I thought that Electronic Arts wasn’t going to do this, but it looks like the “Skate” series is turning into a yearly thing, which isn’t a move that I condole – I’ll talk more about that later. Anyway, Electronic Arts announced the third installment into their “Skate” franchise, Skate 3. And, unlike the first two games, Skate 3 centers more around forming a skate crew and taking on rival crews.

Scheduled to release in May 2010, “players can now team up with one an other to build the ultimate skate crew in the definitive skateboarding co-op experience” – reads the press release. In a move to depart from the past Skate titles, Skate 3 lets players leave their mark on the all-new skater’s paradise, Port Carverton. “We’re giving gamers a very unique experience by providing them with the tools they need to build their ultimate team or to create a team comprised entirely of their online friends. From there, it’s all about proving yourself – teaming up, and throwing down,” added Senior Producer, Jason DeLong.

Featuring an all-new co-op mode in where teammates can complete challenges together while advancing each other’s careers, the game will retain some of the classic features the rewarding epic bails and fails with a beefed up Hall of Meat mode to honing your craft with the all-new skate.School, in were players of all skill levels have multiple ways to “kill it” in the game. The franchise also continues to raise the bar for user created content with the skate.Create feature suite, an innovative toolset that empowers gamers to truly express their skate style by creating their own graphics, videos, and skate parks. Being developed by Black Box, an Electronic Arts studio, Skate 3 will be released on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in May 2010.

In 2007, EA’s Skate had proven itself to be a true competitor for Activision’s popular and long-running skate series, Tony Hawk, but what does this year hold for the title? Can EA and Black Box once again claim the crown for best skating title ever made?

Well, it looks like we are going to have to wait and see, but lucky we do not have to wait that long because according to Microsoft’s Xbox site, a Skate 2 demo will be available come January 8 via the “Download & Win” program, which is a sweepstake.

There are two ways to register for this Sweepstakes. Registering online before the close of the Promotion Period, which is between 3:01 A.M. ET on January 8 and 11:55 P.M. ET on January 15, 2009, or register for the Sweepstakes via Xbox LIVE Marketplace by downloading the free Skate 2 Demo Registration Gamer Picture. Sadly there is still no word on the PlayStation demo.

According to GlobeAndMail, EA has decided to cancel the construction of their new gaming development studio in Vancouver, mainly because of slow holiday sales and the decline of the general economy.

“These are challenging times, they’re uncertain times for our industry and across the board,” EA spokesman Colin Macrae told The Globe and Mail. “We continue to be firmly rooted in Vancouver.”

The video game maker still operates two studios in the Vancouver area; the company’s Black Box studio is located in downtown Vancouver, while its sister studio EA Canada operates out of nearby Burnaby.

The new unnamed studio was to be housed in a 20,000-square-foot facility in the city’s Yaletown district, and would have provided the company with new development space to accommodate its Vancouver staff. Although planning for the new studio began about a year ago, Mr. Macrae said the company has already leased the space to a new tenant.

As Electronic Arts and Black Box finish work on Skate 2 they will need to stop and think about where their title is going. That is why, the game’s associate producer for environments, Shaun Laker, told MTV how they’re planning to avoid the “Tony Hawk syndrome.”

“As long as we keep putting out great games and don’t rush it out and polish it and make sure we’re listening to the community and hearing what they’re having to say [we will avoid that],” said Laker.

“A big part of it too — and what drove our features this year — is we were finding out how people played the game. We know people play the game to find their own spot and to own it to be able to call it their own. This year, you can go and do that, and in a community, you can share it. That’s how we stay fresh and we don’t go too far; we listen to the community and know what they’re asking for and respond to that.”

Today, Black box studios revealed the official box-art for their upcoming game, Need For Speed: Undercover. There really hasn’t been much information revealed for this game, but PAXs, an upcoming game event, is still just around the corner. So maybe we can view or see some information on the game during or at the event.