No convention would be complete without its fair share of cosplayers and the 2011 New York Comic Con was no exception.

There were characters ranging from popular superheroes, video game characters, anime heroes, and some sci-fi characters.

There was also a lot of Adventure Time, although the photos I took of those characters didn’t turn out too well.

Here’s a collection of the best cosplay photos I was able to take in between waiting in line for panels, panels and waiting in line for video game demos.

There’s one surefire way to get into the Gears 3 public beta. When you slap down $60 to buy the Epic Edition of Bulletstorm, you’ll be automatically granted access to Gears 3 in beta form. If you were going to buy Bulletstorm anyway, this is a no-brainer for you. The Epic Edition is the same price as a normal game. Supply is most likely limited, so pre-orders are being taken now.

Moero Downhill Night Type R offers all the typical elements of a Japanese dating sim – extensive conversation trees and a lot of well executed art – plus attempted interactive 3D video segments and an innovative time-based element that could easily be pilfered and used to help improve many other conversation-based games.

Host clubs are no secret in Japan. Interested parties will find the streets of Kabuki-cho in Shinjuku (Tokyo, Japan) swarming with sharply dressed young gentlemen bombarding women of all ages in hopes of luring them back to their love nest that is one of their host clubs.

Last Escort is a unique series, usually on the PS2, that has enjoyed success on the Japan thanks to many a fine lady interested in getting a glimpse of what the host club scene in Japan is like without committing oodles of real-world monetary funds.

For the next few days, Japanese import site J-List (aka J-Box for those younger than 18) has a buy-two-get-one-free offer.

From now until December 31, 2009, purchase any two games through the J-List website and you’ll automatically receive the adult dating sim game Snow Sakura (Windows, $29.95) free. If you’ve already purchased the game and buy two new games, you’ll receive a $15 store coupon instead. It appears the coupon will be good for any J-List or J-Box products.

JAST USA has also announced that the V-Mate authorization system for downloaded products has been eliminated…

If you did well-made statues and action fugues, then you should really dig this coupon.

Kotobukiya, makers of many high-end statues based on comics and video games, is offering 30% off any pre-ordered item on its site.

The code is good for everyone November 6 through December 31, 2009, and can be used on as many orders as you’d like. It’s not good on the much anticipated Star Wars lightsaber chopsticks and, since these are all pr-order items, they will not ship by December 31, 2009…

The January 2010 issue of B’s Log is sure to bring big smiles to fans of Konami’s popular dating simulation game Tokimeki Memorial Girl’s Side (TMGS).

Gracing the cover of this month’s current issue was one of the new characters coupled with the official title of the new addition scheduled for a tentative 2010 release on the Nintendo DS.

Tokimeki Memorial Girl’s Side 3rd Story takes place seven years after the events of the first TMGS game at Habataki Gakuen. This new chapter in the series promises new locations, gameplay, delectable date-ables (of course) and even a new main character sporting a new hairstyle and school uniform. The main character will still have a sidekick who serves as a barometer for your crushes’ affection as well as important statistics, but no additional details have been released yet.

So far, only 3 character have been introduced: Ruka Sakurai, Arashi Fujiyama, and Tamao Konno.

It’s been way too long since I posted an update of the game-related and generally interesting items being offered at Japanese import site J-List and under-18 site J-Box.

To help bring everyone back up to speed, here’s a big bullet-point list of notable items currently offered on the site. Most are DS and PSP games as well as many figures based on various Japanese dating-sim games, so expect some professionally sculpted skin when you click through

Statue, figure maker and cool stuff creator Kotobukiya has released its full schedule and lineup of offerings for the 2009 San Diego Comic Con taking place July 23 through 26, 2009 (with a preview night on June 22) at the San Diego Convention Center. The company promises hourly prizes as well as several exclusive items at its booth (#2601).

Some of the company’s announcements and event exclusives include…

OneChanBara: Bikini Samurai Squad is essentially a hack-and-slash game that puts you in charge of a group of lovely ladies who aren’t afraid to break a nail or two in order to save a defenseless Japan against hordes of undead creatures.

As therapeutic as peeling an orange, there’s just something that about the feeling of steel cut through flesh that somehow satiates the soul. With buckets and buckets of blood to be splattered, you better be sure not to wear any articles of white to this party…