Battletech: Firestorm in Kirkland, WA

[avrame]

Any Battletech fans hear about this before? I loved the old comp games, including the later MechAssault games, but this is the first I heard about this.

I noticed on slickdeals.net, they have a special for 11 missions/matches for $20 (50% off normal pricing) and decided to read up on it.

From the jist of it, it looks like Battletech/Mechassault gameplay, played with a Steel Battalion controller, all packed in a moving pod/arcade unit, with 5 display monitors. Looks freakin gorgeous.

To local Washingtonites, anyone try this? if not:

Website of the arcade/site
Coupon deal on Slickdeals
Gameplay video
Wiki link for other locations

[fastbilly1]

We did a podcast with one of the other VWE groups still running a while back. The pods dont move, and its alot more involved than a Steel Battalion controller, but it is a whole mess of alot of fun.

VWE = Virtual World Entertainment. They released a product called a Tesla pod, which is what you play Battletech and Red Planet in.

[avrame]

The pods dont move

Hehe, my mistake, I guess the shakey arm camera and the moving HUD gave me the idea that the unit moves

[fastbilly1]

The pods dont move

Hehe, my mistake, I guess the shakey arm camera and the moving HUD gave me the idea that the unit moves

Its cool, the machine couldnt handle the output. I have talked with several guys who own pods about this and to add motion would be alot of work that they could not do - the game is inherently MW4. We are hoping that MWO will have pod/pit support so several of us can build our own at home.

[Phades]

I've actually gone to that with a bunch of my friends. 8 of us rented out the place for a couple hours and played. It was great! They have variable difficulty levels which basically boils down to how deep you want the controls to be. The game basically boils down to deathmatch or team deathmatch.

The biggest flaw in my mind is that there's no voice chat between the pods. That dampens the experience a bit. Still, highly recommended.

[dsheinem]

Here's the interview, FYI: http://www.racketboy.com/podcast/racket ... -dragoncon

[MrPopo]

Yeah, I went there once. The pods are running a modified version of MechWarrior 4 and as mentioned there are a variety of control schemes which give you more control but are harder to keep track of everything. They run a battle school thing on the weekends for new players (or people who haven't played in a while).