Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter
Get the latest on Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter! Available now on PC and coming soon to XBLA! Powered by the next generation Serious Engine 3!
Devolver Digital sends word that Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter will be arriving on Xbox LIVE Arcade on September 22nd. So if you're one of those who was waiting to try it out on the big-screen, clear your Wednesday (and Thursday, and Friday...) and start getting ready!
Serious Sam's publisher, Devolver Digital, will be bringing Sam to the masses next month at the Fantastic Arcade in Austin, TX. Fantastic Arcade is a new independent games festival that features "fresh, cutting-edge games designed by independent game developers." Fantastic Arcade runs from September 23-26 and you can find more information on their website.
In honor of the free Serious Sam weekend, we've setup our very own co-op server for everyone to enjoy. Just load up your copy of Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter, open up the list of servers for Classic Co-Op, and join the Seriously! server!
Update: Due to the extremely high demand, we are now hosting a second co-op server. Be sure to check out either Seriously! Co-Op or Seriously! Co-Op #2!
Direct from the office of Devolver Digital comes the following press announcement:
SERIOUS SAM HD: SECOND ENCOUNTER MULTIPLAYER FREE-FOR-ALL IS FREE FOR ALL THIS WEEKEND ON STEAM
Gamers Get a Delicious Taste of Multiplayer Madness and 50% of Purchase
Zagreb, Croatia, July 8, 2010 – In an effort to spread the Gospel of Sam to those non-believers who still haven’t bathed in the redeeming light of high-definition, Croteam has decided to allow the few remaining heathens to partake in the visual delights of Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter’s over-the-top multiplayer modes. From July 8 through July 11, Steam users around the world will be able to play all the brilliant new modes of multiplayer fun with up to 16-players. New converts will be able to experience divine gameplay modes like Co-Op Survival, My Burden and Beast Hunt along with classic deathmatch and campaign co-op modes.
“This is total bullshit,” said Fork Parker, Chief Financial Officer at Devolver Digital. “How are we supposed to make any money by giving away our sweet multiplayer juice for free?”
Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter will also be discounted by 50% during the promotion. Seriously. Half off a game that already costs less than $20. That’s $10 sucka.
“Goddamnit,” replied Fork when asked for further comment.
About Croteam
Croteam are the creative force behind the massively successful Serious Sam series, which is recognized across the globe for its all-action and entertaining game design and its powerful Serious Engine technology. Founded in Zagreb, Croatia in 1993, Croteam has grown to become one of the most successful and respected developers in Eastern Europe. More information about Croteam can be found online at www.croteam.com.
About Devolver Digital
Devolver Digital is a small, laser-focused production and publishing company based in Austin, Texas, (also with one very lonely desperado in London) from an unnamed group of industry veterans/outlaw refugees. The company aims to take large wads of fun created by great game developers worldwide, and help create large wads of cash from it by getting it into the hands of rich, entertainment-starved gamers around the world, wherever they happen to be hanging out, and for whatever currency is handy. Our Twitter handle is @DevolverDigital so hook it up.
One of the great parts of the pre-2007 E3's were the extravagant lengths that some exhibitors would go to in order to generate buzz for their new products. When we heard that there would be live Mexican wrestling on the show floor this year, we couldn't miss it. Slang/Konami's Lucha Libre AAA: Heroes del Ring lets you play out wrestling matches as some of the most famous Mexican wrestlers on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, PSP and DSi. Check out our footage of the championship match live below (fast forward a couple minutes to get to the good stuff), as well as footage of actual gameplay.
One of the biggest stories of E3 was clearly the Nintendo 3DS, and I was thrilled to be able to get my hands on it for a good 20 minutes. The first thing I was able to try was a playable version of RidgeRacer in 3D. The game itself did not particularly benefit from 3D, as it was just your basic racing game, but I was able to play with the adjustable 3D effect a bit. There is a small slider on the right side of the DS screen that lets you increase or decrease the amount of 3D you see. For example, you could turn it all the way down to essentially turn 3D off, or you could turn it all the way up to maximize the depth of the 3D. I found that placing it at different settings worked well depending on the game that was being played. For example, on RidgeRacer, the only things that were really in 3D was my car and the street signs, so I turned it down a bit so it wouldn't be too much of a distraction. Mario Kart was also available in 3D, and while the 3D effects were again impressive, I was unfortunately unable to play the game.
Where things got really amazing were at the Metal Gear Solid demo. Nintendo really went all-out on this one, and had a carefully scripted non-playable demo in order to maximize their demonstration of the unit's capabilities. For this one I cranked the 3D effect all the way up and was truly impressed.
Of particular note were two parts of the demo. The first involved an enemy soldier dropping a pack of cigarettes through an uplifted tree root, with Snake hiding behind the tree. The soldier reaches around blindly trying to find the cigarettes, with Snake ultimately handing them to him. All the while, the depth of the entire scene is clearly depicted in 3D, with the searching-arm of the soldier moving through the range of depth in the scene. The second example was towards the end of the demo, as some flowers exploded in the middle of an open field. Each individual petal was sent drifting through the air, and the depth of each was amazingly noticeable due to the 3D effects.
Finally, I played a 3DS-specific tech demo intended to demonstrate the possible gameplay uses of the 3D effects. The game used the tabletop in front of me and the 3DS' camera, and after a brief calibration (I needed to hold the 3DS 14 inches away from a gamecard placed on the table) the game began. The game consisted of shooting virtual targets that appeared on the 3DS screen. The first level involved moving the 3DS around to line-up the crosshair over the targets that it overlaid on the image of the table, and I was able to quickly destroy the targets. The second level got a bit more interesting, however, with the game warping the table into a mountain and distributing the targets so that some of them were sideways on the mountain's surface. This required me to move the 3DS around sideways and use the 3D effect to aim more effectively.
Nintendo also had some units on display for taking 3D pictures, and though I was only able to get a quick glance, the pictures were able to convey the three-dimensions of the scene they took a picture of. I'm not sure how these pictures will be particularly useful, however.
Ultimately the 3DS was very impressive, and we're anxious to see what kind of impact it has on gaming and what creative uses developers will devise for it. The 3D effect may not be for everyone, however, and we're glad Nintendo included an easy-to-use, adjustable slider on the side. I did notice that the 3D effect seemed to be a bit better if I held the 3DS a bit closer to my face instead of at arm-length, and any movement side-to-side will wreak havoc on the 3D effect.
Unfortunately Nintendo has no official release date or retail price, and the representatives on hand were unwilling to even speculate as to a range of release dates or possible costs.
While much of E3 is focused on the video games, there is also some pretty cool hardware on the floor in addition to the game consoles and handhelds. One of the consistent players in this area is Mad Catz, which has also incorporated Saitek into their business since purchasing them in 2007.
We were able to get an up-close and personal look at much of what Mad Catz had to offer, with the first gaming accessory shown to us being their new cyborg mouse, the Rat 7. Their representative stated that they named it the Rat as it is no ordinary mouse, and after seeing it we're inclined to agree.
The Rat 7 has pretty much anything you could ask for in a mouse: a 5600 DPI two-axis laser sensor, toggle modes on the sides, it's fully programming, an interchangeable wrist-rest, pinky-rest, and thumb-rest, a thumb and pinky button, a side-scroll wheel in addition to the standard scroll wheel, three different operating modes with the current one indicated by the color-coded LED button, and our favorite, the precision aim button. The precision aim button allows you to instantly reduce the Rat's DPI to a configurable percentage of its normal precision. For example, if you're zoomed in with a sniper scope, you could toggle the precision aim on to allow you much more fine-tuned control over your aim. Finally, the weight of the mouse can be adjusted, allowing you to tweak it to your taste.
All of these features will cost you, however, with the Rat7 running $99, and the lesser Rat5 costing $79, while the Rat 3 is $49.
Also on display was all of Mad Catz's Rock Band peripherals. Mad Catz is now the principal supplier of all Rock Band accessories, including the drums, guitars, and keyboards. One of the cooler instruments they have is a full guitar simulator for Rock Band 3, featuring buttons for every single fret, allowing you to play fairly closely to how you would on a real guitar. We weren't able to go hands-on with the guitar though, so we can't evaluate how the plethora of plastic buttons handles in terms of rapidly shifting between chords.
Their Call of Duty: Black Ops customized PS3 and Xbox 360 controller was available for viewing (right), and it looks a lot cooler than the picture lets on. Mad Catz holds the official license for Black Ops, and their controllers will be available at launch, with a camo mouse available for the PC.
An assortment of their joysticks were also on display, with our favorite being their X-65F Flight Combat Control System. This beast (pictured here) is a force-sensing HOTAS (Hands On Throttle and Stick) system, meaning that you have pretty much the same controls that exist in fighter jets. The force-sensing part of it may take some getting used to, however, as the joystick features no moving parts and is entirely force-sensitive. They also had several other joysticks on display, noting that consumers will now be able to separate some of their joysticks into two pieces for easy storage/transportation.
Finally, their backlit keyboard really caught our eye, sporting a variety of colors that blended into each other. While this is nothing new, what was really cool about it was you could configure the color scheme on-the-fly with their software.
Another game we were able to go hands-on with at the Nintendo booth at this year's E3 was the brand-new Goldeneye 007. Being a huge fan of the original (and still playing it regularly), I couldn't wait to get my hands on this game after I heard it was going to be at the show.
The game is on the Wii, and it makes use of the classic controller accessory for the Wii. After learning about a few new commands, I felt right at home. Once I realized the new radar is a lot more specific and accurate than that in the original, I quickly cleaned house, claiming victory over the three other players I was fighting in classic split-screen deathmatch.
Just like the original, I greatly enjoyed playing this game. However, after the initial rush of playing the game and focusing on winning wore off and I began to think about it in more detail, there were a number of things that bothered me.
First, there are grenades introduced into this version that can be thrown at any time during a fight. In the case of Oddjob though, you are able to throw your hat and do not have any grenades. Second, the radar is incredibly detailed and accurate. While the original game's radar allowed you to get a general idea of where your enemies are, this game's radar is incredibly precise and even overlays a map of the level, allowing you to easily determine precisely where enemies are. Finally, in what is likely a legal issue, there will be absolutely no Pierce Brosnan in this version, even in multiplayer or as a bonus feature; James Bond will be modeled after the current Bond, Daniel Craig.
Clearly there are a number of areas in the game where the developers have decided to change the gameplay in bringing the game up to date. While playing it was definitely fun, from the looks of things this will not be Goldeneye 007 as it existed on the N64, and those looking for the same game but with updated graphics/sound/controls may be disappointed.
For years game hardware developers have pushed the envelope in virtual-reality gaming in an attempt to create the ultimate gaming experience, but for all their cool headgear they could not simulate player motion, until now. Meet VirtuSphere.
VirtuSphere is a totally new and fully immersive experience. It is made up of two components: a giant sphere that players get inside of and a wireless virtual-reality headset. Once inside a player is then able to walk around inside the sphere like a hamster and the system will translate that movement into ingame motion fed to the headset.
There is one downside to this technology: it is huge. The sphere itself is 10ft in diameter so there is no way it will fit inside the average home. The price is also fairly hefty at $35,000.
Despite the downsides this technology looks very promising and could even become the next biggest thing in professional gaming leagues. Imagine it for a moment, a dozen of the world's top players running around inside giant balls...
Well, that's it, the show's over. After stressful weeks of planning, pre-show releases, leaks, and three long days of feet-throbbing standing and walking, E3 2010 has come to a close. We hope you've enjoyed the coverage we've provided this year, and we also hope that you found our first E3 using Twitter and Facebook updates useful.
If you missed anything you can find all of our coverage on a single E3 2010 page here. And while we're having to sign off for the day to go catch the Video Games Live concert next door (and avoid the crazy crowds/possible riots from the NBA Finals), our coverage is far from over. We've still got tons of videos, pictures, write-ups, and more heading your way (including the Kinect, PS Move, and more), so stay tuned, and stay serious!
Our third day of E3 2010 pictures are now up! We tried to get a few more booth babes for you today but in our rush to play as many games as possible before the show closed we haven't fully processed all of our pictures yet. Check back soon for more pictures and the rest of our E3 2010 coverage!
We were fortunate enough to have booked an appointment to see the Rock Band 3 presentation in the theater at MTV Games' booth this E3 and thought we'd give you a good preview of it. The game will ship with 83 songs and is expected to have nearly 2,000 total songs available for purchase, either via download or from the previous games. The Harmonix team demonstrated 7-player rocking to us live, including three people on vocals, a bass guitar, standard guitar, drums, and keyboard.
In this version you're able to have players drop-in and drop-out throughout the game, whether it's in menus, in the middle of a setlist, or even in the middle of a song. There will be a brand new character creator that will be shown later this summer, and the music library includes filters such as song length, decade, genre, instruments, etc., to help you find songs among the massive music library.
New setlists are available as well, including the ability to create your own and save it to your console. You will also be able to share your custom setlists with friends via Facebook, Twitter, and RockBand.com, and you can create setlists on a PC and then send them to your console via the internet.
A new party play mode will be available that consists of an endless setlist, but it will allow you to skip songs you don't want to play. This allows people to continue playing songs for fun without being forced to play ones they don't want to, and without interrupting the party by having to navigate menus every now and then.
A new road challenge is available that consists of tours that last 2-4 hours. This will allow players to actually "beat" Rock Band for the night, something that was not possible previously as you could always try and get more fans no matter how successful you were.
What was truly amazing was the Rock Band Pro demonstration. Not only will they have a Pro mode that helps you learn to play the instrument in real life, for example by letting you play two octaves on the keyboard, but you can even get a real Stratocaster guitar that has technology in the fretboard that allows it to work with the game. We witnessed one of the members of Harmonix play on this guitar with it plugged into both a guitar amp and the game simultaneously (on Expert mode), and the audio from the amp and the game speakers matched up seamlessly, a truly impressive feat.
Finally, Rock Band 3 will also include "no-fail" modes so that you don't have to worry about failing songs if you're just looking to have some fun. Rock Band 3 will be available Q4 2010 on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, and the Nintendo DS.
We were able to get hands-on with Square Enix's Final Fantasy XIV today on the E3 show floor, and guest writer IrishPirate previews the game for you:
We had a brief hands-on with Square Enix's Final Fantasy XIV today. FFXIV is a MMORPG, following in the steps of Final Fantasy XI. We had the opportunity to take a character through a town and guild areas and participate in a brief combat sequence. It is worth mentioning that we played using a gamepad and a 3d three monitor widescreen. The town was very visually appealing and included an immense level of detail. Combine this with 3d viewing and it gives an amazing and immersive viewing experience.
Combat design seems to be very well put together. A player can lock on to a target and begin unleashing a series of attacks. Different attacks and skills require varying amounts of stamina that regenerates over the course of the battle. Controls are fairly straightforward but the high number of spell / attack options is a bit difficult to manage on a gamepad. A computer keyboard or more practice navigating the menus would likely alleviate the difficulty.
Final Fantasy XIV is scheduled for release on Playstation 3 and Windows later this year.
IrishPirate, one of our guest writers for E3, was able to go hands-on with Harry Potter today:
Electronic Arts set out a demo of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part one play. This is this observer's first time with a Harry Potter game and it did not disappoint. I first noticed the excellent graphics. Characters, environments, and even magic spells all have been carefully created to give a stunning appearance. I was also impressed with the movement mechanics. Character movement and camera angle allow for straightforward gameplay. The game also allows Harry to find cover behind obstacles on the ground and cast spells from over the top of these. Speaking of spells, the combat in the Deathly Hallows proves a bit tricky.
Choosing and firing spells is quite simple but aiming and striking your foes is rather challenging. You must be precise when aiming your spells and you'll find that your spells often pass right by your enemy. Other guests seemed to have the same problem but it appeared that the booth rep was doing quite well. Aside from some amateur aiming on my part, the game played and looked very good. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part one is scheduled for release in November and will be available on all major game platforms.
POTD
Forget HDR with the dirt brown palettes and cheap bloom! Serious Sam with its vivid and bright colours is where it's at!
