Maximum carnage is an accurate depiction of Serious Sam franchise. Endless waves of insane enemies combined with a variety of over-the-top weapons creates a recipe for ridiculous amounts of action and fun. Classic Serious Sam was quality material, but the upgraded HD versions are required property for any gamer. Lucky for 360 owners, Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter is finally available via XBLA starting today.

Croteam may be neck deep in the development of Serious Sam 3, but fans of the franchise undoubtedly want their satisfaction right now. Check out this newly released launch trailer and decide whether The Second Encounter will appease your bloodthirsty desires for another year:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnTuQwU9EUM

Now that's some fine rampaging if I've ever seen it. Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter will be launching with four player cooperative play over Xbox Live, as well as a variety of other multiplayer modes -- including the brand new Deathmatch game type.

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Serious Sam has been a mainstay at LAN parties for years now. Back living in the college dorms, Serious Sam would be dusted off once every two or three months and properly finished marathon style. Class the next day? Not anymore, unless you can drowsily wander to lecture while imagining headless bombers lurking behind every corner -- it's not easy.

Playing Serious Sam on the PC is an amazing experience, but I have to worry at least a little about the console transition. The constant pressure, importance of accuracy and twitch reaction time is hampered -- albeit only slightly -- with a console controller. Though every player is likely to die hundreds of times anyways, so perhaps the console version is actually a more proper representation of the franchise.

All I know for sure is that you can't make a better boss than the one from Serious Sam: The First Encounter. The dude is literally as tall as a skyscraper, and looks like Goro from Mortal Kombat.

Are you ready to "get serious", Ranters? Oh, and can you mock me for actually working "get serious" into this article? I feel like it's well deserved.

Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter launches today on XBLA, and is already available for your PC via Steam. You can pick up today's release for the not-to-shabby price of 1200 Microsoft Points.

And cross your fingers for an official revealing of Serious Sam 3 approaching E3 2011.