This trailer shows off the soon-to-be released Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter, the updated version of the classic Serious Sam.

This trailer for the upcoming re-release of the original Serious Sam shows off the Serious Engine 3 as Sam slaughters countless waves of enemies.

Serious Sam is one of the most insane FPS games I think I’ve ever played, second only to the highly underrated Painkiller, but when news broke a few days ago that the developers of the title – Croteam – were bringing an updated version of the initial Serious Sam title to the Xbox 360 I was cautiously optimistic.

Seriously!, a Serious Sam fansite recently had a chance to discuss the upcoming remake and the possibilities of a third game full game for the series with Croteam’s CTO Alen Ladavac.

Here are some of the highlights:

Q: Will we see the return of many of the features from Serious Sam 1 that were absent in Serious Sam 2 like Mental mode, custom gravity and saturation/colour bias sliders?

A: Mostly yes, plus, SSHD holds some more improvements that are in line with where SSFE was, and SS3 adds some more specific stuff to gameplay and options. But custom gravities, unfortunately, not yet.

Q: Will there be an achievements/unlock/rewards system for superior gaming skills?

A: Yes, there already is in SSHD.

Q: Will the sound engine have more extensive support for integrated sound cards and soundchips? Will the engine include support for OpenAL implementation as an alternative to Creative EAX?

A: SE3 supports DirectSound W&W/O EAX, OpenAL, and XAudio2. But XAudio2 rocks so much, you won’t want to use anything else. That will be the default, and there probably won’t be a menu option to use the other two at all (only through the console). XAudio2 works perfectly, no matter which chip you have. We were never able to get this much reliablity in reproducing the same sound effects with other APIs before, ever since our old software mixer (which has not been used for quite some time). Effectively, XAudio2 _is_ a software mixer, and that is why it works so well.

Check out the discussion thread on our forums over on the site to see the rest.

From Namco’s acclaimed weapon-based fighting series comes the fourth chapter in the series. Delivering new gameplay modes, characters and enhanced features with 3D modeling and animation, Soul Calibur IV aims to be a definitive fighting game experience. Developed by Project Soul, Soul Calibur IV re-introduces classic warriors from the series as well as introduces new characters that bring new conflict and intrigue. With online play, new life is being breathed into the series, and gives fighting games a new outlet.

Looking at some of these screens, I am wondering if the female characters have enough protection from the sword play involved. Taki looks like she just painted herself pink instead of dressing, and Ivy…. personally I would get sick and tired of having a constant wedgie. Soul Calibur IV will be released for the PS3 and Xbox-360 sometime in 2008.

MORE SCREENS

Well, if you’re a fan of the Serious Sam series, I have even more good news for you. You’ll remember we told you that Serious Sam 3 was rumored to be in the works. Now, the Croatian magazine, Gameplay, has some screenshots that will knock your socks off. Luckily, fansite Seriously! has gotten permission to post the screens for everyone to see.

Not all of the images are from the Serious Sam title. Some are even just to show off the engine. I think you’ll agree that whatever they’re for, they rock. You can check them out here.

It’s being reported that Croteam, the Croatian developer of the Serious Sam series, has said it is working on Serious Sam 3. The rumor is that Croteam revealed the information in an interview with Croatian magazine GamePlay. The gameplay will be the same style as the Serious Sam games of the past, built on a new version of the Serious engine. According to the article, the game is a “military tactical-action shooter” that takes place in the present day. As yet, no info on what platforms the game will launch on have been announced, but you can expect it to be on PC at the very least.

More info on this as it becomes available.