm

In 2008, EA launched a new IP from Visceral Studios: Dead Space. The game delivered the ultimate in psychological thrills and gruesome action. A bold and bloody sci-fi survival horror game set 400 years in the future, Dead Space stunned and scared players, won critical acclaim, and spawned the 2009 prequel: Dead Space Extraction. The Dead Space universe runs deep, and as gamers find themselves clamoring for more, Dead Space comics, animated features and figures have been released. This talk will go behind the scenes on the making of Dead Space, bring players up to speed on the Dead Space universe, and prepare them for what’s to come in the recently announced Dead Space 2.

Panelists Include: Rich Briggs [Producer, EA], Ian Milham [Art Director, EA], Steve Papoutsis [Executive Producer, EA]

Anybody else going? Any other panels you find intriguing, or would love for me to attend so that I could write about it later? There are limits, obviously, but I'm open to suggestions. I want to be able to report back what everybody so longs to hear about in the gaming industry today.

Cary and I are hoping to do a podcast on PAX East once it's over (even though she's not attending which, believe me, is a topic of contention), but I'd also like to discuss individual panels, etc.

What I'm saying is: expect lots of PAX-related topics in the coming week.