Armchair mayors and wannabe city leaders best get comfortable fast, as the iconic city building and mangement simulator SimCity is about to return in a very big way, the announcement courtesy of Spanish website Riconsimmer, translating information from German magazine Gamestar.

The name is SimCity V, and it marks the first numbered SimCity game from the main series to be announced in almost a decade, the last being SimCity 4 way back in 2003. Though Maxis and EA have been keeping themselves busy with numerous spin-offs and portable entries, SimCity V appears to be a franchise return to form. Though the translation is a little jumbled in language and details are scarce, players can expect classic SimCity gameplay powered by a new graphics engine, updated building types, multiple cities, and even multiplayer of some sort.

No platform announcements yet, though PC is quite likely, and given the game is apparently only ~30% complete there’s still plenty more to learn. And expect to learn more soon, as EA intends to live stream their GDC 2012 ‘Game Changers’ conference in about a week, promising numerous game announcements and surprises. Maxis is known to be attending the event, so it’s a safe bet SimCity V will show up in full force.

While you wait, check out the first lot of artwork for the game below.