Richard Ragon here from Hanaho Games, Inc. and CEO of HotRod Joystick. I
have some good news and some bad news.  First the good news:

Hanaho Games, Inc. manufacture of the HotRod Joystick is pleased to
announce the release of the long awaited product called the HotRod Joystick
control panel.  We will be taking orders for both HotRod –classic and
HotRod –SE joystick control panel models starting Wednesday June 2nd, 1999
to be shipped June 30th, 1999.  We anticipate no shipping delays at this
time as our manufacturing shop is in full swing.  A dial up line will
follow shortly to answer questions and take orders via phone, but advanced
orders will be accepted with Credit Card orders via our secure Hanaho.com
web site, or checks and money orders via the US mail at the address posted
on the HotRod web site.  Please be sure to state which model you would like
to purchase.  California residents
please add 8.25% sales tax.  For all shipped orders, there will be shipping
and handling charges of $19.95US for orders shipped within the US, and you
should receive your delivery in 1-4 weeks via UPS ground. UPS (3 day) is
available for an additional $15.00US.  Sorry no C.O.D orders at this time.
International orders will be wire transfer only, please contact us via
email for details regarding cost, shipping, and time frames for
International deliveries.

In addition to the release of both models of the HotRod Joystick, we have a
special surprise bonus!  In every purchase of the HotRod Joystick, we will
be including a CD-ROM loaded with MAME, a special version of Arcade@Home
front end software, and a compilation of 100% legal Capcom Roms!  This is
ground breaking news as we have been given full authority from Capcom
itself in support of the HotRod Joystick and Emulation supporting these
classic games.  It is our greatest  hope that other companies that hold
these intellectual property ROMS, will follow suit in offering a way to
purchase or license these ROMS. We believe that Emulation is not just a way
to rip off names, but a way to preserve a very rich history of memories
from years past!

Now the bad news.  The cost of the HotRod Joystick –classic model is set at
$179.95US and the cost of the HotRod Joystick –SE model is set at
$199.95US.  This news comes with a very heavy heart as I have tried to
work very diligently to keep the price affordable while maintaining quality
for our customers.  We did not want to fall into the same traps that others
did before us, and we took some hard lessons in this relatively niche
market but it came down to economics plain and simple. Our customer's
highest quality expectations as well as a trusted company backing this
product come first, before making something cheap and then disappearing on
everyone. Huge delays came at every corner as we analyzed every single
aspect on manufacturing with fine detail. We have
tried too minimize cost while ensuring our quality commitment to our
customers.  It was absolutely necessary to listen to our customers and hear
what they wanted in a joystick control panel, and then provide our
customers with a working solution.  Thanks to your feedback, suggestions
and support, we have succeeded in producing this world class product that
we are proud to put our name on.  It comes at a price however and we have
come up with what we believe is the absolute best joystick control panel at
the best value possible!  HotRod Joystick will out perform every keyboard
hack, keyboard emulator, and production joystick product for the
retro-gaming market.

Also, I'm sure you may have noticed that something happened to our HotRod
web site! Originally, the guy that owns aceisp.net is a good friend of
mine, and he lent us space for a small HotRod web site.  After our site hit
50 thousand hits in one day yesterday, my friend noticed that the HotRod
web site was doing more traffic than all his other clients combined!  Of
coarse this web server was not really meant to do this kind of traffic, and
he sat there and watched the hard drive light go and go and go, until the
hard drive fried! Once he gets his hard drive back up, I'll post a redirect
on the old site, showing where to go for the new site.

The New official HotRod site is:
http://www.hanaho.com/products/HotRodJoystick/.  This is our manufactures
site, and capable of commercial web hosting.

Also, the ArcadePC mini cabinet site has moved to:
http://www.hanaho.com/products/ArcadePC/