Age of Empires MMO in the works?

Want to know what Microsoft Game Studios is up to? Check its job listings. Last week, two ads on the site for Rare, one of the developers in the software giant's eponymous suite of studios, revealed it was developing games for rival Nintendo's DS handheld.

Now it appears a want ad has exposed the plans of another member of the Microsoft Game Studios family. Ensemble Studios, maker of the award-winning Age of Empires real-time strategy series, apparently has its sights set on the massively multiplayer online genre. The official Web site of the Dallas-based studio is currently taking submissions for the position of an "experienced server architect to assist in creating a world-class massively multiplayer game."

Although the Ensemble job listing does say "experience with shipping an existing massively multiplayer game is a must," it does not specify what type of MMOG Ensemble is working on. While many speculate that Ensemble is following in the footsteps of Blizzard Entertainment's RTS-inspired MMO role-playing game World of Warcraft, nothing is yet official. "We do not have comment at this time," was all a Microsoft spokesperson would tell GameSpot.