First Sim City 5 Screenshots Released: See the Photos Here

The First Sim City 5 screenshots were released Wednesday. See the photos below.

The Sim City 5 screenshots, which were leaked by the German website Simtimes.de, show a range of different images of one of 2012's most-hyped video game releases. From action shots to a beautiful view of the architecture the game will feature, the images have stoked fans' enthusiasm.

EA Maxis has had an extremely successful run with the Sim series, with everything from Sim City 2000 to Sim Farm and the Sims taking the world by storm with each new release.

And now Maxis is expected to make a big announcement at the 2012 Game Developers Conference, aka: 2012 GDC.

The rumor mill started churning Feb. 21, when PC Gamer wrote a piece about the fact that EA (Electronic Arts) Senior PR Director Erik Reynolds tweeted on Feb. 15 that Maxis, the megahit game's developer, was going to be announcing something at GDC 2012:

MORE INFO! EA Maxis GDC announcement, huge event w/ special guests. Live stream info. http://on.fb.me/yJiZ78 #gamechangers, Reynolds wrote.

Though the SimCity titles were not directly referenced, any allusion to a pending announcement by Maxis automatically stokes gamers' hopes that a new SimCity could be on the way.

PC World writer Tom Senior brought more attention to the pending announcement than Reynolds could, when he posted a short dispatch about the news:

A tweet from EA senior PR Erik Reynolds, noted by CVG, has teased a big Maxis reveal at this year's GDC conference, which is due to kick off in just a few weeks time, Senior wrote. He mentions that more information will be appearing over the next few weeks on the Game Changers Facebook page but there's already rampant speculation suggesting that it'll be a new SimCity ... Anyone up for some more SimCIty?

The PC Gamer article was the second high-profile piece on the topic, coming after an initial dispatch on Feb. 16 by ComputerandVideoGames.com:

EA has promised to announce something new from Maxis at next month's Game Developers Conference, kicking off speculation that a new SimCity might be on the way.

Twitter exploded shortly after Senior's article with posts by users who were excited about any mention of Maxis, as they hope it means there's a new SimCity under development.

Twitter user @HassanMujtaba summed up the sentiment in a Tuesday tweet: SimCity Developers to Announce New Game at GDC 2012, Please let it be SimCity 5 and not that fail Societies series.

Luckily, as Senior noted, there is not much time left before the world will know what exactly Maxis has on the way:

We'll get to find out in 13 days, 20 hours and counting according to the reassuringly massive clock on the Game Changers page, where EA's GDC event will be broadcasted live to the world in just under two weeks time, Senior wrote.