Demand for online video games is on the rise, driven in part by new devices such as Microsoft's [MSFT] Xbox, Nintendo's GameCube and Bell Canada's [BCE] new games-on-demand service, Games Mania.

According to research firm Jupiter Media Matrix, the number of visitors to online games cites jumped 50 percent this year.

Bell Canada's Gamesmania is a subscription-based service powered by software from Exent Technologies, a Bethesda, Md.-based company that delivers software applications over the Internet for use in advanced broadband services.

For more on Bell Canada's Gamesmania and Exent Technologies see the Jan. 1 issue of PBI Media's Broadband Networking News. >TK Microsoft [MSFT]:

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