Mythic Entertainment said it plans in mid-June to release downloadable expansion for its massively multiplayer online role- playing game Dark Age of Camelot that will be free to all subscribers. Company said it will be first of 3 such expansions to be released this year. Game maker said title had attracted “more than 220,000 paying subscribers” to date and “more than 600,000 people have played Dark Age of Camelot worldwide since its release in October 2001.” At “peak times,” company said, “more than 60,000 people play simultaneously.” In other online game news, South China Morning Post reported that “safeguards may be built into online games sold in Hong Kong to help tackle the problem of young people becoming addicted to them.” Report said initiative by manufacturers and Consumer Council arrived amid surge in popularity of online games. Newspaper said recent study “found there were 400,000 players aged 10 to 29 in Hong Kong, spending an average 10 hours a week online” while “medical experts have warned obsessive play can result in wrist pain, back injuries, physical exhaustion and convulsions.” Report also said “at least 3 young cyber-addicts have died playing computer games.” Consumer Council spokesman said group was worried situation would worsen with schools suspended because of SARS outbreak. As result, report said, Council asked online game industry to modify games to reduce obsessive play. One recommendation was to install automatic pause function that would log player off after certain number of hours. Council also suggested manufacturers put message box on screen to remind players they should take break. It asked makers to submit games for classification voluntarily and to put any necessary parental warnings on packaging, report said. Hong Kong Digital Entertainment Assn. told Council it believed suggestions were workable and would ask its members to consider them when making games, report said.

If the FCC is going to mandate broadcast flag technology it better find a way to do it without altering copyright law, members of the House Judiciary Courts, Internet & Intellectual Property Subcommittee told FCC Media Bureau Chief Kenneth Ferree Thurs. “I hope it is clear to you,” Chmn. Smith (R-Tex.) told Ferree at the end of the hearing, “that there is a bipartisan consensus about the FCC’s infringement on the jurisdiction of this committee… [Regulating] transmission is one thing, use is another.” When Ferree said he would “endeavor” not to enter the subcommittee’s jurisdictional bounds with the FCC’s proposed rulemaking, Smith replied: “I hope you won’t just endeavor.”

If FCC is going to mandate broadcast flag technology it better find way to do it without altering copyright law, members of House Judiciary Courts, Internet & Intellectual Property Subcommittee told FCC Media Bureau Chief Kenneth Ferree Thurs. “I hope it is clear to you,” Chmn. Smith (R-Tex.) told Ferree at end of hearing, “that there is a bipartisan consensus about the FCC’s infringement on the jurisdiction of this committee… [Regulating] transmission is one thing, use is another.” When Ferree said he would “endeavor” not to enter subcommittee’s jurisdictional bounds with FCC’s proposed rulemaking, Smith replied: “I hope you won’t just endeavor.”

About dozen stations nationally were operating digital in- band, on-channel (IBOC) HD Radio as of mid-Feb. So said licensor iBiquity Digital in comments filed with FCC opposing petition by Amherst Alliance and others to reconsider Commission’s Oct. 2002 report and order approving HD Radio as IBOC digital AM and FM system (CED Oct 11 p1).

LodgeNet CEO Scott Petersen told CIBC Gaming, Lodging & Leisure Conference in N.Y. Tues. that his company still expected to report revenue of $58-$61 million, EBITDA of $19.5-$21 million and loss per share of 61-73? in its first quarter. Company provides on-demand movies, music and Nintendo videogames to lodging industry. Petersen said: “Since introducing the industry’s only interactive digital platform that incorporates both a satellite distribution network and On-Screen Controls (e.g., pause, skip and save), we have executed long-term contracts with over 1,800 lodging properties having more than 340,000 rooms for the provision of our digital interactive TV services… It is generating per-room revenues that are 37% greater than our traditional analog platform -- a factor that will drive increasing revenue and cash flow for our company over the next several years. Today, we offer digital entertainment services in 30% of our room base. We expect that will grow to more than 55% by the end of 2004… During the year, we will be improving our interactive TV offering… We have launched a new sales strategy [that] will allow us to move away from the ‘one- size-fits-all’ approach… We will be releasing a new system configuration midyear that will reduce our per-room capital investment by 5 to 10%. Both factors should make the cost of installing an average new digital room comparable to the traditional tape-based systems we stopped installing 2 years ago, but with 37% greater revenue.”

Magnavox brand will be wedge used to drive DVD recording into mass market in spring when parent Philips extends DVD+R/RW recorder line to selective national accounts, officials said. Magnavox deck will hit $499 sweet spot at discounters and chains, while more feature-laden models under Philips marque continue penetration through upmarket regional selling floors, Philips executives told us Thurs. Meanwhile, gloves have come off in rivalry among recordable DVD formats after Panasonic’s DVD-RAM seminars in London this week attacking DVD+R/RW system.

“Rising costs” of bringing videogames to market are forcing publishers and developers to “find ways to trim expenses,” Gerard Klauer Mattison (GKM) analyst Edward Williams said Mon. in research report. He reacted with little surprise to announcement by Midway Games that it planned to take $14 million charge for restructuring of its Milpitas, Cal., development studio to cut costs by consolidating R&D.

Hoping to ride wave of CE products incorporating personal video recorder (PVR) technology in coming months, PlanetWeb used CES to unveil FrontRow suite of applications that will enable OEMs to add time-shifting, live pause and other PVR functions to virtually any device with hard drive.

Extended-warranty costs for plasma TVs in Hong Kong are giving some consumers there pause before buying, South China Morning Post reported on basis of study released last week by territory’s Consumer Council. Council’s survey of 43 plasma TVs ranging from 32W thru 61W and priced from $3,500 to $21,250 found they carried one-year extended warrantees costing $213 to $1,375 annually. Warranty costs varied according to size of plasma set -- rising as panel size increased-- and depending on whether plan included service only or service and parts. Council study said charges, excluding parts, ranged 2%-13% of set’s initial cost. Yearly fees for maintenance including parts was between 8% and 27% of set’s retail price. New plasma sets in Hong Kong now come only with one-year warranty. Council said complexity of plasma technology prevented conventional repair shops from servicing sets, so consumers had to go directly to TVs’ distributors. It said that for time being, less expensive maintenance alternatives didn’t exist. Council said number of complaints about flat-screen plasma TVs went from one in 2001 to 17 last year, and majority involved maintenance costs.

As aid to blind and visually impaired, Panasonic is expanding availability of its remote controls with single-button access to Second Audio Program (SAP) on TV stereo broadcasts. SAP is simultaneously-broadcast auxiliary channel that can offer program in 2nd language or provide “video descriptive service” in which narrator describes program’s action and key visual elements during pauses in dialog -- thereby enabling sight-impaired to better follow program. Single-button SAP access is located at upper right of Panasonic remotes and has 3 raised dots to distinguish it by touch. Feature was in remotes for 46 Panasonic video products last year, and now will be included on remotes for almost all of company’s products with TV stereo broadcast reception.