33 replies to this topic

[X Man]

Any one here an old school Virtual World Master pilot?

I used to play Costa Mesa under the call sign "Gideon"

[Rayspace]

I played in Houston, call sign "Armageddon" they flew me to the first nationals in San Diego, in what 1993? I enjoyed that competition! I have an Order of Burton pin laying around here somewhere LOL

[X Man]

For those unfamilar with Virtual World sites. They were retail game play centers with mech pods (simulators). In a typical session you were networked with 7 other pilots besides yourself. teams were 4v4 unless you played agianst other virtual world sites in tournaments when it was 8v8 as well as FFA. game play was anywhere from 4 - 7 dollars a game if I remember right with the price going down as you logged more game time. They had different award pins you could earn with one being for Master status. to be come a master you had to defeat at least 2 other masters in 1v1 combat and at least survive the 3rd in a lotted amount of time without dieing. needless to say it wasn't real easy to pass. I was the second person at the Costa Mesa site to attain master status.

Edited by X Man, 01 July 2012 - 10:54 PM.

[phelan]

Never got to play enough to earn a Master pin, but I did love the original site at North Pier in Chicago.

I'm actually up in Grand Rapids, MI now about 15 minutes from where the majority of the pods now reside. Need to start getting out there again and having some nostalgic fun. Of course, with MWO coming so soon now...

[X Man]

Harusee, on 01 July 2012 - 09:21 PM, said:

I played in Houston, call sign "Armageddon" they flew me to the first nationals in San Diego, in what 1993? I enjoyed that competition! I have an Order of Burton pin laying around here somewhere LOL

Ya, I actually remember seeing your name around I played San Diego a few times as well. Thier masters initially used to come and conduct master trials at Costa Mesa. In fact "Hunter" was the last one I killed to get my master pin. We had a fairly tight click of pilots that hung out together if you remember Boingo, Buck Dew, Shyster, ECT.

[ORIGINAL SteelWolf]

Post pics of the pins W/mission sheets or it didn't happen!

[Schtirlitz]

Never been there but can see it was fun!

[Rayspace]

ORIGINAL SteelWolf, on 01 July 2012 - 09:44 PM, said:

Post pics of the pins W/mission sheets or it didn't happen!

Mission sheets from 1992 - 93? probably not gonna happen however I did find my pin

Edited by Harusee, 02 July 2012 - 06:06 AM.

[Rayspace]

phelan, on 01 July 2012 - 09:31 PM, said:

Never got to play enough to earn a Master pin, but I did love the original site at North Pier in Chicago.

I'm actually up in Grand Rapids, MI now about 15 minutes from where the majority of the pods now reside. Need to start getting out there again and having some nostalgic fun. Of course, with MWO coming so soon now...

The new pods use a version of MW4. They actually just closed the track 21 location here in Houston. The pods are fun for the immersion factor but being able to play this new game is going to eat into their business I am thinking.

[X Man]

ORIGINAL SteelWolf, on 01 July 2012 - 09:44 PM, said:

Post pics of the pins W/mission sheets or it didn't happen!

Lol, I wish I had my pin still along with the thousands of battletech cards from the CCG we used to play in the pilots loung in between missions. I would also be very impressed if people actually still had thier mission logs from clear back in the 90's

[Xantars]

hey X Man you recall my name... I earned my Masters title while stationed at Ft Hood you to play about a dozen matches each weekend

[X Man]

Xantars, on 01 July 2012 - 11:16 PM, said:

hey X Man you recall my name... I earned my Masters title while stationed at Ft Hood you to play about a dozen matches each weekend

sorry I don't, If I knew pilot names from other sites it was becuase they participated in site to site tournements. Or I visited that site at one time or another.

[phelan]

Harusee, on 01 July 2012 - 10:11 PM, said:

The new pods use a version of MW4. They actually just closed the track 21 location here in Houston. The pods are fun for the immersion factor but being able to play this new game is going to eat into their business I am thinking.

I don't think that anyone is relying on the pods these days to hold up a profitable business. They're more of a fun thing to do when they get trucked down to events and GenCon, etc.

And yeah, MW4, that's really the main reason I haven't been all over the pods since moving back up here. I've never really been a huge fan of that generation of the franchise. Much too arcade with a sim-glosscoat for my tastes. MW2 was my golden age. MWO looks like a really nice place to be so far.

[Nairdowell]

Used to play at the Dave and Buster's in Atlanta... couldn't go often as time/cash was limited, but had a great time.... think I may still have my card around somewhere (and no, not a master... but I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night...)

[Rayspace]

phelan, on 02 July 2012 - 04:10 AM, said:

I don't think that anyone is relying on the pods these days to hold up a profitable business. They're more of a fun thing to do when they get trucked down to events and GenCon, etc.

And yeah, MW4, that's really the main reason I haven't been all over the pods since moving back up here. I've never really been a huge fan of that generation of the franchise. Much too arcade with a sim-glosscoat for my tastes. MW2 was my golden age. MWO looks like a really nice place to be so far.

You can check out the Mechcorps website here. They are planning on reopening in Houston later this summer at a new location. The last time I talked to them they had 12 pods they could field if I am remembering correctly. They do make a lot of their money on convention tours according to the site operator I was talking to. This game may change their business.

[CL_Kodiak]

Virtual World Chicago here!

Kodiak was my callsign back then, I would give anything to even see half of my mission printouts

Half of them got tossed while I was there, and the rest I brought home and tried to save got tossed or packed away somewhere.

My buttons were on my old coat I wore there for years - I cant even tell you whos house that thing got left at years ago!

Funny - what didn't mean much to me back when I was younger would mean so much to have now!

[Bongo TauKat]

I used to work at the Hazard Center Virtual World in San Diego. I started right when they switched to the Tesla 4.0 system. The whole master vevel play with 50 some controls and multiple MFDs just rocked. All they needed was cockpit articulation and movement. With that, you would never have guessed it was a simulator.

The problem was with the switch to the MW4 engine. After that, you were better off just playing at home. I played a couple of times at Dave and Busters in Ohio, but the feel was gone. Where as the Virtual World sites with their 19th century explorer motif and comfy chairs to make us geeks feel at home, Dave and Busters had some tables next to a bunch of drunk ****** bags. Even the mission review was simply two monitors next to the pods.

The original sites will always rock. A great place to go to hang with fellow mechjocks and blow things up.

[Rayspace]

Kodiak Steiner, on 02 July 2012 - 06:17 AM, said:

Virtual World Chicago here!

Kodiak was my callsign back then, I would give anything to even see half of my mission printouts

Half of them got tossed while I was there, and the rest I brought home and tried to save got tossed or packed away somewhere.

My buttons were on my old coat I wore there for years - I cant even tell you whos house that thing got left at years ago!

Funny - what didn't mean much to me back when I was younger would mean so much to have now!

I have a few of my other pins I managed to dredge up. The 50 and 100 mission pins and the black and yellow Battletech pin. I have a Kurita jacket patch around here somewhere but have not been able to find it. I threw them in a shoe box one or three moves back and some of them managed to make it to today. Houston never had a proper Virtual World site. The first was in a mall and noisy as hell. The second was Dave and Busters which blows chunks. This last was at Track 21 which was an indoor kart racing facility, the fumes got to me quick even with all the fans they have venting the place. I look forward to them having a new site but honestly with MWO I am not sure I will be spending much time in pods anyway.

[Elwood Blues]

X Man, on 01 July 2012 - 09:36 PM, said:

Ya, I actually remember seeing your name around I played San Diego a few times as well. Thier masters initially used to come and conduct master trials at Costa Mesa. In fact "Hunter" was the last one I killed to get my master pin. We had a fairly tight click of pilots that hung out together if you remember Boingo, Buck Dew, Shyster, ECT.

Wow, there is a trip through the wayback machine. I used to play Red Planet at Costa Mesa under Mithrandir. I remember Boingo and Buck Dew. Boingo used to drop into Red Planet a lot. I shudder to think of how much money I spent there.

Edited by Elwood Blues, 02 July 2012 - 09:11 AM.

[X Man]

Elwood Blues, on 02 July 2012 - 09:09 AM, said:

Wow, there is a trip through the wayback machine. I used to play Red Planet at Costa Mesa under Mithrandir. I remember Boingo and Buck Dew. Boingo used to drop into Red Planet a lot. I shudder to think of how much money I spent there.

your name seems familar, did you work for a computer company?