Valentine's Day isn't for another couple of weeks, but we here at Bitmob couldn't resist an early attempt at matchmaking with our latest Bitmob Wants You writing challenge. A little while ago, we asked community members to dig up some of their old neglected gaming peripherals and get reacquainted with them to see if the spark was still there. It was kind of like The Parent Trap, but with way more fake mech controls and 100 percent fewer Hayley Millses.

Several writers heeded our call, and their entries are below. Were their reunions sweet, like when David Huxley forgives Susan Vance for toppling his dinosaur skeleton in Bringing Up Baby, or were they bitter, like when Rhett Butler tells Scarlett O'Hara where she can stick it at the end of Gone with the Wind? The answers may be more shocking than the amount of Turner Classic Movies I've been watching lately.

Remembering Steel Battalion
By Mike Braken

Controllers constitute a huge percentage of forsaken peripherals, and Mike used to own the biggest, least useful one of all: the massive Steel Battalion mech dashboard. His post reminds me of the time I almost bought one of these things, and the prospect of sharing my living room with an impossibly dusty one does not appeal to me at all.

Hit the break for more stories of love found, lost, and then maybe or maybe not re-found.

The search for the perfect DDR mat
By Jimmy Tran

Jimmy's fight against the awkwardness of adolescence begins with a trip to GameStop and a fortuitously cheap Dance Dance Revolution bundle, but the purchase only draws him into further conflict. His first opponent: a hardwood floor.

Why DDR is still the ultimate dancing game after all these years
By Casey Scheld

You can keep your plastic instruments (you won't make much selling them, anyway) -- Casey has fallen in love with DDR all over again after trading in the plastic mat for an arcade-style metal beauty.

6 gaming accessories of dubious quality
By André Bardin

André plays docent in his personal museum of gaming history and introduces us to a half dozen of its sketchy exhibits. I'd forgotten all about the Game Boy Printer, but now I remember its earnest craptitude all too well. Bonus points to Mr. Bardin for inaugurating Bitmob's tag for Make My Video: Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch.

Did you miss out on the fun this time? Don't worry -- the next edition of Bitmob Wants You is up now.