99 replies to this topic

[Blacke]

I used to play when the Chicago Center was still around and they would link all the centers together for tournaments.

[Argent Tnega]

My gaming group and I play tested for a day at the one in Chicago. One of the members did some writing or something for the company so he invited us in for the afternoon. Played at that one once or twice, and when some of the pods moved to that club in Aurora, IL I played there. I still have the virtual worlds card from there. Callsign: Ranger

[RoboCyberMummy]

uglyman, on 21 June 2012 - 01:15 PM, said:

I am not one of the old BattleTech Center Employees... I AM a current BattleTech Center Owner... does that count? Or am I just the man now?

Seriously though I have a whole bunch of the guys that used to work at the Wizards Of The Coast Game Center in Seattle back around the turn of the millenium. They come here at The Airlock in Kirkland WA all the time, or at least keep in touch on facebook or w/e. We also frequently see some of the VWE guys like Firestorm, _Mantis_, Arioch, Super, Dr. Cuervo, and others... People who worked for the original VWE sites likely know those guys!

Holy crap! The ugly one has surfaced!

[syngyne]

Old Dallas employee. We only ever had the system 3.0 pods.

[Saevus]

It always seems, that these things would be in a town far away from me, I'd move close to them and the center would close down. I had a buddy once play in Chicago and he brought back some mission reports and some other things (i want to say pins, maybe a T-Shirt, been a long time and my memory is going) but I was jealous as all get out. I hadn't thought of these things in years until I saw this thread, only to realize I was living next to them for years and then recently moved.

Me and a buddy from my current TT group were just joking at work today how we should build full on mock-ups of cockpits and smoke cigars while we wear berets and play MWO. I had no idea they had updated those things and some were still running, looks like we need to roadtrip.

[Sgt Hatred]

Let's see...

Denver pilot. Played for years, won a few tournament events, worked on the pods for a few years both as an employee and not, got more pins than a chinese phonebook... or is that chins?

A number of you relic pilots might know me from the Denver world tournament. I was part of the Guild of Calamitous Intent. We won CTF without a single flag capture.

Edited by Sgt Hatred, 21 June 2012 - 05:07 PM.

[DireWolf421]

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

Manteuffel, on 21 June 2012 - 12:48 PM, said:

Atayu...that would be awesome. I always loved the feeling of immersion the Tesla II pods gave you. It felt more real than sitting in front of a monitor at home.

The Tesla II pods where nice compared to the Tesla 1 pods when I first started at the old Virtual World place here in Dallas back in the early to mid 90's. Too bad Virtual World closed their location here in Dallas before they got the Tesla II pods. I used to have all of the flight manuals from there and even the preview of the Tesla II pod manual.

Even had some of the old patches from their. Never got my masters pin, the GM Isis at that location legged the hell out of me during my masters test.

But really those where fun times for me, a bottle or two of Jolt Cola and I was ready to take on the universe!.
Favorite pod then was "Call of the Wild"
Favorite line "Bug class! Go fast Go Splat!" (I ran a flea in Red Planet runs)

I think one weekend I spent over half of my paycheck during a tourney they where having then... (single+geek= avid gamer=no life) lol

[DireWolf421]

Manteuffel, on 21 June 2012 - 03:23 PM, said:

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

Oh MAN! I remember these from VW Dallas when it was at the United Theater on US 75. I hated them mission debriefs!!! lol

[Robovski]

I played in Chicago a few times - those were some fast hours. Used to love the advert of water that used to run on the screens

[syngyne]

Manteuffel, on 21 June 2012 - 03:23 PM, said:

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

Hah... I still think I have the debrief from my master trial floating around somewhere.

[Sgt Hatred]

They changed rules after my buddy, Rabid Squirrel, won his master trials. I was always just a hair's breadth from completing the master's trial with the Hollander II.

[The Banshee]

Hey Everybody,

Banshee here. Manager at the old Chicago and Indianapolis Sites. Nice to see some of the old Battletech Center players still up and kicking! Looking forward to having some mech blasting fun once this baby goes live. Just waiting for my beta status to change from "pending"!

[Mad Mage]

Manteuffel, on 21 June 2012 - 03:23 PM, said:

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

Just so no one thinks poorly of you. Whisper was a Manager at BTC and one of the best pilots ever. Thumper was a employee and a very good pilot also. Plus the Loki V3 at that time was a PPC platform with legs, 4 PPC 2 Med 2 Small lasers and a SRM 6pack that would have its ammo dumped at the start. It also had Max armor and was the slowest mech at that time.

[Mad Mage]

The Banshee, on 21 June 2012 - 07:53 PM, said:

Hey Everybody,

Banshee here. Manager at the old Chicago and Indianapolis Sites. Nice to see some of the old Battletech Center players still up and kicking! Looking forward to having some mech blasting fun once this baby goes live. Just waiting for my beta status to change from "pending"!

Hey Banshee! welcome home!

[Darklord]

Started as a player in 90 ended as a Manager in 97
Boy how i miss the BattleTech center those were the days

AGAIN!

DL

[DEADTIME]

Used the pasadena facility when it still existed, loved the all day Christmas day games. Moved out of Kalifornia to a free state about 5 years ago but still fondly remember that place.

[MADEVIL]

I'm a player from the Chicago center, my callsign was PEACEMAKER. I still have a bunch of my sheets and my pins.

[evanjellyo]

brings back memories, still got some pods down hear in queensland forggoten where have to ask the folks agen.
the pods are still going at the pacific fair shopping center down hear at the gold coast for us aussies, gona have to go down there agen and kick some but

Edited by evanjellyo, 22 June 2012 - 12:25 AM.

[Manteuffel]

The Banshee, on 21 June 2012 - 07:53 PM, said:

Hey Everybody, Banshee here. Manager at the old Chicago and Indianapolis Sites. Nice to see some of the old Battletech Center players still up and kicking! Looking forward to having some mech blasting fun once this baby goes live. Just waiting for my beta status to change from "pending"!

Banshee!! What a blast from the past! Not sure if you remember me, but we had many matches together. My initial callsign was Droid and later changed to Poseidon. You were one of the best pilots ever in the game!

And I just saw that Darklord is around too. Folks, the entire MWO community is toast. May as well eject from your Mechs now!

[Manteuffel]

Mad Mage, on 21 June 2012 - 07:53 PM, said:

Just so no one thinks poorly of you. Whisper was a Manager at BTC and one of the best pilots ever. Thumper was a employee and a very good pilot also. Plus the Loki V3 at that time was a PPC platform with legs, 4 PPC 2 Med 2 Small lasers and a SRM 6pack that would have its ammo dumped at the start. It also had Max armor and was the slowest mech at that time.

Thanks for the support Mad Mage. As you may notice from the date, that was from the early days of my Battletech career. A full 20 years ago. Wow, I am getting old!

And yes, I did get my butt kicked many times by Thumper and Whisper. That's how I learned though. I even have a video (in VHS format!!) of one of our matches together.