I don't even think the <hotspot> command works, I've tried to use it but it seems to ignore it. What you're seeing there may just be a titanium thing, I believe when I did the background image for those buttons I matched the games resolution so we actually didnt adjust the buttons themselves so I think that is just a titanium thing.
Ugh wish we could alpha out thr text and put painted text on them instead D:
I tried that last night but the game ignores <alpha> too D:
edit: hehe just saw your new post after I hit enter :P