It appears that rumours that SC5 will in fact be in Games for Windows magazine are true! All information show that it will be in the July issue of the magazine. Here’s the evidence:

If you look at the bottom right hand corner of the Games for Windows website, the cover graphic for the next issue appears, like this:

Jeff Green, who’s an editor at the magazine, posted this on his blog:

Hi kids! Long time no blog. But, look, I’ve been really freakin’ busy with the magazine, and I was on three (3!) podcasts this week for 1UP (GFW, Retronauts, and the new 1UP Yours coming later today…). BLAHBLAHBLAH LISTEN TO ME IM SO INTERRRESTING.

Anyhoo, the July issue of GFW is being printed now and will be in mailboxes shortly, and it is, if I may be so bold, and I think I may since this is my blog, a great one. The cover story is one of those OMG WORLD EXCLUSIVES WE SAW IT BEFORE YOU DID HAW HAW stories that magazines love to crow about even though the Internet is making all that irrelevant anyway.

I’m not allowed to tell you what it is yet, but will be posting the cover next Friday, jeebus willing. Suffice it to say it’s the new game in one of PC gaming’s oldest franchises–a series w/bazillions of fans. Ryan Scott wrote the story and did his usual kickass job, because Ryan KICKS ASS.

Now, this might not seem that conlusive, but looking at the rest of the evidence, it makes sense that this, one of PC gaming’s oldest franchises (started in 1989), is SimCity 5.

The patterns all line up. For example, SC5 was featured in a magazine in May 2002, which was exactly 5 years ago last week. Now consider this: there has been 5 years between almost every edition of SimCity, except for before SimCity 3000.

It all looks very cool, and we are incredibly pumped!

If our sources are correct, the next generation of SimCity is getting it’s biggest publicity yet! The image below shows the June issue of Games for Windows magazine, and a screenshot of what appears to be SimCity 5 in full 3D glory. However, we are not yet sure if this is real or not, as the Games for Windows website appears to have no reference to any city simulation games. Investigation continues, and we hope to have bought ourselves an issue of the magazine within 24 hours to see if its true or not.

IGN has published a list of booths slated to appear at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in August, including EA’s displays. The good news: we now know what’s going to be there. The bad news: both Spore and SimCity 5 are not on the list! However, there’s still several months to go, and there’s a good chance it will be updated to include either of them. Cross your fingers! If Spore or SC5 does appear on said list, we’ll be the first to tell you.

Speculation on the release date for SimCity 5 is ongoing, but games network ToTheGame says it could be coming as soon as this November 2007! Specifically, they say it will be released on the 6th in the United States and Canada, and the 9th in Europe. If this is true, that means we will probably be seeing a SimCity 5 exhibit at the E3 conference this July.

That said, this date is speculative, and has not been verified by EA itself. However, it would follow the pattern of SimCity 4, which was announced in early may for a late fall release date.

As part of its earnings announcement today, megapublisher Electronic Arts revealed, through Gamespot UK, the coming release of some of its highest-profile games. From the announcment:

“We have made some adjustments to our SKU plan that will move a couple of titles into fiscal 2008, specifically Army of Two and Crisis,” EA chief financial officer Warren Jenson told analysts during a postearnings conference call.

During the same call, Jenson also confirmed that several sequels to EA’s most important franchises are in the works. “Yes, there’s a Sims 3 in development and it’s likely to be a fiscal ‘09 title,” said Jenson, meaning the game would hit stores before April 2009. The executive also confirmed that the Sims franchises will also be coming to two next-generation platforms – the Wii and the PlayStation 3.

Several other new titles were unveiled during the call. “There will be another Lord of the Rings [game]… There’s a new SimCity game in the pipeline and the next-generation version of Black. Those things alone are all new, relative to fiscal ‘07,” said Jenson. It was unclear whether Jenson meant the games would arrive before the end of EA’s 2007 fiscal year, or were just new to the company’s financial plan for the 12-month period.

We’ve heard rumours and stories, but this is the first official confirmation we’ve had that a new SimCity is in the works. There is speculation that it may be demo’d at the E3 conference in summer 2007.

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