There are plenty of reasons for a nerd to attend Baltimore’s annual Otakon. Some go for the cosplay, some for the concerts, some to see the debut of the latest in anime, manga and related merchandise. Any of the above is fine and dandy with me, but the number one reason I wade through the sea of sweaty otaku every year is this: There’s an enormous room downstairs full of Japanese consoles, rocking games that will never come out here.

It’s always a glorious experience, but the current release of so many great shmups on the Japanese Xbox 360 made this year’s gaming room an especially tasty treat. After spending three days destroying my eyes and thumbs in said cavern of wonders, I’ve chosen a few of this year’s most notable new shooters for some hands-on impressions.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 23rd, 2009 at 12:19 pm and is filed under Gaming. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.