As a gamer in Jersey, I'm sad to say how much I miss all the West Coast Action. The Classic Gaming Expo in Las Vegas, E3 (RIP) in California, and PAX in Seattle (which I'm attending anyway). However, NJ is home to some other piece of awesome, and people in the Tri-State area should check some of it out.

DigitalLife Expo
Not technically in Jersey, NYC is close enough by train or bus. This is more of an electronics expo than gaming, but they have lots of cool game-related stuff and raffles. Last year I hit this one booth up all four days and pretended like I hadn't taken their survey they day before and ended up with $20 in Best Buy giftcards! Hooray for screwing up product surveys! It's pretty fun because there you can demo some fun stuff like Headplay, or play a racing game in an actual race car. The Guitar Hero III area had a place to sit with REAL (expensive) guitars with headphones so you're musical stylings wouldn't add to the noise level. A decent amount of swag. My friends and I accidentally ended up with about 5 free toothbrushes each because there was some sort of beauty expo next door and they wanted us to pay them $50 to go in (nice try).

Digital Life 06: Final Fantasy XII Stairs! My camera was dead all day but I needed this shot. I asked that guy on the stairs to please get up for a second but he wouldn't. Jerk.


Digital Life 07: Guitar Hero III guitar area. This was in addition to about 15 TVs with demos of the game.


More 07. This is the creator of the online game Kart Racer getting interviewed. That game is awesome by the way, it's line online MarioKart.




Digital Press (The Store)

I'm seeing a pattern here with the word 'digital...' Anyway, Digital Press is THE place to get retro games in NJ. Period. At each of the two Gamestops I worked at, I referred people to this store when they were looking to buy or trade in older games and systems. The guy who owns the place, Joe Santulli, is a really great guy who's done a lot for the gaming community. He's the editor-in-chief for the Digital Press Video Game Collectors Guide and began the Digital Press project in 1991. Since that time he has also been a staff writer for Electronic Games Magazine (1995), Video Game Collector (2004) and Tips & Tricks Magazine (2001-present). He also is one of the organizers of the Classic Video Game Expo in Las Vegas.

The store itself is really amazing. As well as boasting the most popular retro gaming systems and games, there's a mini-museum and a PC cafe. The store also hosts NAVA meetings and events. I think they can also help you when it comes to fixing old systems, but don't quote me on that one. It also has, along with regular arcade machines, a MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator). This MAME helped me to discover that the Sailor Moon sidescrolling fighting game is effing hard.

The website is www.digitpress.com, it's not just for the store though. Digital Press is it's own little online community. Every once in a while I yoink some of the free stuff from my Gamestop friends and give it to Joe, since he's pretty good about stuff like calling you if a game you're looking for has been traded in to the store. This is where I got my copy of Wetrix for N64.

In short, it is awesome. It's also literally 5 minutes down the road from where I live. Effing sweet.

Eight on the Break

Probably one of the best (and cheapest) arcades I've ever been to. It's also a Bemani fan's dream. 75 cent Beatmania 2DX DISTORTED, 50 cent DDR Extreme Mix, as well as Pump it Up Pro and In the Groove 2. At 35 years, it is the longest continually operated arcade in the US. It hosts many national and even world arcade tournaments, many of them In the Groove or DDR tourneys. They have a pinball room, billiards, and lots of other good stuff (Marvel vs. Capcom, Marvel vs SNK 2, Time Crisis 3, etc). I actually went there this past Saturday, and it was, needless to say, awesome. Let me tell you, Spiderman and Megaman make a good team in Marvel vs. Capcom. They also had an old Bust-A-Move machine which I favored much of the night; I hadn't played since they re-did the arcade in my area when I was in high school (they made it little-kid themed). Way back when they used to have a Para Para Paradise machine, which was so ridiculously fun to play. They had the old Simpsons arcade game but unfortunately, it wasn't in good shape (the screen was a little messed up at the top and you could only play as Lisa Simpson). I think they switch out some of their games every so often.

But I think one of the best parts about this arcade is the food. Super. Effing. Cheap. The "Special of the Day" (for the past 35 years) is the cheesesteak combo. Cheesesteak, fries, and a soda for $4. There is absolutely nothing on the menu that is more than $4. Chicken nuggets, hamburgers, fries, soft pretzels--most are less than $3.

They have a website as well, check it out for their full game list, upcoming tourneys, etc.
http://thebreak.net/

And that is why living Jersey is better than you may think. Sure, 50% of the state is covered in asphalt, but the rest is covered in sweet gaming paradise.