Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | December 2010 14 WMS configuration and download and Portal platforms is the next phase of the WAGE-NET project. An important part of WAGE-NET’s appeal to casino operators is its ability to work with systems and hardware produced by other manufacturers. WMS’ WAGE-NET networked gaming solution is based on open architecture using industry standard communication protocols developed by the Gaming Standards Association (GSA) and is designed to be fully interoperable with other systems developed in compliance with GSA standards. For the first phase of its Portal application rollout, WMS has four distinct series— Ultra Hit Progressive ®, Winners Share ™, Metascreen ™, and Mega Multiplier ®. Ultra Hit Progressive (UHP) is WMS’ first commercially available Portal application family, and was demonstrated at G2E 2010 on both video and mechanical reel games. UHP adds a secondary mystery progressive bonus to the base game. Gaming operators can also use an intuitive back-of-house user interface to vary the players’ progressive bonus experience. Two themes for the UHP Portal family were on display: Jackpot Explosion ®, featuring a volcanic theme, and Piggy Bankin ®, with its swelling and ultimately cracking piggy bank theme. Winner’s Share adds a secondary bonus opportunity on top of video or mechanical reel base games to provide one player with a progressive game experience when the bonus is randomly triggered. Winner’s Share debuts at G2E with the Peng-Wins ™ theme, in which a penguin slides, bounces and slips through an interactive environment, collecting credit awards from 1% to 200% of the progressive jackpot. MetaScreen provides what WMS says is the first true competitive slot experience. It debuted at G2E with Pirate Battle ™, a 2-vs-2 Community Gaming competition theme available exclusively in banks of four Bluebird xD cabinets with special 32-inch overhead monitors. These monitors join to form a massive, singular screen on which a bonus canon battle randomly occurs, as red and blue teams compete for credit and progressive awards. Mega Multiplier features bonus action powered by a real-time physics engine, and was displayed at G2E with Super Shot ™ and four individual themed displays that can be swapped out on any Good fit—WMS conceived WAGE-NET as a modular and powerful series of tools for casino operators Pirate Battle™