$1 million Fury tournament launched

Australian-based developer Auran is initiating a $1 million prelaunch gaming tournament for its upcoming player-versus-player massively multiplayer online game Fury, which is slated to hit shelves globally this October.

The community contest, which is due to begin on the final three weekends of September (September 15th, 22nd, and 29th) will see both individuals and teams vie for a chance at a million dollars' worth of prizes, including PC hardware, Fury prepaid subscription time cards, and scholarships to study video game development. Hardware vendors Dell, Nvidia, and Altech have signed on for sponsorship. Complete tournament entry information--including the exact nature of the tournament and where to download the free prelaunch client for the game--will be available from August 14 at Fury's official Web site, with Auran expecting up to 600,000 players worldwide to participate. Fury is being distributed in the US by Gamecock, Codemasters in Europe, and by n3vrf41l Publishing in Australia.

Auran CEO Tony Hilliam called for the support of both the Australian games industry and retailers to help generate interest in the title, with the company emblazoning the game's launch presentation in Sydney overnight with Australian Made stickers. The company is setting the goal of selling more than 33,000 copies of Fury to the Australian market, a number that would see it pass Auran's own Dark Reign game, which went on sale a decade ago this year. Hilliam also went on to detail plans to open and maintain a dedicated Australian-hosted server for players if sales numbers reached 100,000 units. A locally located server is a feature still not offered by Fury's biggest competitor, Blizzard's World of Warcraft. It does, however, offer US-hosted Oceanic realms.

Fury's official media and channel partners launch also featured Aussie model Siobhan Parekh, who has been chosen to be the "official" face of the game, posing in a revealing Fury-themed photoshoot and lending her likeness. Auran artists have created a model based on her facial features, which will appear as a playable character in the game.