I like Orayn's mention of ASOTY (arcade stick of the year).
And since this year is almost over and we got a ton of releases I'm curious if other GAFers would nominate.
My choice is the Namco TE. Nothing last year is as elegant, and it is my favorite Mad Catz product. And it is a nice formal introduction to a hopefully long-range relationship between the two companies:
http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg114/gregbuczek/scamco.jpg[IMG]
Honorable mention goes to the tiny Sanwa Exaprize...one, for being the smallest full-featured stick released in a long while and, two, a nice color scheme with its funky bright buttons combined with the faux brushed-metal plate. And, six buttons are nice feature when everything comes with eight:
[IMG]http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg114/gregbuczek/exaprize-1.jpg[IMG][/QUOTE]
The Madcatz is nice, but like most retail products, it's gimped by the meddling of lawyers. Therefore, I'd nominate the Quanba Q4 as retail ASOTY.
[img]http://www.qanba.com/admin/WebEditor/UploadFile/201111801713477.jpg
Runner up: Namco TE
Also, retail sticks are boring. Custom sticks are where the fun is.
Custom Of the Year:
notworksafe's Trapcom stick
Runner up:
blitz64's PS3 stick
And the "WTF are you doing!?" award goes to Hori for killing the Radiant Silvergun stick. Assholes.