99 replies to this topic

[Aoi Esq]

Manteuffel, on 21 June 2012 - 12:50 PM, said:

I still have a tshirt with a Vulture on it. Not to mention my Battletech Center jacket with my mission pins on it. I should post them on here.

I even kept my AAR (after action reports). I have several hundred of them. Including one where I beat Maccaulay Culkin!

Haha - I remember playing Culkin one time as well. IIRC, he was acting pretty bonkers, and as if he owned the place.

And ditto on the jacket and mission pins ^^

[Frstrm]

Still alive and kicking.

-Firestorm
(damn whippersnappers keep taking my call-sign)

[Aoi Esq]

Manteuffel, on 21 June 2012 - 12:55 PM, said:

Dude, I played many times with Thumper and Badger also! If you are talking about the ones in Chicago, then we probably met. My callsign was Poseidon. Ever played with Banshee?

Banshee was one of the best pilots I ever saw. Also a really great guy. I actually remember his real name, even after all this time (not that I kept in touch with him).

I also remember the name Man Mountain Bob. Actually, was he the guy from Bosnia who worked there for a while? Could be misremembering that one...

[Aoi Esq]

Frstrm, on 21 June 2012 - 01:29 PM, said:

Still alive and kicking.

-Firestorm
(damn whippersnappers keep taking my call-sign)

Happen to remember a 12-14 year old kid there with his father one weekend - all weekend - every few months? I definitely knew a Firestorm but, as you note, it's not exactly a unique name

[Lobinoph]

I have a good friend that worked for FASA, and I believe still does writing for the Battletech universe.

[Teirdome]

The center that used to be in Colorado Springs was closed down and turned into a call center. Unfortunately I was out of town when they auctioned off the pods, but I've always wondered who wound up with them.

Edited by Teirdome, 21 June 2012 - 01:51 PM.

[Manteuffel]

PropWash, on 21 June 2012 - 01:10 PM, said:

There are quite few. We also have a Virtual World Facebook group that is fairly active.

Ohhh I know you Propwash! I went to college in Kalamazoo.

[Manteuffel]

Frstrm, on 21 June 2012 - 01:29 PM, said:

Still alive and kicking.

-Firestorm
(damn whippersnappers keep taking my call-sign)

Is this the same Firestorm that participated in the cross-center tournaments? I think I have at least heard of you also.

Aoi Esq, on 21 June 2012 - 01:32 PM, said:

Banshee was one of the best pilots I ever saw. Also a really great guy. I actually remember his real name, even after all this time (not that I kept in touch with him).

I also remember the name Man Mountain Bob. Actually, was he the guy from Bosnia who worked there for a while? Could be misremembering that one...

Banshee was an awesome pilot. Always had tough matches with him. Mountain Bob used to play at nights in Chicago.

[Sauron]

Also not from the original VWE centers days, but I was a regular @ the Palisades D&B, SEC. I was also an employee @ D&B for about 6 months. I then bought the 8 pods when D&B's lease ended and ran them out of my basement in NJ (aka the Pompton Podbay) for 4.5 years before I sold them in 2009. My babies are now up in Minnesota. I miss them. I've since relocated to the Dallas, TX area and am still a very active pilot in both Firestorm and Red Planet. (almost time to head over to the site for some martian football) SO IDK if I count in your book, but I've played in tesla 3 pods and have played Tesla 4 (BT and RP) and Firestorm since 2003, as much as I can, love the pods' experience above all other ways to play.

we have some other threads on these forums with pilots checking in as well:

http://mwomercs.com/...81-vgl-vwe-ddc/
http://mwomercs.com/...e__hl__cockpits
http://mwomercs.com/...ation-cockpits/
http://mwomercs.com/...ch-in-the-pods/

etc, I'm sure I missed some threads, but plenty of old pilots showing back up here and there.

[Gozer]

I used to play at the Dave and Busters in Rancho Cucamunga, CA.

I would drop $100 a night on that so everyone could play. I wanted maximum players in those pods to have fun!

[ORIGINAL SteelWolf]

Atayu, on 21 June 2012 - 12:44 PM, said:

Good old Tesla II pod's. I have a post about that somewhere around here. I want MWO to allow us to split things off the main screen like enemy mech readout, radar and stuff. so we can make our own pods

Damn Strait!

[cheese]

Cheese reporting in. I'm an old-timer from the waning days of the Chicago BattleTech Center. Not as experienced as folks like Darklord, but I remember many fun games there.

[PirateLincoln]

I miss the Virtual World in Indianapolis.

[xfreewater]

I used to live in Atlanta.. and played at the D&B west side Pods a long time. I remember there was a Lone Wolf working at the place. Had great time and almost bought 1 of the pods when they were selling, but decided the 6k was a bit too much. I still have my 50 mission pin. I can't seem to find the rest. A bunch of my friends at UoI in Urbana would drive up to Chicago and play.

Teirdome, on 21 June 2012 - 01:49 PM, said:

The center that used to be in Colorado Springs was closed down and turned into a call center. Unfortunately I was out of town when they auctioned off the pods, but I've always wondered who wound up with them.

It ended up at Mr. Bigs... would love to go there with some folks from Denver/Springs some night... hahaha.

[Manteuffel]

Ok, this should bring back memories to some of you old timer Battetech dudes:

[Manteuffel]

Samuel Graves, on 21 June 2012 - 02:49 PM, said:

I miss the Virtual World in Indianapolis.

I was there once for a tourney. Chicago won.

[Frstrm]

Manteuffel, on 21 June 2012 - 02:12 PM, said:

Is this the same Firestorm that participated in the cross-center tournaments? I think I have at least heard of you also.

I worked for VWE installing the cockpit simulators for a time before I did the design/code work on Battletech:Firestorm ( and no, despite what you people think, the game wasn't named because of me ). I did participate in some of the tourneys, but mostly in the Red Planet events.

[Manteuffel]

Oh cool! When you did the design work, were you out of the southside Chicago office?

[Jalen]

Manteuffel, on 21 June 2012 - 12:32 PM, said:

I was just wondering if any of them are around. I myself played and briefly worked at the Battletech Center in Chicago at Navy Pier. My callsign was Poseidon. I played there from 1992 until it was bought up by Dave & Busters. Also played at D&B's in Detroit for a while. I have very fond memories of playing in the pods!

Send out a shout if you know what I am talking about.

As I posted in the poll page, I'm a Chicago regular as well. Started in late '92. I played pretty regularly around 1995-96 on Friday afternoons/evenings, knew a few of the employees there. I played a lot more Red Planet than BT, when they went to the Tesla pods before BT did. I did see them at Dave & Buster's as well and was shocked as hell to see them there! I had no idea they were there at the time! Played in Indy a few times as well, as I moved down there in 1997, but nothing rivaled the Chicago setup and the Chicago employees. Great people all around.

There was a dude who went by Soldat that worked there that we used to play with regularly and my friend lost a name challenge to him and had to change his name to "Ma Bite" which apparently was a French way to describe the male genetalia. And I lost a color challenge to Meabe in Red Planet and could never play "Mellow Yellow" again

I still have well over a hundred mission reports somewhere in a box around here, I should scan a few of 'em in one of these days!

[Mason Storm]

We used to have a quad set of pods at Jillian's around here until Virtual World bought them. Played quite often.... and still get to play every year at DragonCon. Usually fork out a good penny but it is vacation!