My impressions of Otakon. Well, to give you an idea of how underwhelmed I was, I'm not exactly sure thats how to spell the name. Don't get me wrong, I had a lot of fun while there, it just wasn't what I was expecting. In retrospect, Otakon taught me one thing; I am not an anime fan I just like anime. So how does a person such as me have a good time in the frothing sea of true otakus and cos players? Well, luckily the staff of Otakon foresaw my coming and created a room full of people like me, the Game Room.

The Game Room, capitalized because it was on the signs, was my premiere destination at Otakon. Its preeminence over the other rooms was not entirely based on the fact that I didn't really like them, but rather on the fact that it was a generally fun place. All my favorite games were there: Samurai Showdown, Mark of The Wolves, Capcom v. Snk 2, if you can think of a recent 2D fighter, they pretty much had it. Thrown into this mix of quarter circles and z motions was the hands down best FPS of all time Halo.

Halo was set up in two different locations making system link play the option of choice for most games. I could go into all the different matches and how I almost killed someone or how some one beat the crap out of me, but the real drama of the Halo games were the players themselves. I must make a disclaimer here, some of these people were newbies, thus a certain amount of grace must be portioned out when discussing them. As for pretty much the rest of the field, they were jerks. I have never heard anyone complain about someone stealing their kill when they were half way across the level sniping. Don't be dumb, snipers are stealing eveeryone else's kills. If your teammates weren't actually fighting your oponents, you would probably be hunted down in a matter of seconds.

What made the games almost unbearable, however, was the system of giving up your spots that people came up with. In a crowded room where the games are basically free, I figured everyone would just give up their spot every round. I was mistaken. Instead it was somehow decided that the number one player would get to stay on. Now I understand the logic of the winner being able to continue playing, its pretty much video game ettiquette, but when theres a line of about 12 people waiting, I think common courtesy should come into play. Its more fun for everyone if you give up your spot so just choose to be a better person as opposed to being a loser.

The only other really note worthy thing about Halo was one game I played sitting next to a little boy who couldn't have been more than 10. I try not to curse too often, but i am known to let one or several dozen go on occasion (mostly while playing Smash Brothers.) Needless to say, the presence of the kid made me try extra hard not to use any profane language. The game was going about average, I was getting spawn camped and hadn't been allowed to switch my controls to inverted, when apparetly the little kid had had enough. He had been killed in a way which he had found very disagreeable and proceded to go on a harange that would make the translators of Angel Cop blush. It was incredible. It lasted at least 30 seconds and included four or five references to a rather uncomfortable sexual act he had performed on the opposing players mother. It was amazing.

The only other thing that was of particular interest to me in the game room was the Guilty Gear X game located 2 or 3 stations down from Halo. Here, my love affair with most awesome game was rekindled. I have had an import version for the Dreamcast since it became available. I had played it for a while but after discovering the absence of end stories, my zeal for the game slacked. I hadn't played in about 6 months but as soon as I sat down for my first game I was reminded why I liked the game so much. I ended up playing as Jam most of the time attempting in vain all but once to complete a sweet 9 hit combo. What made the game even more fun was that I always lost. I know that sounds crazy, but losing was fun because no one was in line. I played the same guy almost the whole time. What made it better was that a) he wasn't playing as Sol or Ky and b) he was actually a nice person. Getting your ass kicked by a decent human being is never a problem in my book.

(That guy was fucking awesome. What Joel neglects to mention is that he was getting beaten with a MADCATZ CONTROLLER. Eat it Joel. - Dave.)

So basically, I had a good time at Otakon. I saw some movies, went to a few panels, saw some gay twelve year olds (that was kinda wierd) and got my ass handed to me in Guilty Gear. I'm definetly going again next year, hopefully I'll win a couple games.