Editing BattleTech (section)

===BattleTech Center===
The ''BattleTech'' creators' goal of creating an immersive BattleMech simulation came about 1990 with the opening of the first [[BattleTech Centers|BattleTech Center]] at the North Pier Mall in Chicago. The BattleTech Center featured 16 networked, full-sized cockpits or "pods" that resembled a BattleMech cockpit with over 80 separate controls. Each player selected a 'Mech to pilot into combat against up to seven other human players in the other cockpits. Virtual World Entertainment, the company that managed the centers, later opened many other Virtual World centers around the world. It later merged with FASA Interactive Technologies (FIT) to form Virtual World Entertainment Group (VWEG) in order to better capitalize on FASA's properties.  In 1999, [[Microsoft Corporation]] purchased VWEG to integrate FIT into Microsoft Game Studios and sold VWE.{{citation needed|date=May 2018}}  VWE continues to develop and support the current ''BattleTech'' VR platform called the Tesla II system, featuring ''BattleTech: Firestorm''.{{citation needed|date=May 2018}} Members of the "pod" ownership community continue to update the software and hardware for the Tesla II cockpits (e.g., by developing kits that allow to replace the original [[CRT monitor]]s with modern [[Liquid-crystal display|LCD]] ones<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mechjock.com/?p=33|title=MechJock.Com the home of Virtual World Entertainment LLC. - Tesla II Cockpits getting custom MFD LCDs}}</ref>) for both private, commercial, and convention use.