Hidden City Games has named Microsoft veteran Joshua Howard senior vice president of Bella Sara Online, its young girl-focused, horse-themed world based on the horse-themed trading cards and other toy products. Howard will oversee the site's ongoing development and growth -- the company claims 1.6 million registered users so far.

Howard brings spent 15 years with Microsoft, where he was most recently the founder and group manager for the Carbonated Games casual games studio. Prior to that ,he was lead program manager for MSN Games/Zone.com, where he was responsible for overseeing all efforts related to distributing, publishing and internally developing games for MSN Games, Live Messenger and Xbox Live Arcade.

Hidden City CEO Peter D. Adkison said, "Joshua Howard, with his experience running a casual games studio and perspective as a father of two girls, is a clear choice to lead the evolution of BellaSara.com. BellaSara.com captures the magic of the brand in a safe and engaging experience, and Howard will expand it into a robust online destination rich in features and fun."