2K Games, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, announced today the next title in the Serious Sam franchise. Unsurprisingly, the game will be called Serious Sam II. Serious Sam II will be showcased at the upcoming Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) and is the cover story for the June issue of Computer Games Magazine.

"Gamers have been anxiously anticipating a full sequel ever since Serious Sam: The Second Encounter was released back in 2002," said Christoph Hartmann, Senior Vice President of Publishing for 2K Games. "The frantic action and lighthearted humor of Serious Sam really struck a chord with gamers worldwide, and with a brand new engine and greatly expanded gameplay, we think fans will agree that the return of Sam has been well worth the wait."

"Our second generation Serious Engine allows us to create characters with over 100 times more detail than the last game," added Roman Ribaric, CEO of Croteam, developers of Serious Sam II. "This has allowed us to create huge, lush environments and even crazier enemies than before, without having to scale back the gameplay in any way. Gamers can rest assured that with the capabilities of our new engine, we're not only going to match the record we set with the first Serious Sam for the most enemies on screen at one time, we're going to surpass it."

Serious Sam II will release Fall 2005 on PC and Xbox.