STEEL BATTALION: LINE OF CONTACT
- 2 PLAYER SIMULATOR
A
B
This is a special project to allow two players to play Steel Battalion Head to Head. Steel Battalion is a game where you
pilot a large Battletech/MechWarrior style walking vertical tank. You use over 40 controls to operate it and it is the most
immersive video game you can own to date. The controller can be attached to PC's with a special USB dongle purchased
separately.
GOALS
My goal was to to make them portable (wheels on the bottom and easy to move
in place and put away when not in use) I wanted to minimize the hardware by
reusing existing TV's already in place and simply repurpose them temporarily
when I want to play this game in either single player or using both for two
player competition.
OUTCOME
Cockpit A
simply rolls in front of a TV (mounted about 3 feet above the floor)
Cockpit B
rolls in front of the
ArcadeX cabinet and uses a
Freznel lens to correct the angle and pull the image forward 3 feet to be above
the controls. The Lens doesn't look very good here because the light is overly
magnified since I took the picture from several feet back. When up close the
game image fits perfectly framed and gives you a slight curve on the edges which
enhances the 3D wraparound effect the lens already gives you.
DESIGN
Requires two Steel Battalion Kits and two copies of "Line of Contact" (the 2nd multiplayer release of
the Steel Battalion software)
The two systems are powered by standard XBOX consoles that are networked together with a Linksys Hub and have the final SBLoC TEKKI patch downloaded form XBox Live.
I repurposed two microwave stands and added a larger top to pull the controls
over the lap of the player and placing foot controls farther back to match the
feel of something like sitting in a car .
Steel Battalion by Capcom can only be purchased used from vendors eBay or Amazon Marketplace.
