As part of Microsoft's downsizing earlier this year they elected to close ACES Studio, the in-house studio responsible for the long running and highly successful Microsoft Flight Simulator series. Now a new game developer formed by a number of ACES Studios' former members has announced its presence with the promise of creating some kind of sim game product.

The Seattle-based Cascade Game Foundry claims in their initial press release that they will not only "address the significant hole in the simulation market left by Microsoft's recent departure, it will push new boundaries with the latest in cutting-edge graphics, simulation and web technology." What does this mean? The company's Managing Director Kathie Flood is quoted as saying, "Think of SCUBA diving off Hawaii, traversing the Andes, hiking the Great Wall of China ... the possibilities are endless." Ok, we are thinking about it and it sound cool. Whether this team can pull a simulation like this off and make it entertaining is another matter.