This was just one of the technological solutions which CT applied to interpret the concept laid down by Rod George at Denham. They also drew on some of the projection techniques which their sister company in the US had implemented at recent E3 expos (America’s leading games forum), and imported some special holographic screens from their San Francisco office which had earlier been featured at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
At E3, the special screen film material had been mounted on glass partitions, but in London they were deployed in a different configuration. CT’s Darren Alexander, who project managed the PlayStation feature on behalf of CT Exhibitions, explained: "There were four 60" diagonal holographic screens, positioned back to back, each projected onto by a Christie X6 and driven from a PlayStation 2, to magnify the different games being played."
Situated in the foyer, holographic screens were the first feature that visitors saw as they arrived. The Watchout display, programmed in-house by Dave Boek, featured generic background images, with different game inserts moving around the display, which curved around the stage. The three central screens measured 6.5m wide x 3.5m high, and the edge screens were in portrait shape, 3.5m high x 2m wide.
Alexander explained that the show was presented as one continuous musical extravaganza, featuring live bands and special effects, with the audio synched to the Watchout. All screens were driven by a Folsom ScreenPro Plus 1603 multi-screen presentation switcher, delivering seamless transitions between sources, which supported the centre screens. The Folsom mixed and routed five channels of Watchout and five channels of back-up Watchout. Other sources were fed to the screens in the stage area, which included a feed from a Konami dance machine, a further PlayStation in a separate ‘challenge’ area and external cameras. The three main screens were Christie X10 Roadies, while VGX7000’s were used on outer screens (all projectors were backed up using the same combination).
