The initial concept for the BattleTech Center was developed by Jordan Weisman and L. Ross Babcock while they were students at the Merchant Marine Academy and being exposed to the Bridge Simulators used to train cadets.
The development of the tabletop BattleTech game by FASA in 1984, created a new avenue to explore in a virtual reality setting.
The concept of utilizing multiple networked cockpit simulators with players fighting with and against each other while piloting BattleMechs began to gel.
ESP chose Incredible Technologies, based in Vernon Hills Illinois as the initial co-developer on the project in 1988.
The primary video display would be a 24” Wells Gardner color raster monitor, providing an “out the window” view for the cockpit.
The system would be repurposed for its first public unveiling in 1989 at the Detroit Auto Show, reskinned as a Jeep racing simulator game.
Later that year, the BattleTech Center concept would be unveiled at the Summer Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago, Illinois.
The throttle would be moved to the left hand side of the cockpit, and the LED and CRT monitor layout would be retained.
To increase player interaction, courses would be one long corridor, with vehicles heading both ways, frequently under rocket powered boosters.
The CPU would be upgraded to a Texas Instruments TMS 34020, and the sound board would be redesigned to sit in the cockpit card cage, instead of behind the primary monitor.
System 3 would see the implementation of SiteLink technology, allowing cockpits at different sites in the United States to play each other via ISDN networking.
SiteLink would go live in 1994, connecting Chicago, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, Las Vegas, Denver, Walnut Creek and San Diego sites.
System 3 cockpits would go on to be deployed in Toronto, Kyoto, Sacramento, London and additional locations in Japan and Australia.
An entirely new game engine would be built around the Division Limited Pixel Planes Technology allowing for high resolution, texture mapped 3D polygons with a target, locked frame rate of 30FPS.
Internally the cockpit would be centered around a primary display that was being reflected through a beam splitter into an Infinity Optics curved mirror.
Tesla System BattleTech & Red Planet would both feature a full, mission review in 3rd person mode following the action.
BattleTech:Firestorm would support a console that would also be PC based, removing Apple Macintosh computers from the VWE cockpit system for the first time in more than 10 years.
"Red Planet" would return to Tesla II:Firestorm cockpits in 2012, with the original game ported to run using the Alienware hardware.
[citation needed] In 1991, Computer and Video Games called Battletech "definitely the most exciting interactive videogame system yet devised.
In 2005, all interest in VWE, LLC was sold to Nickolas 'PropWash' Smith and the principal offices were moved from Chicago to Kalamazoo, MI.
On March 10, 2011 USPTO transaction shows AUTOMATIC UPDATE OF ASSIGNMENT OF OWNERSHIP of assets by Smith to - Owner Name:3DCHAT.COM INC.
[7] MechCorps Entertainment LLC,[8] and VGCorps decided to refit existing Tesla II pods and take the BattleTech Center experience on the road in 2008.
Gaming, sci-fi and anime conventions (including Comicpalooza, Oni-Con, MechaCon and Dragon Con) in the southern U.S. were introduced to MechCorps' Mobile Armor Division while Virtual World Entertainment in association with MechJock LLC made appearances in the Mid-West at events including Gencon, Origins, ACEN and Youmacon.
In 2006, hardcore players in Japan purchased four Tesla pods from the U.S., and began to put together a Virtual World Center in Tokyo.
Despite many key components becoming 'Lostech' and their spare parts no longer available in market, the pods are now semi-operational, though no commercial operation has resumed yet.
re-launched its website at www.mechjock.com indicating that cockpit development continues and updated software featuring 5.07d can be played in Houston, Grand Rapids, and Minneapolis.
The Fallout Shelter Arcade closed its Taft St. location in February 2020, but continues to schedule convention attendances for the future.
[13] MechCorps Entertainment LLC moved its Houston, TX, headquarters in July 2020[14] and remains open to the public.
Aug 2020 - Craig “Pharaoh” Evans in Denver Metro Area: YouTube Channel Tesla II cockpit ownership purchased from Hinkleys Family Center.
The Center offers a look at the future of the entertainment industry and represents the leading edge of video arcade game design.