The Virtual World 3.0 Cockpits

ArchonTurtle

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Hey gang,

So I've been posting around about my set of Virtual World 3.0 cockpits (as I restore them). In doing so, it has become clear to me that the majority of you don't know what I'm talking about when I say that. So I thought I should throw a post up explaining what they are.

In the early 90's, a chain of location based entertainment "digital themeparks" called Virtual World opened for business. These locations featured networked cockpit based virtual reality simulators. These cockpits would link via Arcnet, and Users could play one of two games. One called Battletech (based on the FASA property of the same name) where you pilot giant robots against eachother, and the other called Red Planet, where you fly around a futuristic Mars. These ofcourse are very simplified explanations.

Over the course of Virtual World's life, there have been several versions of cockpits. Infact, their last itteration, the Tesla Firestorm cockpits, are still in service in independent venues today (http://www.VirtualWorld.com).

My cockpits are the 3.0 cockpits, which were the most widely distributed cockpits during the Virtual World retail location period. The cockpits themselves were manufacured under contract by Bally/Midway and and extremely complex. Each cockpit features 2 monitors. A 25 inch WG k8000 (bleeeeeeh), and a smaller 13 inch WG that displayed the cockpit radar. The cockpits are controlled with a 3 button joystick, a 1 button throttle, and foot pedals. On either side of the monitor, there are 6 "racks" of LED displays that output weapon information. 3 buttons under each of these displays allows the user to reassign these weapons to various joystick buttons on the fly. A series of rocker switches above the monitor toggle various control modes, and a cluster of buttons around the radar control the radars various settings.

"Missions" are setup and launched via a command console (A Macintosh Centris 650) and after each mission, a replay of the game is played on a seperate Mac, and each user is given a hard copy of the scoresheet for their review.

Each cockpit is approximately 8ftx3ftx4ft. I currently have 6 of them.

Below are some pictures and videos of the cockpits. Let me know if you have any questions :)

BTW, KLOV does have these cockpit in the database as "BATTLETECH" which really isn't accurate as that is simply one of the software packages they play.

One of the 6 cockpits
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A cockpit, split in half. here you can see a majority of the interface displays

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The command console

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A video of me flying around on a course in the Red Planet game. Not the most exciting when its just one person flying, but a good demo video.



This isn't my video, but this is what Battletech gameplay looks like (this is a camera view)

 
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Holy Crap! Cool thread, man!!!

Cab looks awesome. Red Planet reminds me of that Dire Straits video. I keep expecting to see polygon movers carrying refrigerators. :)
 
I have only played in the Battletech egg pods. There was a place in Dallas that was only BAttletech pods where you could pay by the hour or for the day. VGcorp in Dallas owns the pods and brings them out every once and a while.
 
Those pics look familiar!

Tore down a few walls since then.

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Old pics, but you get the point ;)
 
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Walls: The building had 4 rooms. Now it has 2.

Price: 3.0 cockpits would probably cost 3-10K for a set of 8 working..If you find a seller.

Price: Tesla cockpits. A year ago a set of 8 was $25,000.00. This year, I havnt found anyone interested in selling for less than $35,000+ for a set of working 8.
 
7.5 3.0 pods were recently recovered from storage near New Jersey. They were transported to Michigan for restoration.
 
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