BattleTech Centers
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BattleTech Centers were commercial virtual entertainment venues that featured multiplayer virtual combat in the fictional BattleTech universe of fighting robots. The centers were created and operated by Virtual World Entertainment LLC.
The first center opened in Chicago in 1990, with others in Tokyo and Yokohama following in 1991. Eventually 26 such centers were built and included other game types and more elaborate operations. Each centers featured at least 16 networks "pods" designed in part by Frog Design.
By 1992 or 1993, patrons could compete against players in other centers across the country. Red Planet was the first non-BattleTech game added, and involved racing through the canals of Mars using anti-grav mining carts.
Virtual World Entertainment eventually sold their center operations, instead putting their efforts into FASA Interactive and focusing on computer-hosted network battles on home computers.
[edit] External links
- Virtual World Entertainment LLC - the people who made the BattleTech Centers
- "Battletech's New Beachheads" by Linda Jacobsen, Wired Magazine, number 1.03, July/August 1993
- 1999 Review of the Chicago BattleTech center
- [http://www.dropshipcommand.com/article.cgi?show=2 Page describing the pods, including a labelled picture of the controls
