Pre-Order Update - Hori Suggoi! Arcana Heart 2 Arcade Pro Stick - Open - HP2-263

Arcana Heart 2 is releasing fairly soon, with production from AQ Interactive. Added fighters include Nazuna Inuwaka, Akane Inuwaka, Parace L'Sia. Added Arcana include Cayatshime (Flower), Fenecs (Sound), Parace L'sia (Life). Hori has partnered up with Arcana heart and is producing a limited edition arcana heart 2 arcade stick.

At first look, the arcade pro stick is similar to its former styles, with official sanwa lollipop style joystick (JLF-TP-8Y-SK) and a 1.8 meter cord. The controller itself weighs 2600g, approximately 2.6KG or 6lbs, giving you an extremely sturdy base during extreme game play. The box will be fairly large, increasing shipping costs slightly. Pricing is set at $249.99 because we will be airing the very first batches to make it in time for the game release.

News Update - BlazBlue 2D Fighter For PS3 / 360 Announced For Summer

I'm glad that BlazBlue is finally announced for the ps3 / 360. I've received countless inquiries on release dates, release dates, release dates.

But with the upcoming release of the game, we're sure to see fueled joystick sales of all types of sticks. Hori Japan should have new stock this coming May as our Japanese sources tell us. We may be bringing in more sticks by boat, as air freight shipments and dimensional weight take the fighting sticks far beyond retail costs.

Here are some more details from wikipedia concerning the title, it's definitely one to look out for this summer, along with King of Fighters XII.

The game uses an 8-directional joystick, common to most fighting games, and 4 attack buttons: Light (A), Middle (B), Heavy (C), and Drive (D), the latter of which activates unique special abilities for each character. Throw and Throw Escape are performed by pressing B and C at the same time. In addition to basic dashing and jumping, there are also double jumps, high jumps and air dashes.

• Guard Libra: When guarding or forcing your opponent to guard, this gauge will shift. When it fills up completely to one side, the guarding player will undergo a Barrier Crush and will be stunned temporarily.
• Barrier Gauge: A gauge that regenerates over time, used for Barrier Guard. The defense capability of a character is lowered for a set period of time when this gauge reaches zero.
• Barrier Guard: Pushes back the opponent and prevents the Guard Libra from shifting. Performed by pressing A and B at the same time while guarding.
• Barrier Burst: Pushes the opponent away, even when guarding or receiving damage, thus canceling the enemy's combo in the latter case. If used offensively and guarded by the opponent, they will undergo a Barrier Crush. Uses 100% of the Barrier Gauge and leaves it to zero for the remainder of the round. Performed by pressing all four buttons at the same time.
• Heat Gauge: An energy gauge needed to perform Distortion Drives and Rapid Cancels.
• Counter Assault: Counters an opponent's attack while guarding. Consumes 50% of the Heat Gauge. Performed by pressing forward, A and B at the same time while guarding.
• Rapid Cancel: Cancels the recovery time of an attack. Consumes 50% of the Heat Gauge. Performed by pressing A, B and C at the same time while attacking.
• Distortion Drive: Special attacks unique to each character. Consumes 50% of the Heat Gauge. Performed with some arrow motions plus the Drive button.
• Astral Heat: Special attacks unique to each character. Consumes 100% of the Heat Gauge. The conditions for using Astral Heats are simple: the player has to be fighting in the last round of each match, and his/her opponent has to have 20% of their health left. The player can then input the buttons needed for the Astral Heat. Astral Heats can be considered similar to Guilty Gear's Instant Kills.