Serious Sam Returns, Brings Gamecock Founders With It

[lost]

http://evavhost.com/i/news/serioussam.jpg
This is something of a double-header of news. Two stories rolled into one. The first Serious Sam game is being remade for XBLA and will be snappily titled Serious Sam: The First Encounter HD - developed by Croteam. From 1up.
(http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3174947)
Serious Sam: The First Encounter HD is an enhanced remake of the original FPS, complete with updated graphics and four player online co-op. "We are really excited to update our hero and recreate Sam in stunning high definition for Xbox LIVE Arcade players," Croteam CEO Roman Ribaric enthused. "The fans have lobbied us hard to do this, so we are stoked about bringing Sam back as big, bold, and bad as he ever was."

They will have support in the form of a 'production team' in the form of Devolver Digital. This is a new publisher headed by ex-Gathering of Developers/Gamecock guys. From Big Download. (http://news.bigdownload.com/2009/06/25/gathering-of-developers-gamecock-founders-return-as-devolver-dig/)

Through a little research, Big Download discovered that Devolver Digital is in fact the new company from Mike Wilson and Harry Miller, two of the co-founders of the now legendary Gathering of Developers and later the co-founders of Gamecock. When contacted Wilson admitted his and Miller's involvement with the company "along with a few other old friends."

Wilson told us, "We're basically acting as the production company for the XBLA game, since we are not an official MSFT publisher yet, and will be publishing the PC version of the games." Gathering of Developers was the first publisher for Croteam's Serious Sam games and Wilson told us, "Croteam owns the IP still since they had a g.o.d. deal, and are therefore able to work with us again on the new version(s)." We hope to get more info on Wilson's newest game venture in the near future.

[Evil Avatar]

So... it is an Xbox 1 title re-made for Xbox Live? I can't say that I find this compelling news.

[Lutheran]

It was a good pc game , looked fantastic way back when it came out.

[Rhaze]

Yeah, I really enjoyed the other Serious Sam titles. Hopefully they do a decent job bringing it up to standards.

[Frag-L-Rock]

I'd buy it. Had a lot of fun with Serious Sam.

[LikeTheRazor]

This game is loads of fun, one of the best co-op games ever.

[saulob]

Yes, amazing game, had a blast on PC with the co-op. And it's HD version. Nice.

[reptilezero]

currently playing through serious sam 2 on the original xbox. the serious sam games were really good mindless fun

[Nominal]

I am glad for this despite not owning an X-box. The Serious Sam series is often overlooked and completely hilarious and I hope this gives it the attention it deserves. Or rather, I hope this remake deserves attention.

[Earth Djinn]

Ive never actually played a Serious Sam game. Well, I think I might have played a demo of Serious Sam 2 on an old OXM disc.

Anyway, Ill definitely try the XBLA game out when it drops.

[ElfShotTheFood]

Aren't they doing both Encounters? I've seen screenshots of this and some of the shots are definitely from the second one.

It'll be interesting to see this re-done in Serious Engine 3.

[Majster Wichajster]

Play The First Encounter and The Second Encounter. These are the only games where Croteam supposedly knew what it was doing.

[Suicidal ShiZuru]

So is there going to be a new one anytime soon... Or ever? Time to reinstall the first two.

Edit~Since the Serious Sam 2 was released in end of 2005, we have been working hard on a number of things, one of which is new next-gen 'Serious Engine 3' technology. More on this will come in future updates.
...
Since a lot still has to be done, especially on the next Sam game, we don't have a firm release date on it yet. When we do, we'll announce it here on our pages.

[grognard66]

I wonder if Big Downloads "research" consisted of reading the feature article on Devolver Digital in the recent issue of Official X-Box Magazine that already broke this week's ago (complete with timeline of Wilson's and Miller's various ventures in the industry).