Gamers from around the globe gathered recently once again in the International Conference Centre in Katowice, Poland for the world’s biggest annual online gaming event: the Intel Extreme Masters. With this year’s event seeing gamers compete in various games such as League of Legends, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and StarCraft II, the task of designing a suitably impactful staging concept fell for the second year in a row to Polish production house, Aram. This year’s secret weapon came in the form of 16 CHAUVET Professional STRIKE 1 and 16 STRIKE 882 strobe fixtures, which Aram incorporated within a spectacular visual production including live video gaming and pyrotechnics.

“With the event expanding so dynamically in recent years, the pressure was certainly on to create new looks and breath-taking visuals for 2017,” commented Michal Mrzyglocki, CEO of Aram. “The combination of the STRIKE 1 fixtures and STRIKE 882 strobes were instrumental in allowing us to craft a number of stylistic accentuations to the main stage design.”

Mrzyglocki positioned the 16 STRIKE 1 fixtures between the two main video walls to provide purposeful and visually engaging looks. The 230W single source multi purpose LED fixtures worked as an ideal counterpoint to the gaming action cast upon the large LED screens. 

“The STRIKEs proved to be the ultimate addition to the stage design,” commented Mrzyglocki. “Not only did they provide an interesting addition to the stage visuals thanks to their blend of blinder, strobe and wash looks, their compact size ensured that they didn’t detract from the gaming action.”

Mrzyglocki was also able to incorporate the warm white tungsten glow and tungsten emulating dimming curve of the STRIKE 1 fixtures into his design.“The STRIKE 1’s unique tungsten feel and smooth dimming curve look incredible,” he continued. “The classic stadium look and feel of the lights provided excellent contrast to the gaming action on the stages surrounding.”

Balancing this look, the Strike 882 fixtures were placed above the two large gaming video screens to provide energetic bursts of energy at key points during the competition and gaming introductions. The 6-segment LED array panel proved to be the ultimate accompaniment to sound effects during the gaming action.

“The STRIKE 882 fixtures provided an excellent juxtaposition to the warm glow of the STRIKE 1s,” commented Mrzyglocki. “Thanks to the powerful strobe features, the crowd was treated to breath-taking visuals, which worked to accentuate key gaming moments at various point throughout the competitions.”

In combining STRIKE 1 and STRIKE 882 within the overall stage design, Aram was successful in translating the intensity of the usual solitary action of gaming into the stadium environment. “It’s a prime example of how lighting can be used to enhance atmosphere within large events of this caliber,” continued Mrzyglocki. “We were able to take the experience of gaming to a whole new level!”