I think it says alot about the simulation genre when a mediocre train sim can win such an award - if we had the modern day equivalent of Longbow 2, Falcon 4 or Total Air War it wouldn't even have been a contender.
We do [1] [2] [3]. The problem is, the simulation genre has become so niche-ified that it doesn't even register on the 'mainstream' games industry anymore. So half-rate 'mags' like games-industry.com don't notice them. The fact that you're interested in simulations, but didn't know that there are GOOD modern sims similar to the old classics is a good enough indicator of what the mainstream press sees - they see nothing! </sergeant schultz>