We've been fans of the competitions over at Shmup-dev.com for a while, and the latest, "dubbed “DRAGON SHMUP” has been launched on May 1st, 2006."

According to an official press release (oo!): "This competition is focusing on any aspect of the shmup genre under a few conditions. The game must star a fantasy/medieval dragon as the main character. The dragon must shoot something, either lasers out its eyes, or some sort of gas out of its mouth (or both)." Hawt - can anyone make anything to rival Irem's epochally good Dragon Breed?

In addition: "The competition setting must be in a fantasy realm that appears to be in the medieval era mixing with magic that has been seen in many “fantasy” style games / movies.... Judges will be rating the games on most original, best graphics, best sound, and of course, best of the best!" The contest is available to enter until July 1st - and there's more info at the official Shmup-Dev website. And may the best firebreather win!