I am a responsible adult with adult money ...and I still want one for MW5. Hats off to you for putting in the dedication on these and bringing them to light!
For the right person or team, it wouldn't be difficult. Those pods made me think of those arcade machines T-2 judgement Day when John Connor's in the Galleria playing that fighter jet game called Missile Command. That works on a wicked gyro like system, only for a Mech game it doesn't have to move quite as quick, and it should be smoother 😊
Holy shit bro. I was in one of those one time and it was badass at an old arcade that had them. Overheating a mech would actually heat up the pod and every step the seat moved with the step. Was one of the coolest ideas for a game ive ever had the privilege to play in
Yeah, I was a college student when one a Virtual World center was built in Walnut Creek, CA (I think it was there anyway). My buddies and I went there at least a dozen times.
Used to play on leagues at the original center in Chicago at North Pier. Glad there's guys like you keeping the pods going, even the older systems, which I had the most time on. Tesla pods were a hell of an upgrade.
I just found out about these today. I wasn't even born when BattleTech pods first started circulating, but I wish I was. I had a copy of Mech Warrior 2 growing up, and while I've had very limited experience with the core BattleTech franchise I've always had a fascination with it. Mech piloting is something that I've always found so cool, and while games like Vox Machinae have scratched a bit of that mech piloting itch, I'd have loved to experience something as tangible as one of these.
Great stuff. Just imagine having one of those pods that was fully gyro and suspension operated to what was going on during the gameplay you were engaged in. Couple that with crisp surround sound, a joystick and pedals and proper buttons, and visuals as good or even better than modded Mechwarrior 5, oh my goodness! Pure awesome immersion for a Mechwarrior game 😃😄😊
@@Doomshaper1 Either way not everybody likes epic of if you're like me hate having 50 different libraries of games, friends list, and achievements. I've only played MW5 a little bit though Xbox game pass when I had that but its gonna be out on Steam within a month hopefully.
Me at 40....this is my childhood at Virtual World (Hazard Center, San Diego). What was right next to the Warhammer Gaming Store. What it would be to have that experience all over again on new gaming rigs in high fidelity. Really good memories of the wooden box systems / pre-shells. I got to try the shell system once, but I was only around for those wooden box ones. Thanks so much for sharing.
Is the Warhammer store still there? I remember that place but sadly lot of these places have gone under and small business is really struggling these days.
This is awesome. I played in the ones in the basement of the CN Tower in Toronto, Canada, in the mid/ late 90s, and they were amazing back then. You are one of the luckiest people, in my opinion, to own these.
I remember when the type ones first came out. The nearest location with the BT simulators was in Chicago, some five hours drive. I always wanted to go and give them a try at least once but never did. Ah, regrets.
Was an AVID player of Red Planet in the coffin pods at the Las Vegas center back in the day. OMG the memories and what I wouldn’t do to get a couple of those old pods up and running with RP on them again. Definitely subbing and thanks for keeping a couple of these things alive. Hope to see more of these!
Love these things, first ran across them in Seattle at the WotC center in the 90's - was there for a conference and got to free play on them for an afternoon (v2). Got to play them again at a Dave & Busters in Atlanta (v3?) and with my son at a local Con (v4). Favorite mech in the game was always a Vulture (Mad Dog) - my callsign was Mad Cat :) .
my father, brother and I went to north pier mall a couple times a year to play at the battletech center on pod 2.0. they were great. been playing b-tech since 1987. still love it.
In 1992 I want to "The Other Side" a Virtual Reality Experience at the Trade Center in Boston. I played in the Mod 3 Coffins. I was so good the team running the show only let me play other guys who were good. After the show closed we played for another hour or so. Damn that was a long time ago
@@pharaohvwe2475 The first series was using Intel Multibus II, we had a processor advantage if the programmers had really chose it. Out of the 20 card slots we could run 19 processor cards and in parallel computing. Everything plugged into the card cage there were no other separate boards. But with-in the U.S. there was only a couple hundred of us that knew and understood the setup and the capability of the hardware. Years ago some pods came up for sale but the price was out of reach at that time. Best of luck on the rebuilds.
@@Bill53AD thanks all 4 of mine are in tip top shape now running great and converted over to lcd's definitely came a long way from the ones you worked on. 4.0 was when I was introduced to the tech world of the pods.
I've seen these at every Origins game convention I've gone to. Last one I went to though was in 2019. They had a couple of the pods there. I still haven't played in one. I have to make do with my regular old PC.
I played one of these once at like 11 years old, we went to some place that had six of em on a field trip during my summer base program (school ran daycare). I had a broken left arm at the time so I had issues with the throttle but by God these were the coolest thing to me. And it was like the only thing I could do at the fun center cuse of my arm, I ran it like 5 times, I had no idea what mech warrior was untill recently but I still remember that day, and I'd love to use one again.
I went to an Anime Convention in Dallas in 2011. They had 8 of the pods there running MechWarrior 4. We played so much that the guys running it had come back after hour for a mini tournament. They kicked our asses. So much fun.
Yeah. I see a few simulators pop up at conventions now and then but been a long time since I've seen one. People complain about the graphics if they are young because they are use to what they see on the PC with newer games but I still think they are fun. Doubt we will see many conventions of any kind for awhile tho.
Now i want to build a Mechwarrior pod. - Flight pedals - Throttle and Stick - Some MFD panels - A heating fan linked to the mechs heat level so we can gain the immersion of roasting alive in a hot mech.
We talked about doing heaters to match the mechs heat level years ago. Then were quickly reminded that some gamers are on the bigger side. having to clean all that sweat out after each game would not be worth it.
@@pharaohvwe2475 That's a fair point, but as a possible private project that would be my own personal burden to stand being in an immersive...sweat stinking, overbearing hot cockpit as i cook my Warhammer by alphastriking everything in sight.
@@pharaohvwe2475 I'm not sure what version of the game it was, but my most memorable experience was getting stuck in a drone because i kept peeking around the corner when they were asking us to choose mechs. The day I found out I was a light mech pilot.
Have you ever thought about using VR/Augmented reality headsets playing MW5 inside a pod? The pods wouldn't even need to be turned on or networked as they'd be mapped out and synced with the headset and could be easily networked through wifi. There are already mods for mw5 that allow you to play it in VR.
I played in these bad boys in the Trocadero in London, one of the most amazing game immersion experiences i have ever had. One of the coolest things was that afterwards we would get a printout of the battle!
I love the idea of the battle reports and racking up kills on your "license". There was a very similar pod/VR thing Gundam game in Japanese arcades back in the day too. Really cool stuff, too bad arcades are barely a thing in 2022.
I have a book that the centers were selling (or had on hand) that had all the instructions for I believe 3.0. I found it at half priced books but I couldn't find anything searching the ISBN
For 3.0 it is a black book with a yellow label. Firestorm is orange. Neat reads for nostalgia. I gave away all of my copies. Uncle Lynx has digital copies for folks.
Nice! 1. Saw that image of the V2 pods in a magazine long ago (maybe a Nintendo Power?), but never saw those pods IRL. 2. Think my first time actually playing them was around 1996 in Chicago. 3. 1997-2001 Wizards of the Coast opened up an arcade in WA (where I lived) which had some Battletech pods upstairs, so I was excited to get to visit there several times before it closed. They also had at least one exclusive-to-that-arcade Magic the Gathering arcade game with a trackball that was pretty dang fun. Also amused they had a restaurant Dalmuti's since I owned a copy of the card game The Great Dalmuti (made by WOTC) at the time. 4. In 2000 I started work at Microsoft Games. Maybe 2002ish is when I started as my first full-fledged Software Tester job working on Mech4 and MW4:Black Knight. Mostly we tested for bugs, but I also had a little input on game balance (if any remember ER Large Lasers being overpowered that's only _partly_ my fault. Heat wasn't actually implemented for the majority of time we worked on game balance, and heat is supposed to be one of the big drawbacks of lasers obviously). 5. At some point Microsoft bought some Battletech pods (and given the timeframe, I suspect they were the ones from WOTC's arcade) and the devs got them running at the office. I never actually played a round at MS, largely because I was working on a game I felt was just flat-out better. I heard there was some efforts to get MW4 working, but didn't hear anything more (as a tester, we were a bit distant from the dev team, even though they worked a short 2-min-walk away down the hall). I do remember visiting where they were set up though, in this stairwell in a glass-walled office in Redmond with really great views of the surrounding forest/mountains (definitely the most scenic surroundings of the places I've worked). 6. After MW4 I moved on to other projects (Rise of Nations), but still occasionally playtested some of the other stuff that they made (MW4 Mercs and the Mechpacks). I wish there were pictures of the Microsoft Games multiplayer test lab at the time, because I think people might find it interesting. (And describing it in text is kinda hard.) * Basically imagine the closest two gamers can sit shoulder-to-shoulder, and you had 16 CRT monitors in a row spaced that far apart on one side * and _another_ 16 on the other side. * The computers for each monitor were on a shelf above the monitor (and in fact you usually had a switchbox to switch the monitor/keyboard/joystick to a second computer). * This was done to test as many different hardware configs as possible, because the varieties of configs were a huge testing concern back then (still a problem today, but to a lesser degree) * So then periodically (sometimes for overtime) we'd have playtests where you just spend an hour or two playing Mechwarrior multiplayer.
God.. what a missed opportunity! Never got to make it to Chicago to play these. v_v They need to bring back cabinets like this! The mini-movie they made for Red Planet on these (using the 3.0) was so cheesy! xD Had quite the 80s-90's cast, too! ^_^ How much would one of these go for now?
As a Red Planet VGL pilot in Dallas (callsign "Batman"), I preferred the original pods with their gritty realism over the Tesla pods. I wasn't interested in Battletech at all, preferring to "fly" my hovercraft on Mars (I actually used to lean in my seat when maneuvering in the canals, the simulation was that intense for me)...
Holy shit dude! I played like version 1 or 2. There was no Battletech Arena near me. We had to drive for hours to play (only a couple times because of distance). Back the we drank Jolt cola to keep us going…
Indeed I did. For the last few years they were there I was going down and servicing them s few times a year. When they decided to replace them with a new attraction I procured them.
Me too but splitting the screens would be rough. The rio just translates the buttons to key commands though. Plus each pc needs to be updated. Not a big deal with 4 pods but with sites that have 16 it would be costly.
lets not forget if you do Clan setups too, they ran in stars, which was 5 to a group... instead of the standard 4 to a lance that the inner sphere has run for... well always....
I remember at the old roller skating rink we used to have, there used to be an arcade machine assorts, Mechwarrior 4 Vengeance. You sat in a chair and had the monitor in front of you with the joy stick controls to your right and everything. It took quarters to play, and when you did it put you in some form of survival waves with a time limit. Has anyone seen a machine quite like that ?
Those were the tsunami pods. They were just a quick and dirty shooter with the mech 4 graphics.they could load several games on it all FPS with minimal controls. Just throttle and joystick.
If anyone knows what happened to the pods at the Gold Coast, Australia please reply here! They were at the Intencity arcade at the Pacific Fair shopping centre. I dreamed to snap them up myself, but alas I was merely a highschool student who knew it would be a later-life regret to not own one.
I saw the Version 3 coffin pods on Shipping Wars tonight. I completely forgot about them! I knew I saw them before and finally remembered where. At 21st Century Comics in East Lansing Michigan in 2010. Anyone play them at that location?
@@PubeStache ya their truck was too small they wanted to film each piece separately. It was really a bad experience. Any piece they missed or didn't like they had me remove and re put it back in the trailer.
When i was at VWE for training to be a site tech for these, i asked them about the source code, and they just kinda looked at each other and said "we have no idea where it is"
I was one of the guys that rebuilt a full set of V4 pods for their run at the Gamewize LAN center in Plano, TX. A couple of the guys on our team were developers and were the ones that got RP to run on the V4 pods. I am pretty sure that they got the source for that.
would love to have something like this for MWO matches... but even trying to use a flight control joystick like i did for MW 3 "and the joystick was magic in MW 3", runs like crap on MWO... apparently it has to be a console controller like one from XBox "which is a pain for me to use", or use mouse and keyboard.... clunky at the best of times... but there ya go.....
Someone needs to dump this into a ROM. It can definitely work with some custom emulator running with a VR headset. All you need then are a joystick, throttle, and rudder pedals!
Very cool! Maybe you could swap information/tips with the guys at www.mechcorps.com - they own about 12 of the v4 pods (light beige color, though) and have added wheels to their bases to make them 'portable' - and take them to various conventions, including DragonCon (except for 2020 - thanks, Covid. :( ) I played in them at the Dave & Busters in Marietta, GA starting in the mid-to-late 90's. They were always this style of pod, but MW4 hadn't come out yet.
Nvidia geforce2 dual head pci. The pc's themselves run 3 video cards one agp 2 pci. The agp is for the main the second is for the radar. The dual port runs all 5 mfd's.
@jamesdargon all of the ports are vga ports. For the MFD's the 5 displays are actually just one long image split up where each displays part of the big image. Each vga has a red green and blue out and one of each is sent to an mfd. They are in black and white so the color doesn't matter. Then a green plexi is added in front to provide the green color.
They can run mw5 but only on one screen and you have to upgrade the pc from the win 2k they are currently running. Mw5 sadly would not support the 7 screens in the pod
The minister faces down where a beam splitter projects the image from the minister onto a mirror that's at a 45 degree angle? Something about that kind of hardware setup seems very wrong.
@@pharaohvwe2475 If you could do a quick version of it I’d appreciate it. I scanned through your older videos I didn’t see one that reviewed the optical effect technique for the main monitor and how it’s constructed and aligned. Thank you
Here I thought "Steel Battalion" had a stupidly overpriced controller to make a game. Which needs the whole controller set up to play the game. This. This is on another scale.
I am a responsible adult with adult money ...and I still want one for MW5. Hats off to you for putting in the dedication on these and bringing them to light!
For the right person or team, it wouldn't be difficult. Those pods made me think of those arcade machines T-2 judgement Day when John Connor's in the Galleria playing that fighter jet game called Missile Command. That works on a wicked gyro like system, only for a Mech game it doesn't have to move quite as quick, and it should be smoother 😊
Holy shit bro. I was in one of those one time and it was badass at an old arcade that had them. Overheating a mech would actually heat up the pod and every step the seat moved with the step. Was one of the coolest ideas for a game ive ever had the privilege to play in
literally using this as research for writing how Sim Pods in fiction should visually work.
Thank you for doing all this work!
Uncle lynx has a wonderful series on the history of virtual world.
I remember doing this in Chicago when I was a kid. Definitely way beyond incredible all those years back.
I remember taking a "pilgrimmage" as it were to Dave and Busters as a kid to play this. It was the coolest thing ever.
Yeah, I was a college student when one a Virtual World center was built in Walnut Creek, CA (I think it was there anyway). My buddies and I went there at least a dozen times.
Used to play on leagues at the original center in Chicago at North Pier. Glad there's guys like you keeping the pods going, even the older systems, which I had the most time on. Tesla pods were a hell of an upgrade.
Wow, I used to play at that same mall, right across from the VR and laser tag.
I just found out about these today. I wasn't even born when BattleTech pods first started circulating, but I wish I was. I had a copy of Mech Warrior 2 growing up, and while I've had very limited experience with the core BattleTech franchise I've always had a fascination with it. Mech piloting is something that I've always found so cool, and while games like Vox Machinae have scratched a bit of that mech piloting itch, I'd have loved to experience something as tangible as one of these.
Great stuff. Just imagine having one of those pods that was fully gyro and suspension operated to what was going on during the gameplay you were engaged in. Couple that with crisp surround sound, a joystick and pedals and proper buttons, and visuals as good or even better than modded Mechwarrior 5, oh my goodness! Pure awesome immersion for a Mechwarrior game 😃😄😊
I love playing in these things, it makes the game experience so immersive.
Wish these were still a thing especially with MW 5 getting released on steam next year.
It's already out on Epic! Don't wait for steam and with an epic account you get a couple of free games a month!
@@psy_clopsgaming3974 nah, don't need any more spyware on my machine than there probably already is.
Epic spying is fake news spread by Steam.
@@Doomshaper1 Either way not everybody likes epic of if you're like me hate having 50 different libraries of games, friends list, and achievements. I've only played MW5 a little bit though Xbox game pass when I had that but its gonna be out on Steam within a month hopefully.
I wish mw5 ended up a better game :’( it’s not bad but no where near the glory days
I used to love these things at Dave and Busters in Cincinnati Ohio! We played all the time!
I remember playing these when I was at Dave & Busters in the 90's lol. These are sick
I'm from Seattle, played with these at Wizards of the Coast, back in the late 90s.
THESE WERE SO MUCH FUN!!!!! They're amazing.
I was a master in both BT and RP. I miss VGL a lot! Great people and great company....can't believe its been 25 years...
Nice which version 3.0 4.0 or 5.0?
I loved getting in one these at dave and busters back in 90's. Still love my Mech games.
I was lucky enough to play in one back in the day at a fun center back in albuquerque.
I remember playing battle tech in one of these waaaay back in the day in San Diego. I still have the post battle score printouts
i used to work at the san diego location. fun times. i was fairly late to the party and only ever played/worked on the tesla pods.
I remember playing one of these MechWarrior cabinets when I was like five at my local David Busters when they use to carry like six of these.
Yup dave and busters had the standard deployment of 8
Me at 40....this is my childhood at Virtual World (Hazard Center, San Diego). What was right next to the Warhammer Gaming Store. What it would be to have that experience all over again on new gaming rigs in high fidelity. Really good memories of the wooden box systems / pre-shells. I got to try the shell system once, but I was only around for those wooden box ones. Thanks so much for sharing.
I used to visit that one. I remember playing a few rounds before they shut down for good. What a shame as that place was awesome.
I spent tons of money there.
Is the Warhammer store still there? I remember that place but sadly lot of these places have gone under and small business is really struggling these days.
We would road trip down from Pasadena to play the 4.0 pods sometimes there. Great site.
This is awesome. I played in the ones in the basement of the CN Tower in Toronto, Canada, in the mid/ late 90s, and they were amazing back then. You are one of the luckiest people, in my opinion, to own these.
OMFG I MISS THESE SO MUCH!
Oh man! I used to play in the Version 3 I believe when i was a kid
My buddy used to go to Virtual World in Walnut Creek in the 90s, I wish I could've gone too.
I remember when the type ones first came out. The nearest location with the BT simulators was in Chicago, some five hours drive. I always wanted to go and give them a try at least once but never did. Ah, regrets.
There are active sites in Michigan
I work at the Fun Center you got those from. I miss seeing those things.
Was an AVID player of Red Planet in the coffin pods at the Las Vegas center back in the day. OMG the memories and what I wouldn’t do to get a couple of those old pods up and running with RP on them again. Definitely subbing and thanks for keeping a couple of these things alive. Hope to see more of these!
Love these things, first ran across them in Seattle at the WotC center in the 90's - was there for a conference and got to free play on them for an afternoon (v2). Got to play them again at a Dave & Busters in Atlanta (v3?) and with my son at a local Con (v4). Favorite mech in the game was always a Vulture (Mad Dog) - my callsign was Mad Cat :) .
WALNUT CREEK, Bay Area, California player from 1998-2003 here! Would go back, any time, any day!
Cool setup! DO IT!
What a dream it would be to be able to run MW5 on one of these.
my father, brother and I went to north pier mall a couple times a year to play at the battletech center on pod 2.0. they were great. been playing b-tech since 1987. still love it.
I remember these back in the 90's in Dallas, Texas because I use to go Virtual World to play them a lot
In 1992 I want to "The Other Side" a Virtual Reality Experience at the Trade Center in Boston. I played in the Mod 3 Coffins. I was so good the team running the show only let me play other guys who were good. After the show closed we played for another hour or so. Damn that was a long time ago
These pods are by far the better of all. Having worked on the computer system for the very first ones I can see some amazing improvements.
Yes they are still a pain but much better and easier than the 3.0 and prior pods
@@pharaohvwe2475 The first series was using Intel Multibus II, we had a processor advantage if the programmers had really chose it. Out of the 20 card slots we could run 19 processor cards and in parallel computing. Everything plugged into the card cage there were no other separate boards. But with-in the U.S. there was only a couple hundred of us that knew and understood the setup and the capability of the hardware. Years ago some pods came up for sale but the price was out of reach at that time. Best of luck on the rebuilds.
@@Bill53AD thanks all 4 of mine are in tip top shape now running great and converted over to lcd's definitely came a long way from the ones you worked on. 4.0 was when I was introduced to the tech world of the pods.
Man thos pods bring back fun memmoies.
I've seen these at every Origins game convention I've gone to. Last one I went to though was in 2019. They had a couple of the pods there. I still haven't played in one. I have to make do with my regular old PC.
This is awesome. These pods are what got me into Battletech. Subbed!
I rember the coffin pods. Like it was yesterday. I use to play at the Pasadena sight. And the Tesla pods are epic
I played in these at an arcade, I heard they were sold, good to see they went to a good home.
Doing gods work
Holy shit! I'd kill to play one of these in this day and age.
Depending where you live there may be a set near you.
@@pharaohvwe2475 Is there a registry as to where the pods are located?
@@digitalranger4259 I think the Wikipedia article is close to up to date. Or mechjock.com
I played one of these once at like 11 years old, we went to some place that had six of em on a field trip during my summer base program (school ran daycare). I had a broken left arm at the time so I had issues with the throttle but by God these were the coolest thing to me. And it was like the only thing I could do at the fun center cuse of my arm, I ran it like 5 times, I had no idea what mech warrior was untill recently but I still remember that day, and I'd love to use one again.
I went to an Anime Convention in Dallas in 2011. They had 8 of the pods there running MechWarrior 4. We played so much that the guys running it had come back after hour for a mini tournament. They kicked our asses. So much fun.
That was probably the mechcorps crew. There are still a few sites that tour with the conventions perfect croud for them. Glad you had fun.
Yeah. I see a few simulators pop up at conventions now and then but been a long time since I've seen one. People complain about the graphics if they are young because they are use to what they see on the PC with newer games but I still think they are fun. Doubt we will see many conventions of any kind for awhile tho.
In my early 20's just outside Chicago, I spent a ton of weekends/money in these pods. Go go expert Owens mech hit and run like hell tactics.
I played these at Gunslinger Games in Garland, TX years ago. God I miss em. Now the closest ones are in Houston.
this is how I first encountered mechwarrior/battletech no idea why a dave and busters had these but good on them
I'm too young to remember these, but I'm a huge Mechwarrior and Battletech fan and I'd give anything to own one of these babies.
I loved these growing up… cost most of my allotted funds, but damn was it worth it for the pew pews…
Keep the dream alive!
Now i want to build a Mechwarrior pod.
- Flight pedals
- Throttle and Stick
- Some MFD panels
- A heating fan linked to the mechs heat level so we can gain the immersion of roasting alive in a hot mech.
We talked about doing heaters to match the mechs heat level years ago. Then were quickly reminded that some gamers are on the bigger side. having to clean all that sweat out after each game would not be worth it.
@@pharaohvwe2475 That's a fair point, but as a possible private project that would be my own personal burden to stand being in an immersive...sweat stinking, overbearing hot cockpit as i cook my Warhammer by alphastriking everything in sight.
Used to bike down to the lakefront in Chicago in the 90's. I believe we played on(in?) all 4 generations. Great memories.
Indeed that was the home site north pier. I never got a chance to play there unfortunately.
@@pharaohvwe2475 I'm not sure what version of the game it was, but my most memorable experience was getting stuck in a drone because i kept peeking around the corner when they were asking us to choose mechs. The day I found out I was a light mech pilot.
@@josephschulte1073 sounds like 2.0 or 3.0
Have you ever thought about using VR/Augmented reality headsets playing MW5 inside a pod? The pods wouldn't even need to be turned on or networked as they'd be mapped out and synced with the headset and could be easily networked through wifi. There are already mods for mw5 that allow you to play it in VR.
I played the 8 pods that were in seattle in 2017ish and i don't know who bought them but great experience!
They went first to become the airlock. Now they are in private hands still in WA
If for what ever reason i acquire this franchise im bringing these back some how
Not sure why this was recommended to me almost two years later but this is pretty sweet.
Seems to be a lot more views on it lately. Thanks for watching. Through the series I end up getting 4 working and posed game play and other vids.
youtube has some weird algorithms for sure... heck, they re-suggested vids to me that i saw from 2 years ago..or more.... love the vid though
Yeah same
I played in these bad boys in the Trocadero in London, one of the most amazing game immersion experiences i have ever had. One of the coolest things was that afterwards we would get a printout of the battle!
Great to hear. Yes we still have the print outs for the missions. I love hearing old stories and experiences.
I love the idea of the battle reports and racking up kills on your "license". There was a very similar pod/VR thing Gundam game in Japanese arcades back in the day too. Really cool stuff, too bad arcades are barely a thing in 2022.
i remember playing in dallas thinking it was v 3.0 i played Btech my wife played red planet had a blast
I have a book that the centers were selling (or had on hand) that had all the instructions for I believe 3.0. I found it at half priced books but I couldn't find anything searching the ISBN
For 3.0 it is a black book with a yellow label. Firestorm is orange. Neat reads for nostalgia. I gave away all of my copies. Uncle Lynx has digital copies for folks.
I missed this stuff back in the 90s.
I worked for VWE and House Fasa way back in the day
Awesome which site?
Nice!
1. Saw that image of the V2 pods in a magazine long ago (maybe a Nintendo Power?), but never saw those pods IRL.
2. Think my first time actually playing them was around 1996 in Chicago.
3. 1997-2001 Wizards of the Coast opened up an arcade in WA (where I lived) which had some Battletech pods upstairs, so I was excited to get to visit there several times before it closed. They also had at least one exclusive-to-that-arcade Magic the Gathering arcade game with a trackball that was pretty dang fun. Also amused they had a restaurant Dalmuti's since I owned a copy of the card game The Great Dalmuti (made by WOTC) at the time.
4. In 2000 I started work at Microsoft Games. Maybe 2002ish is when I started as my first full-fledged Software Tester job working on Mech4 and MW4:Black Knight. Mostly we tested for bugs, but I also had a little input on game balance (if any remember ER Large Lasers being overpowered that's only _partly_ my fault. Heat wasn't actually implemented for the majority of time we worked on game balance, and heat is supposed to be one of the big drawbacks of lasers obviously).
5. At some point Microsoft bought some Battletech pods (and given the timeframe, I suspect they were the ones from WOTC's arcade) and the devs got them running at the office. I never actually played a round at MS, largely because I was working on a game I felt was just flat-out better. I heard there was some efforts to get MW4 working, but didn't hear anything more (as a tester, we were a bit distant from the dev team, even though they worked a short 2-min-walk away down the hall). I do remember visiting where they were set up though, in this stairwell in a glass-walled office in Redmond with really great views of the surrounding forest/mountains (definitely the most scenic surroundings of the places I've worked).
6. After MW4 I moved on to other projects (Rise of Nations), but still occasionally playtested some of the other stuff that they made (MW4 Mercs and the Mechpacks).
I wish there were pictures of the Microsoft Games multiplayer test lab at the time, because I think people might find it interesting. (And describing it in text is kinda hard.)
* Basically imagine the closest two gamers can sit shoulder-to-shoulder, and you had 16 CRT monitors in a row spaced that far apart on one side
* and _another_ 16 on the other side.
* The computers for each monitor were on a shelf above the monitor (and in fact you usually had a switchbox to switch the monitor/keyboard/joystick to a second computer).
* This was done to test as many different hardware configs as possible, because the varieties of configs were a huge testing concern back then (still a problem today, but to a lesser degree)
* So then periodically (sometimes for overtime) we'd have playtests where you just spend an hour or two playing Mechwarrior multiplayer.
Used to play these in Houston, TX. Still a cool gaming system! Thanks sure would like to play a few missions!
Nice! Yes they are. Funny enough a few folks are coming up from TX this month to play. We are throwing the normal Summer BBQ and Pod day
Flashback to spending all my allowance for 7 mins worth of BattleTech in one of these pods.
I grew up going to the Chicago vr battle tech center as often as I could living a couple hours away in Madison!
These were by far 5 of my favorite years playing games I heard pharaoh was an ok player too
Na he sucks
God.. what a missed opportunity! Never got to make it to Chicago to play these. v_v They need to bring back cabinets like this! The mini-movie they made for Red Planet on these (using the 3.0) was so cheesy! xD Had quite the 80s-90's cast, too! ^_^
How much would one of these go for now?
As a Red Planet VGL pilot in Dallas (callsign "Batman"), I preferred the original pods with their gritty realism over the Tesla pods. I wasn't interested in Battletech at all, preferring to "fly" my hovercraft on Mars (I actually used to lean in my seat when maneuvering in the canals, the simulation was that intense for me)...
Cool, I have put up several rp games in my vids. But 3.0 rp was cool for the variety of maps but 4.0 rp imo is much better than 3.0
Holy shit dude! I played like version 1 or 2. There was no Battletech Arena near me. We had to drive for hours to play (only a couple times because of distance). Back the we drank Jolt cola to keep us going…
my buddys have a set of 8 of these so much fun
If it is the Seattle site I set those up originally for Kelly. Great group of players up there.
@@pharaohvwe2475 yup those the ones
@@wccbulletsfly WAIT WHERE?!! I used to play at the airlock back when it was still a thing, do you know what ever happened to those pods?!
@@logoed they were sold to some friends of the airlock
@@wccbulletsfly Do they have them open to let people play on them?
I would kill to get one of these
Love to play mw5 on one of these
I've played over 400 missions at the MN Fallout Shelter Arcade. They just closed their main location in the winter of 2019.
Dude! If u just said u got these from Albuquerque, you got them from Hinkle family fun center. I legit played on these exact pods
Indeed I did. For the last few years they were there I was going down and servicing them s few times a year. When they decided to replace them with a new attraction I procured them.
@@pharaohvwe2475 that's the coolest man. Thanks for keeping the childhood love of mechs alive
I want to make MWO into a Simulator for Arcades when the pandemic passes
The biggest issue with mwo and mechwarrior 5 is splitting the screens. I can make the rio work with it but splitting it into 7 screens is rough.
@@pharaohvwe2475 Ah well. My family and I always loved MW4. Let me know if you ever get those sims to Toronto. Ill promote the hell out of them
@@goflyakitefilms You get them in Toronto and I catch wind I'll be there!
Imagine paring these pods with oculos or similar vr headset!
Wow amazing . wold we awesome if MWO or MW5 runs on modded version
Lucky dog
I really want play this it would be playing mw5 on a whole new level get some texture packs as well it well be the ultimate experience
man I'd love to have this for MW games.
Me too but splitting the screens would be rough. The rio just translates the buttons to key commands though. Plus each pc needs to be updated. Not a big deal with 4 pods but with sites that have 16 it would be costly.
lets not forget if you do Clan setups too, they ran in stars, which was 5 to a group... instead of the standard 4 to a lance that the inner sphere has run for... well always....
@@mikewhitaker2880 when I had 12 pods we ran a lot of star on star matches for our clan wars.
I grew up basically playing in North Pier in Chicago, version 1 or 2. This is amazing and brings back memories. Any place to play in DFW Texas?
Check out mechcorps for tx pods. They take them to conventions as well. There is an old 3.0 set in storage in dallas as well.
@@pharaohvwe2475 you're amazing, thank you! Legend.
I remember at the old roller skating rink we used to have, there used to be an arcade machine assorts, Mechwarrior 4 Vengeance. You sat in a chair and had the monitor in front of you with the joy stick controls to your right and everything. It took quarters to play, and when you did it put you in some form of survival waves with a time limit.
Has anyone seen a machine quite like that ?
Those were the tsunami pods. They were just a quick and dirty shooter with the mech 4 graphics.they could load several games on it all FPS with minimal controls. Just throttle and joystick.
Anyone know if these are up and running somewhere the public can go play?
Mechcorps in Houston has a public venue
If anyone knows what happened to the pods at the Gold Coast, Australia please reply here! They were at the Intencity arcade at the Pacific Fair shopping centre. I dreamed to snap them up myself, but alas I was merely a highschool student who knew it would be a later-life regret to not own one.
Ask in the vwe Facebook group. They would have a good idea.
What was the Mac that was the heart of the unit?
I played these (Version 2s, I think) in Chicago in the early 90s. I would love to do so again.
For 4.0 I cannot remember I just remember the pro 90's propwash would remember. I know there is a set of 4.0 hardware out there
As I recall it was an LC or LC II? It only handled syncing the games across the pods, nothing with the game engine itself. Lysosome would know.
I saw the Version 3 coffin pods on Shipping Wars tonight. I completely forgot about them! I knew I saw them before and finally remembered where. At 21st Century Comics in East Lansing Michigan in 2010. Anyone play them at that location?
That was me in that episode. Those two days of filming sucked.
@@pharaohvwe2475 awesome man! Two days of filming for such a short skit?!
@@PubeStache ya their truck was too small they wanted to film each piece separately. It was really a bad experience. Any piece they missed or didn't like they had me remove and re put it back in the trailer.
@@pharaohvwe2475 wow.. thats crazy
If only we had the source code to these machines for a source port of the game!
When i was at VWE for training to be a site tech for these, i asked them about the source code, and they just kinda looked at each other and said "we have no idea where it is"
@@lyrebirdfurniture522 shame. If only someone found it!
I was one of the guys that rebuilt a full set of V4 pods for their run at the Gamewize LAN center in Plano, TX. A couple of the guys on our team were developers and were the ones that got RP to run on the V4 pods. I am pretty sure that they got the source for that.
@@hamhouke you should definitely ask them about it and see if they can open source it. They could probably ask catalyst about licensing
@@hamhouke contact for them?
would love to have something like this for MWO matches... but even trying to use a flight control joystick like i did for MW 3 "and the joystick was magic in MW 3", runs like crap on MWO... apparently it has to be a console controller like one from XBox "which is a pain for me to use", or use mouse and keyboard.... clunky at the best of times... but there ya go.....
Where can someone get a copy of the software?
You would have to speak with virtualworld entertainment
This guy did not make a wrong turn at Albuquerque
Love it!
Omg!! I'm 33 but can you adopt me as your son?
Someone needs to dump this into a ROM. It can definitely work with some custom emulator running with a VR headset. All you need then are a joystick, throttle, and rudder pedals!
So you are the dude that bought the ones from Hinkle. I tried to purchase them in 16 but they did not want to sell them at that time.
Yup I had been working on theirs for years. Great group of folks.
I would love to purchase a set but man are they hard to come by now.
@@ygrtmx yes they are. Fun to have tough to keep running.
Did you end up buying back the pods from Xela and his father?
Not all of those were his to sell. Those went to canada. The ones I have now I got from New Mexico.
Very cool! Maybe you could swap information/tips with the guys at www.mechcorps.com - they own about 12 of the v4 pods (light beige color, though) and have added wheels to their bases to make them 'portable' - and take them to various conventions, including DragonCon (except for 2020 - thanks, Covid. :( )
I played in them at the Dave & Busters in Marietta, GA starting in the mid-to-late 90's. They were always this style of pod, but MW4 hadn't come out yet.
I have worked with the mechcorps folks in the past. Good group. I actually played at a world tournament at that atlanta D&B under my old callsign.
@@pharaohvwe2475 Cool! I still have my Virtual World ID card with my original callsign. :D
What kind video card on at MFD gets 5 screens?
Nvidia geforce2 dual head pci. The pc's themselves run 3 video cards one agp 2 pci. The agp is for the main the second is for the radar. The dual port runs all 5 mfd's.
@@pharaohvwe2475 so use a VGA adapter? For mfd? Need 2 or 1.
@jamesdargon all of the ports are vga ports. For the MFD's the 5 displays are actually just one long image split up where each displays part of the big image. Each vga has a red green and blue out and one of each is sent to an mfd. They are in black and white so the color doesn't matter. Then a green plexi is added in front to provide the green color.
@@pharaohvwe2475 so connect to the board. For MFD?
@jamesdargon each mdf is a small vga monitor. There is a vga splitter off of each port on the dual head pci card.
I know what these are bucko!
Na I don't think so. Can you remember that far back?
No candidate ever past a Master trial that I defended!
@@stephenskierski5633 did anyone play with you back then? Or just serker?
I want that pot so I can play mechwarrior five
They can run mw5 but only on one screen and you have to upgrade the pc from the win 2k they are currently running. Mw5 sadly would not support the 7 screens in the pod
@@pharaohvwe2475 damn that would be cool AF if it did but still cool that it can run MW5
@@blakeforbes768 ya in the end it would just be a monitor and pc with the basic controls
The minister faces down where a beam splitter projects the image from the minister onto a mirror that's at a 45 degree angle? Something about that kind of hardware setup seems very wrong.
It creates a larger viewing experience that moves with you. Works very well.
@@pharaohvwe2475 Will you be posting any videos of how the mirror setup works and calibrated?
@@mysoulwanders if you would like sure. I posted other videos with it taken apart and showing how it works.
@@pharaohvwe2475 If you could do a quick version of it I’d appreciate it. I scanned through your older videos I didn’t see one that reviewed the optical effect technique for the main monitor and how it’s constructed and aligned. Thank you
Here I thought "Steel Battalion" had a stupidly overpriced controller to make a game. Which needs the whole controller set up to play the game. This. This is on another scale.
Why didn't you show us anything? You posted a stock photo of the inside while the actual units are right behind you.
They weren't running at that time. I show it in detail in other videos after I get them running as well as button function.
@@pharaohvwe2475 Cool. Imma check em out.
Why can’t ONE PLACE restore these Pods to Play Mechwarrior 5 Mercenaries with Rights from piranha Games?
It would require upgrading each pc. But the main reason is that mw5 does not support 7 monitors
"People haven't played them in over a decade"
Try two decades.