Entertainment Network Speeds Game
Development and Enhances User Experience
with Microsoft Platform
Overview
Country or Region: United States
Industry: Gaming Industry
Customer Profile
AMI Entertainment is a leading developer
of games for the hospitality industry.
Business Situation
AMI aimed to beat the competition to
market and grow the 3-D touch-screen
gaming business across more than
125,000 bars, restaurants and retailers
worldwide.
Solution
Replace Linux-based flagship device and
line of games with new, socially
connected touch-screen games powered
by Windows Embedded Standard 7.
Benefits
 Compelling UX with cloud-connected
scenarios including Facebook,
streaming news, music, and video
services
 End-to-end management of enterprise
data and devices
 50% shorter development time over
Linux
“Gamer expectations have changed over the past
decade, and the technology in Windows Embedded
Standard 7 addresses these new needs.”
Brennan McTernan, Vice President of Software Product Development, AMI Entertainment
AMI Entertainment Network is a leading developer of touchscreen games for the entertainment industry. To stay ahead of
the competition, AMI wanted to redesign its flagship gaming
device and lineup of games. To gain advanced connectivity and
improve support for hardware and 3-D game development, AMI
replaced its Embedded Linux operating system with Windows
Embedded Standard 7. As a result, the company cut
development time by 50 percent, and game operators have
increased revenue. In addition, cloud-based services enhance
the gaming experience and give game operators enterprise
management capability and better business intelligence.
“It took us just 16 months
to develop a new
platform with Windows,
versus the 30 months I
estimate it would have
taken with Linux. During
that same timeframe, we
also rewrote a third of our
games, essentially
redeveloping 15 years’
worth of game code. In
all, working with Windows
Embedded permitted
much better use of
resources than if we had
used or stayed with
Linux.”
Brennan McTernan, Vice President of
Software Product Development, AMI
Entertainment Network
Situation
AMI Entertainment Network reaches a
global audience through its compelling
portfolio for the commercial entertainment
market. From touch-screen games and
jukeboxes to streaming news and video
programming, AMI provides content-rich
entertainment solutions to more than
125,000 bars, restaurants, and retailers.
To stay competitive, AMI wanted to
develop a device with multi-touch
capability and a new set of socially
interactive online games. In recent years,
the touch-screen gaming industry has
faced challenges from newcomers in the
marketplace, but it has also gained
opportunities to reach a broader audience.
For example, the popularity of multi-touch
mobile devices has increased the number
of people playing socially connected
games.
Now, people can play games anywhere.
“A decade ago, a bar was one of the few
places where you could find an assortment
of touch-screen games,” says A. J. Russo,
Creative Director at AMI Entertainment
Network. “Today’s typical bar patron carries
around a mobile device with instant access
to thousands of entertainment and gaming
applications.”
Furthermore, a new market has opened
with social network gamers who connect to
online virtual worlds through websites like
Facebook. In addition, most of the United
States has banned public smoking, and AMI
believes that a smoke-free environment
encourages more sociability. Finally, several
states have passed laws that allow for skillbased games with progressive jackpots,
creating a new sense of consumer
excitement around the types of games AMI
develops.
To thrive in the new gaming market, AMI
created a new flagship game device, the
ML-1. The company’s existing device had
been developed more than 10 years ago
with Linux as the operating system because
the device licenses were free. However, the
operating system had several drawbacks
when compared to the Windows
Embedded Standard 7 operating system.
“On the day I first arrived at AMI in 2010, I
saw Embedded Linux had many serious
limitations that we could not overcome,”
says Brennan McTernan, Vice President of
Software Product Development at AMI
Entertainment Network. “It started with the
lack of availability of hardware platforms.
Whenever we looked for a new
motherboard, there would be two or three
choices for Linux, as opposed to eight or
nine more powerful boards for Windows.”
AMI also needed multi-touch technology to
compete with popular smartphones and
adapt to the new consumer gaming reality.
“With Linux, we would have had to write
the multi-touch code ourselves, which
would be a complete waste of our
resources,” says McTernan. “Linux even
made us dependent on a single source for
touch screens, which inflated our costs.”
Development was another challenge—the
company struggled with the lack of
powerful, integrated tools and support
resources. In addition, McTernan wanted
to move away from the Linux-based 3-D
game engine the company had used to
develop its Megatouch games. “Above all
else, our game development process made
it clear that the negative aspects of Linux
were outweighing the perceived lower
cost,” he says. “Our old thinking was that a
single game took six months to develop. I
knew we could cut that time significantly by
replacing our slow Linux game engine with
any one of dozens of excellent Windows
game engines.”
AMI sought to provide more dynamic and
visually interesting games that connected
to social media services. It also wanted to
offer customers enterprise management
and business intelligence capabilities. “To
update software or configure machines,
operators needed to visit each site and
make changes manually,” says McTernan.
“It was also difficult to track revenue or
collect other usage data from the standalone devices.”
Megatouch Live on the ML-1
Game Machine from AMI
Entertainment Network
Solution
AMI migrated from Linux to Windows
Embedded Standard 7 to take advantage of
its multi-touch capability and its superior
development environment. The solution
would also offer improved hardware
support and optimized connectivity. “We
had a subsidiary using Windows 2000 and a
sister company using Windows XP
Embedded, so we knew we would go with
Windows. The only question was which
version,” explains McTernan. “We knew we
needed an embedded operating system
with multi-touch and support to produce
international versions, which left Windows
Embedded Standard 7 as the obvious
choice.”
AMI developers used several Microsoft
development support resources.
“The support started when the Microsoft
OEM Engineering Services helped us decide
which version of Windows Embedded was
right for us,” says McTernan. “They were
instrumental in educating us on the
capabilities of Windows Embedded
Standard.”
Microsoft helped with training too. “We
also needed to get our team of Linux
developers to become experts in
Windows,” says McTernan. “Again, the OEM
Engineering Services team trained our
people on the latest Windows Embedded
Standard 7 features, and we engaged a set
of ‘Develop-mentors’ to train our C++
experts in the C# language.”
Developers had support when they needed
it from the Microsoft Developer Network
(MSDN). “MSDN was a frequent source for
coding references, and we also turned to
Microsoft Support to answer questions,”
recalls McTernan. “Belonging to the
Microsoft Partner Network ensured that we
always got the latest updates to Windows
Embedded Standard.”
The AMI team rebuilt its gaming system
around the Windows Embedded Standard 7
operating system. It created applications
and drivers by taking advantage of its
expertise in the Microsoft Visual Studio
2010 development system and other
products and technologies including the
Windows Internet Explorer browser,
Windows Media Player, and the Microsoft
.NET Framework.
The company created a more intelligent
system that would meet the expectations of
younger consumers. “Remember, the
newest generation of bar patrons has
grown up playing Xbox 360, not board and
card games,” says McTernan. “Gamer
expectations have changed over the past
decade, and the technology in Windows
Embedded Standard 7 addresses these new
needs.”
AMI was also able to adopt the leading
Unity 3-D game engine, which does not run
on Linux. “It took us just 16 months to
develop a new platform with Windows,
versus the 30 months I estimate it would
have taken with Linux,” states McTernan.
“During that same timeframe, we also
rewrote a third of our games, essentially
“I can access and gain
insights from the new
Windows-based ML-1
machines from virtually
anywhere, including my
home PC, mobile phone,
or tablet. Now we can
proactively see problems
as well as diagnose them
which often saves us a
second or third service
call.”
Rick Murray, Service Department
Manager, Nebraska Technical Services
redeveloping 15 years’ worth of game
code.”
To improve security and management, AMI
developers implemented features built into
Windows Embedded Standard 7. For
example, AMI used AppLocker to control
which apps can run on the device and
BitLocker to protect disk drives and
intellectual property from theft. The
Enhanced Write Filter and File-Based Write
Filter protect disks from both viruses and
power cycling. In addition, the Windows
operating system offers better device
management and supports end-to-end
data collection and analysis.
When the project was complete, AMI had
created its first multi-touch gaming system,
which includes a 22-inch screen and classic
Megatouch games like Photo Hunt® in
high definition. The ML-1 system also
features a new class of social, multi-user
games, so players can compete head to
head on the same screen using multi-touch
technology.
The interconnected solution includes
Megatouch Live, an all-new cloud-based
service that enhances the overall player
experience. Players can connect to the
service and participate in global leader
boards, purchase and earn virtual currency,
unlock special power-ups and abilities, post
feats to Facebook, and more. This data is
accessible through the ML-1 from virtually
any location worldwide. Wherever users
play, the device will have the feel of a
personal entertainment console.
The new system is standing out in the
marketplace. “The ML-1 has attracted great
customer interest and is selling well,” says
Russo. “In the first couple of months, after
our September 2011 launch, we sold
hundreds of units, and we are well on our
way to thousands.”
AMI is already working on new
enhancements. By taking advantage of
Windows Embedded connectivity, AMI can
collect data from the gaming device and
use it to make better decisions. “We use the
cloud-driven data from our ML-1 game
machine as part of our business model,”
explains Russo. “The data helps us
understand how players are using the
system and discover which games and
features are working, so we can target and
focus our ongoing development efforts.”
Benefits
Windows Embedded Standard 7 helped
AMI to achieve a competitive advantage by
delivering a more compelling device with
an enhanced user experience, superior
management capabilities, easier
development, and more connectivity
options.
Enhanced User Experience
By offering a gaming system with online
connectivity, AMI can attract and retain
customer interest with new features and
capabilities. “The fact that it's now online
means the ML-1 is regularly refreshed, so
there's a steady stream of new games,
content, challenges, and special features
coming down the pipeline,” says McTernan.
“It gives players compelling reasons to sit
down and reconnect with the brand, to see
what's new on a more frequent basis.”
Simplified Management
The ML-1 also delivers value to the AMI
chain of distributors and operators.
Because operators can update the systems
remotely through the cloud, the solution
eliminates the need to travel and install
software updates on site.
The new M-1 device has impressed game
operators such as Nebraska Technical
Services, a company that owns and
manages touch-screen game machines in
the Omaha area. “I can access and gain
insights from the new Windows-based ML1 machines from virtually anywhere,
including my home PC, mobile phone, or
tablet,” says Rick Murray, Service
Department Manager at Nebraska
Technical Services. “Now we can proactively
see problems as well as diagnose them,
which often saves us a second or third
service call.”
Increased Revenue
The new Megatouch games are also
boosting revenue with increased
“stickiness.” “The new games attract large
groups, who tend to stay longer and spend
more money,” explains Ryan Kruse, Sales
Representative at Nebraska Technical
Services. “We’ve seen a 15-plus-percent
increase in revenue over the last 120 days
since we rolled out the new Megatouch
system.”
Cuts Development Time by 50 Percent
AMI has simplified development and
gained flexibility with a solution based on
Windows Embedded Standard 7. For
example, the company has a much wider
choice of device drivers. “We found that
when a hardware manufacturer makes a
device, the first driver they make is a
Windows driver,” says McTernan. “At some
point they may get around to making a
Linux driver.”
In addition, working with Visual Studio
development tools accelerated time-tomarket. “Even basic Linux tools, like text
editors, are not as fast or sophisticated as
those available for Windows,” says
McTernan. “The robust Visual Studio IDE
makes it easier to get at attributes as well
as find files and libraries. This makes our
development faster and more reliable.”
Improved Support
AMI has also eased development by taking
advantage of the support ecosystem at
Microsoft, which includes MSDN and
Microsoft Services. “Theoretically, we could
have done everything in Linux, but we
simply didn’t have unlimited time and
resources,” says McTernan. “In a sense, we
'outsourced’ to Microsoft and ‘rented’ the
power of 10,000-plus developers in
Redmond for a very low price. We believe
we got much more than we paid for with
Windows Embedded.”
Windows Embedded Standard 7 also
provides AMI with the benefit of long-term
product support. “Some of our products
are still in use after ten years, so we needed
a vendor and support ecosystem that
would be around for an extended period,”
says Russo. “Windows Embedded gives us
10 years of support, so we and our
customers can have confidence in the
product.”
For More Information
Windows Embedded
For more information about Microsoft
products and services, call the Microsoft
Sales Information Center at (800) 4269400. In Canada, call the Microsoft
Canada Information Centre at (877) 5682495. Customers in the United States and
Canada who are deaf or hard-of-hearing
can reach Microsoft text telephone
(TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234.
Outside the 50 United States and
Canada, please contact your local
Microsoft subsidiary. To access
information using the World Wide Web,
go to:
www.microsoft.com
Windows Embedded extends the power of
Windows and the cloud to intelligent
systems. Encompassing operating systems,
tools, and systems and services, Windows
Embedded enables enterprises to generate
tangible, real-time benefits with anytime,
anywhere access to executable data.
Microsoft entered the embedded
marketplace over 15 years ago and
continues to lead the evolution toward
intelligent systems with an extensive suite
of technologies for enterprises across a
variety of industries.
For more information visit:
www.windowsembedded.com
For more information about AMI
Entertainment Network Inc. products and
services, visit the website at:
www.amientertainment.com/
For more information about Nebraska
Technical Services, Inc. products and
services, visit the website at:
www.ntsthefuncompany.com/
Software and Services
Windows Embedded
− Windows Embedded Standard 7
 Microsoft Visual Studio
− Microsoft Visual Studio 2010
 Services
− Microsoft OEM Engineering Services
− Microsoft Product Support Services
− Microsoft Services
− MSDN


This case study is for informational purposes only.
MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.
Document published May 2012
Technologies
− Windows Media Player
− Microsoft Internet Explorer 8
Hardware

ML-1 game machine
Partners

Nebraska Technical Services