Here's something you probably never expected! Yes, Mad Catz and THQ have teamed up to release a special Arcade BrawlStick and BrawlPad for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The new WWE All Stars plays a lot more like an arcade fighter and Mad Catz felt their special brand of controllers would be a perfect fit for the new wrestling game.
The BrawlStick will be going for $79.99 and offers 30mm quick connect actions buttons. The BrawlPad features enlarged circular 8-way floating D-Pad and a classic arcade-style six-button layout. The PlayStation 3 version of the BrawlPad will also come as a wireless controller whereas the Xbox 360 version will be wired. Both versions will go for $39.99.
I got to handle both of these new Brawl controllers and they both felt pretty nice. Yes, that's not saying much but I'm not really a fighting gamer so I can't comment on how these feel in comparison to the Street Fighter IV ones. I can tell you that the BrawlStick wasn't designed to be customizable like the TE Street Fighter sticks, but you can still mod them if you really wanted to. Mad Catz also told me that they've put their "reputation on the line" with these next sticks and are backed with a five year warranty.
It'll be really interesting to see if the wrestling crowd even bothers adopting these special controllers. I think that the wrestling audience is on the opposite side of the spectrum when it comes to the fighting crowd in videogames. The key is the tournament crowd. They're the guys that want these specialty controllers the most in the first place and I'd be really surprised to see something like All Stars become part of EVO and the likes. What's your take?
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11:00 AM on 01.19.2011 | 
Also, this WWE game sounds intriguing if its using a six button layout. Will it have character customization?
The only reason Arcade sticks sold to SF/BB/Tekken players were because there is an active tourney scene for them.
madcatz wont lose any money on these. they are already producing these sticks, the only thing new that they have lookslike a different color case and a new graphic. actually im sure that madcatz will be making a bunch of money on each one sold just because there is nothing new but a graphic.
Hmmm... I'll just go ahead and wait till they hit the bargain bin, and then slap a nice custom decal over it. Now THAT will be a cheap arcade stick.
I've modded two Brawl Sticks... Complete swap-out with Sanwa Parts (Stick, Buttons, Octo-Gate). No soldering. Took me about half an hour to do the first stick, probably 10 minutes for the second. If you want a quality arcade stick, get a Brawl Stick and mod it... It'll be cheaper than trying to find a "used" SE Fight Stick, and it'll be brand new (59.99 from Amazon, free shipping and no tax).
Here's a pic of the first stick I did. I didn't like the "WWE" graphics, so I peeled them off, cleaned off the panel, and spray-painted/clear-coated it and put it all together.