Mad Catz once again proves its mastery of slapping new graphics onto existing products with the Blazblue: Continuum Shift Tournament Edition joystick, sold exclusively through Aksys Games at $199.99 a pop.
Right now I can get a Mad Catz Street Fighter IV Tournament Edition Fight Stick from GameStop for $149.99. This is essentially the same product, only with different graphics on it, for $199.99. The only real difference between the two, aside from aesthetics, is that there are only 1500 BlazBlue: Continuum Shift sticks available for each console. This means it is rare, and therefor more expensive!
Actually it's likely more expensive since the sticks are an item that will appeal mainly to BlazBlue fans, and since there are a lot less BlazBlue fans than there are Street Fighter IV fans, a limited production run was called for. Smaller production runs cost more, it's a fact of business.
Still, it is a lovely fighting stick. I've still never gotten a chance to even play a game on one of these, let alone own one, so if you do pick one up, be sure to lord it over me.
BlazBlue: Continuum Shift is currently slated for a July release on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.