To no real surprise, Electronic Arts has announced that Black Box-developed Skate 3 will ship for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in May of 2010.

This time the game has a focus on cooperative play, the game's tag-line "Team Up. Throw Down." Skate 3 takes place in the new city of Port Carverton, where they'll hook up for team-based challenges with other players against rival skate "crews."

“The social and community aspects of the Skate franchise are something we’ve always embraced, but we’ve never done anything to the scale you’re going to see in Skate 3,” said Senior Producer, Jason DeLong in a press release today. “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.”

There's already a pre-order bonus for this sucker, too. Reserve the game now and get a code that unlocks exclusive access to the digital version of the real-world "Black Box Distribution Skate Park," which Jamie Thomas founded in 2000.

When EA's Skate franchise first hit the scene, it was a fresh, unique look at the skating genre. In other words, it was the anti-Tony Hawk Pro Skater, a game which was essentially run into the ground with year-after-year releases. While the quality has been relatively consistent, this would be the third game in the Skate series (not counting the Wii and DS releases) since 2007. I'm just saying is all.