Resident Evil 6 will introduce a new online service for Capcom called "Resident Evil.net." As with many similar services, RE.net will pull in data from Resident Evil 6 and allow you to compare your stats with players from around the world.

While it's nice to see how your Mercenaries scores compare to Japanese players, perhaps the biggest draw of the service is the ability for Capcom to schedule special events. "For example, let's say one weekend the goal is to kill 10,000 zombies. Everyone who has an RE.net account and plays during that time period will receive RE.net points that can be redeemed on the site for a variety of goodies."

The unlockables you can earn by participating in RE.net include in-game costumes. Perhaps other virtual goodies will be distributed as well?

Timed challenges have been a hit in online games as of late, with Mass Effect 3's co-op mode doling out goodies to the community by meeting certain combined goals. If RE6's online offerings prove to be successful, we may even see RE.net extend to future games in the franchise.