Methods and regulated gaming machines including service oriented blades enabling player interaction via a touch-screen display

A gaming machine in a regulated gaming system including a plurality of computer nodes communicating over a network, one of the plurality of computer nodes being located within the gaming machine, the gaming machine comprising:

• a game controller and interactivity apparatus configured to accept wagers from a player and to provide random outcomes while playing a game, the interactivity apparatus including a first touch-screen display;
• a first service oriented blade provider executing in the gaming machine and configured to provide services to a service oriented blade subscriber executing in another one of the plurality of computer nodes, the service oriented blade subscriber being configured to consume the services provided by the first service oriented blade provider over the network;
• and
• a first service oriented blade, configured to be controlled by the first service oriented blade provider and to interact with the player via a predetermined portion of the first touch-screen display, enables the player and the service oriented blade subscriber to interact with one another over the network.

A regulated gaming system, comprising:

• a service oriented blade subscriber executing in one of a plurality of computer nodes communicating over a network;
• a plurality of gaming machines, each of the plurality of gaming machine being coupled to another one of the plurality of computer nodes and comprising:
• a game controller and interactivity apparatus configured to accept wagers from a player and to provide random outcomes while playing a game, the interactivity apparatus including a first touch-screen display;
• a first service oriented blade provider executing in the gaming machine, the first service oriented blade provider being configured to provide services to the service oriented blade subscriber over the computer network;
• and
• a first service oriented blade that is configured to interact with a player of the gaming machine via a predetermined portion of the first touch-screen display, the first service oriented blade being controlled by the first service oriented blade provider, the first service oriented blade,
• the first service oriented blade provider and the service oriented blade subscriber being configured to enable the player and the service oriented blade subscriber to interact with each other over the network independently of any game being played on the gaming machine.