The source claims the game will go back to the "roots" of the series, but sport similar controls as EA's Skate franchise. With development of the game said to be "handled by much of the Skate team," the expectation is that the people that helped overtake the Tony Hawk series can have a similar positive effect on the video game snowboarding universe.

On Peter Moore's official EA Sports blog, the boss of the brand mentioned (and linked to) a teaser trailer for what he calls "an obscure new title." In the teaser--which will be fully revealed at this weekend's 2010 Spike VGAs--we can spot snowy mountains bathed in a dark atmosphere. While the tease may be an SSX announcement, some internet chatter points to news on the Battlefield 3 front.

The last SSX title to hit home consoles was 2007's SSX Blur for the Nintendo Wii, the series became popular in the previous generation of consoles. A new installment in the SSX franchise has yet to appear on the Xbox 360 or PS3; however, a revival of the series has been rumored for quite some time.

Kotaku points out that earlier this year online surveys had been targeted at fans of the series, which hinted at a nameless, "intense" snowboarding title. The survey suggested gameplay would include players "avoiding, outrunning and even riding on top of massive avalanches; battling hurricane winds; white-outs; bitter cold; falling rocks; and gaping crevasses that open up at a moment's notice."

In late October, a source told Shacknews that a number of employees at EA Canada and EA Black Box had been let go. The layoffs were, according to the source, a result of sluggish sales of Skate 3 and the troubles that plagued NBA Elite 11.

According to Joystiq, EA has registered a number of domains featuring the SSX brand in recent weeks, including SSX: Deadly Descent. We'd like to register a new domain too, SSX: Make It Happen Already.