SimCity 5 rumoured for 2013, all to be revealed at Game Developer’s Conference

Prepare to appease the fussy citizens and rebuild after monster attacks once again: a new SimCity is expected to be announced at next week's Game Developer's Conference in San Francisco.

The alleged concept art that was leaked earlier this week has helped to confirm the rumours posted here in the Neogaf forum. German gaming magazine GameStar says the game is being developed by Maxis in conjunction with Electronic Arts with a tentative release date of 2013. For those of you counting, that's ten years after the previous installment in the series, SimCity 4.

Maxis executive Lucy Bradshaw has confirmed that the game was in the works, according to TechSpot, but other projects like Spore and The Sims delayed its reveal until now. In a GameZone story, the game's Lead Producer Kip Katsarelis has only let out one cryptic tidbit about the upcoming game : "As you go through the game, you can customize your town and individual buildings." Fans are left to speculate exactly what that means.

It's kind of mind-boggling to think how far the Sim world has come since the original SimCity was launched in 1989. Will Wright, the designer behind the original game, has since had his hand in numerous titles, including The Sims and Spore. Wright won't be the driving force behind this game (he left EA in 2009 to start think tank Stupid Fun Club), but Electronic Arts will be building on his legacy with this newest SimCity game.

(Images from Neogaf forum)