Desktop Arcade

Tune Tuesday 01

Steve — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 03:16:48 +0000

This inaugural edition of Tune Tuesday is starting off with one of the more catchy “modern” Beatmania IIDX songs in my opinion, Elisha by DJ Yoshitaka off of IIDX 17 Sirius. Enjoy!

Tune Tuesday will be back next week!

InstagraMonday 01 – Carbon Fiber & Translucent Red Joystick

Steve — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 22:13:03 +0000

#DAysOfTheWeek

Desktop Arcade is redefining the days of the week, starting this week! First up is InstagraMonday, where I will feature some Desktop Arcade related image(s), usually a controller or arcade project I’m currently working on or even perhaps some pieces of my arcade or game collection. This week, I decided to take some pictures of a joystick that I’m currently working on for stock which features black carbon fiber under the plexiglass top and beautiful translucent red Seimitsu buttons and bubbletop on a Sanwa joystick. Make sure to follow Desktop Arcade on Instagram and come back tomorrow for another #DAyOfTheWeek!

[Tatsujin Tuesday] 03 – Check out our Turntable!

Steve — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 15:43:32 +0000

Last week we shut off the lights and featured the beautiful LEDs in our keys, this week we turn it up and scratch the night away, featuring one of the more Turntable scratch-heavy songs in the history of IIDX.

Every Tuesday I will be posting a new video submitted from a Desktop Arcade customer to Youtube, so keep checking back every week for the newest Desktop Arcade Tatsujin Tuesday! If you have a Desktop Arcade controller and want to submit some videos, post them on your own channel and link them to me via the various ways to contact me, or just send me the raw video and I’ll upload it on the Desktop Arcade account.

[Tatsujin Tuesday] 02 – Hey, Who Turned Out the Lights?!

Steve — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 02:27:31 +0000

Week #2 of Tatsujin Tuesday! This week I went into the archives (AKA my old hard drive) and picked out an older video from Matty V; Quasar 7 Key. Enjoy!

[Tatsujin Tuesday] 01 – Inaugural Edition!

Steve — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 01:07:38 +0000

Video #1 for TATSUJIN TUESDAY! Every Tuesday I will be posting a new video submitted from a Desktop Arcade customer to Youtube, so keep checking back every week for the newest Desktop Arcade Tatsujin Tuesday! If you have a Desktop Arcade controller and want to submit some videos, post them on your own channel and link them to me via the various ways to contact me, or just send me the raw video and I’ll upload it on the Desktop Arcade account.
And now, the inaugural edition of Tatsujin Tuesday!

[CotM 13] The Best Things in Life Come in Pairs – Beatmania IIDX V5 Doubles IIDASC

Steve — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 04:51:42 +0000

This past summer I decided to experiment further with the joystick-type design I had already extended to some of the other controllers I make to create something epic. I wanted to build the most elegant, stylish, and screw-less Beatmania IIDX controller that had ever been built. Sure, I had already made quite the attractive, screw-less singles deck but a doubles deck is so large that I was excited at the possibilities.

I knew that I wanted to use a red tone stain and a dark walnut, because I love the way that both colors bring the grain out of wood, and I also knew that of the woods that I have easy access to buying, I wanted to use oak because I love the way oak with a good grain pops and gives contrast when stained properly. As you may have gathered from my mentioning that it be screw-less twice in this post (make that three!), another important guideline for this build was that there be no visible screws — The abuse of screws in controller designs from other manufacturers give the product a tacky, cheap look and I wanted to go in the completely opposite direction to show people what true elegance in Bemani controllers is. Luckily, I think this Desktop Arcade original design does all that and more, but I’ll let you guys be the judge:

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither was this controller. I built it over the course of about 5 days in between working on paid orders over the summer so that I could bring it to AnimeNEXT to debut it. Looking for the best IIDX controller that mimics the look and feel of the arcade, complete with the drab gray color and uncomfortable wrist rest? Well you won’t find it here; instead, you’ll find a beautifully handcrafted, stained wood body that would make most custom furniture carpenters jealous….All while still retaining that perfect arcade feeling you know and love. If Konami could do it all over again, perhaps they’d redesign the arcade deck to be this dignified and polished!

It’s also beautiful from every angle, even the rear!:

This whopper of a controller is 19 lbs, which is surprisingly light for a controller that’s this big with this much Lexan plexiglass (including on the entire top, obviously) and, it even lights up:

Want one?

Like most CotMs, this controller was sold before it ever hit the site! My good friend Mouse had an open order with me for a black doubles deck and after I showed him pictures of this controller completed, he asked me how much extra he’d have to pay to buy this guy instead. By Tuesday after AnimeNEXT (I needed 2 days to recover!) it was boxed up and shipped to him. If you see him on any Bemani forums, definitely ask him how he likes his V5 doubles IIDASC! Prices start at $600, and if you have a piece of art work or designs in mind, the large piece of plexiglass on the top allows for quite the large area for art work to be added! You could make your one-of-a-kind controller even more special with art work that’s completely protected by 1/8″ plexiglass. Just (email me) steve (at) desktoparcade (dot) com to inquire about having your very own V5 IIDASC doubles deck done!

Controller of the Month 12 – MUSHIHIMESAMA FUTARI Joystick!

Steve — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 01:26:15 +0000

Controller of the ~~week~~ Month is back!

Bullet Hell shoot-em-ups are an especially popular genre among gamers, and Cave is probably among the more popular developers in the shmup genre. A few months ago at Anime Boston my friend Carlson at Mad-Gear Gaming referred one of his customers to me when he inquired about custom joysticks, and he requested a custom art layout. Unfortunately, we were unable to do the custom art layout he wanted due to lack of time from my artist and he gave me some links to alternates he wouldn’t mind. Luckily, I think his #1 choice for alternate art came out great!

This joystick in particular is wired for Xbox 360 and as you can see, the stick uses Seimitsu buttons, a Seimitsu bubbletop on a Sanwa joystick, has a really right, deep, even dark walnut stain, and the button holes were cut out and inserted into the buttons so that the art work doesn’t look like swiss cheese. (NOTE: Between me handing this to my photographer and the pictures being taken, the button containing the art for her arm got rotated, but that is easily remedied by just loosening the nut on the button and rotating it to line up again).

If you’d like to order a joystick of your own, or any other arcade controller, shoot me an (email ) steve (at) desktoparcade (dot) com!

[SOLD] [CoTW RETURNS!] CoTW 11 – The V5 Pop’n Music Desktop Arcade Style Controller

Steve — Tue, 24 May 2011 02:52:37 +0000

This particular Pop’n Music V5 is sold but you can contact me with your requests to purchase a new one!
It’s been rumored for a while and now it’s here and I’ve got one available for shipment! It’s the 5th incarnation of my Pop’n Music controllers, and much like the V4 was to the version before it, this new design is visually appealing and built to withstand the hardest and longest Pop’n Music sessions!

Let’s take a look at what’s new:

Controller construction inspired by our new line of joysticks, with hand-selected, quality, stained wood sides.

A 1/2″ thick wood top with a 1/8″ thick piece of Lexan plexiglass on top of it, flush with the sides of the controller. The wood top can be stained, left “natural”, painted, or artwork can be inserted and preserved thanks to the protection of the plexiglass top!

The bottom is stained to match the rest of the controller, creating a complete masterpiece from all 360 degrees.

This controller is built to impress, and it’s built to be an attractive, solid addition to your gaming controller collection; something you wouldn’t be ashamed to leave out to be seen, no matter what your age is!

Now that you know all of that, let’s take a look at one!

“Looks great! I want one!!!”
If you want to inquire about getting your very own, customized Pop’n Music V5 DASC, as always you can (email me) steve (at) desktoparcade (dot) com to get it completely customized to your liking. You can also (email me) steve (at) desktoparcade (dot) com If you want to purchase the controller pictured, which I have on hand and ready to ship!

Celebrating 7 years of Bringing the Arcade Home!

Steve — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 17:14:39 +0000

Last month on the 17th I celebrated my 7th year officially selling controllers to more than just my friends, and it was a big reminder of how glad I am that I began Desktop Arcade back in 2004. It’s allowed me to meet so many great people, make several friends, and it’s also opened so many doors for me over the years. For one, it’s introduced me to the great anime convention scene in the Mid-Atlantic, and it’s even brought me all the way out to Chicago for Anime Central a few years ago, selling DA controllers at my friend Carlson Stevens of Mad-Gear.com’s dealers room setup! Doing DA representation at anime conventions allowed me to learn a lot of things about running top-notch game rooms, and DA has been a spring-board for me to begin running AnimeNEXT’s video game room. Since taking it over in 2008 myself and my great, hard-working staff have grown the department from a small board room in a hotel to taking over the meeting space and ballroom of an entire hotel on the convention campus in Somerset, NJ. Running their game room every year is a great experience, and it’s something that I never would have been brought to had I not begun this journey 7 years ago.

I want to thank every customer who has made the decision to buy a Desktop Arcade controller over the years, whether it’s directly from me or second hand from someone else. It’s because of all of you that I’ve had so many great experiences over the years, and I’m sure there are many more opportunities coming!

Controller of the Week #10: O&A Party Rock!

Steve — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 16:48:01 +0000

This week’s controller is one from my personal collection, and it’s one that means a lot to me as you’ll see from the images. There used to be a trade show from Ziff Davis (A company known for their “great” planning skills!) called “Digital Life” that ran out of the Jacob Javits Center in New York City. In 2004 I had a comped booth with Pop’n Music 9 set up running on a DASC, obviously, and I caught wind that at the XM Satellite Radio booth Opie & Anthony were going to be doing an autograph signing during the show. Wanting to get something special autographed but having nothing on hand, I shut down my booth for 15 minutes and grabbed the Pop’n DASC I had and had them sign it. They were obviously confused as to what it was I was having them sign, but they joked about it and were very friendly. I didn’t want to be “that guy”, plus I had a booth to run so I split after talking to them for a minute or two, but I was very excited to have met them and had such a unique interaction!

The following year they started promoting (kind of) that they would be at Digital Life signing at the XM Radio booth again, so I asked Sarah to do some special artwork for me so I could get their signatures on yet another controller. I had just begun making IIDASCs, so I threw together an XM202 themed controller (black with golden yellow plexiglass, like their iconic black and yellow WOW stickers) and lugged it to NYC and all around the Javits center to bring it to the appearance.

As you can see, it’s been signed by lots of people from the show. Of course besides O&A, Ron & Fez, Jim Norton and Lazlow these people aren’t exactly celebrities, but being a huge Opie & Anthony fan since 2000, this controller will always have a special place on the display shelf in my work shop!