I've played quite a bit of the latest entry in Croteam's twitchtastic first-person shooter series, but I never encountered the super-speedy giant unkillable pink spider creature in the first level. Know why? Because my copy isn't pirated.

In order to curb rampant pc game piracy, developer Croteam purposefully included a bug (hee) in Serious Sam 3: BFE that trips when the game has been cracked. The bug (I said it again!) spawn a pleasantly-pink, positively unkillable scorpion creature that will hound the player until he or she is dead, dead, dead. To give the pirate a fighting chance, the spawn point is right next to the game's first projectile weapon. It won't have any effect, of course, but you'll briefly feel better.

While not a particularly effective means of combating piracy, the giant immortal pink scorpion is a fun way to catch those masquerading as legitimate customers in places like GameFaqs.

Thanks for the entertainment, Croteam!

Serious Sam 3 BFE - Immortal Fast Scorpion [YouTube via RPS]

And you thought there weren't any more games coming out before Christmas. Croteam has unleashed Serious Sam 3: BFE upon the somewhat suspicious PC gaming masses, flipping the bird at today's more technical shooters in favor of old school shooting shit all to hell.

It's okay. I forgot it was coming out too. Hell, I didn't even connect BFE with Before First Encounter until five minutes ago. Croteam's big prequel is available right now on Steam for shooter fans tired of taking cover, shooting for five minutes, and then running to the next bit of cover. It's a game where movement and shooting large holes in strange creatures go hand-in-hand, skipping merrily down the block before exploding.

Always with the exploding.