CES 2012: Mad Catz shipping Soulcalibur V Arcade FightStick Soul Edition

Mad Catz announced today the shipping of its Soulcalibur V Arcade FightStick Soul Edition for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. If you haven’t seen it already, here it is! High-quality fightsticks is what Mad Catz is known for, but this tournament edition fightstick is a first for the Soulcalibur franchise following the rebirth of the fighting game boom following the release of Street Fighter IV.

Built with the same Sanwa parts found in Japanese arcade cabinets, the Soulcalibur V stick features all the bells and whistles we’ve come to expect from Mad Catz sticks, including multi-speed turbo speeds, a controller lock/unlock switch, and a lengthy 13 foot USB cable that you wind up and stash inside the stick’s convenient base compartment. The weightiness of the stick’s hefty base is also a big attraction.

Of course, this stick will likely serve you just as well while playing other fighters, like Super Street Fighter IV, Mortal Kombat, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, or King of Fighters XIII.

Soulcalibur V is scheduled to release in North America on January 31 and in Europe on February 3. In the meantime, check out our most recent preview, along with video footage of the game’s special guest character, Assassin’s Creed’s Ezio Auditore da Firenze.

Above: The PlayStation 3 version's buttons come in one color

Above: Here's the Xbox 360 version