To prepare gamers for the online PvP action that Fury will bring to the PC this October 9th, Auran Games, Gamecock Media Group and Codemasters Online have joined forces to host the Fury Challenge, the world’s first Open Beta game event with an extravagant prize pool valued at over a million bucks from sponsors like Dell, NVidia, Logitech, IGN and GameStop. Registration for the event will be offered via download and on a DVD available for pick-up from select retailers around the world on August 28th (existing testers will be able to simply patch to the Challenge version of the beta), with the contest itself set to begin on September 14th and run over the following three weekends in a row.
The first weekend will be dedicated to practice so competitors have a chance to unlock some abilities and learn the game before being thrust into the heat of the real competition. On the weekends of September 21-23 and September 28-30, the Fury Challenge kicks into full gear with players competing in three game modes on seven different ladders. Prizes will be awarded to the top solo players and Clans, based not on total wins but the players’ best 10 results from each ladder. All the rules and entry conditions are posted at furychallenge.com, so be sure to drop by if you’re interested in participating.
“We believe that FURY will be the start of a PvP revolution, so why not create a revolutionary Open Beta event to show the world that we have arrived,” stated Tony Hilliam, Auran CEO. “Last week we announced our unique business model of free to play with free content updates and an optional subscription. This week, we’re pleased to announce a landmark in gaming with a total prize pool valued at over one million dollars. In late September, hundreds of thousands of players will compete to kick-start their Fury careers by winning Fury Game Cards, Fury Subscriptions and lots of other cool loot too.”
“We’ve lined up a huge array of prizes from our sponsors including NVidia, Dell, IGN, GameStop, Harvey Norman, FHM, Logitech and ZBoard,” said Brian Cooke, Auran Marketing Director. “More sponsors are lining up to get their brand message on the FURY Challenge website, on in-store advertising and also on the in-game loading screens (which will be present for FURY Challenge only). The full list of sponsors and prizes will be continually updated via the www.furychallenge.com website.”
“Although FURY Challenge is a competitive event,” said Adam Carpenter, Fury Creative Director, “our main goal for this Open Beta competition is to ensure that all players have fun. There will be plenty of time once the game is up and running to get into more serious tournaments where the goal is to find the best of the best. Meanwhile, during the lead-up for FURY Challenge we are allowing players to earn as many abilities as they like. However, once the competition kicks off, we will be limiting player Ranks to ensure casual and hardcore players are competing on a level playing field.”
“We have garnered enormous support in the North American market for FURY Challenge” stated Richard Iggo, Gamecock VP Sales and Marketing. “For example, when we first mentioned the concept to GameStop, the world’s largest specialty games retailer, they jumped at the chance to get behind the event. They are offering FURY pre-order customers’ special access to mid-week practice sessions and to the Closed Beta prior to the event. Pre-order customers also get a special in-game suit of armor which can be used both in Fury Challenge and once the game goes live in October.”
“Announced only last week as the European partners for FURY, Codemasters are very excited to be able to lend our support to this landmark gaming event,” said David Solari, Vice President and General Manager, Codemasters Online Gaming. “We look forward to adding a number of European sponsorship partners to help boost the prize pool and to ensure that FURY Challenge is a major success.”
Matt Litten is the full-time editor and owner of VGBlogger.com. He is responsible for maintaining the day to day operation of the site, editing all staff content before it is published, and contributing regular news, reviews, previews and other articles.
Matt landed his first gig in the video game review business writing for the now-defunct website BonusStage.com. After the sad and untimely close of BonusStage, the former staff went on to found VGBlogger.com. After a short stint as US Site Manager for AceGamez, Matt assumed full ownership over VGBlogger, and to this day he is dedicated to making it one of the top video game blogs in all the blogosphere.
Matt is a fair-minded reviewer and lover of games of all platforms and types, big or small, hyped or niche, big-budget or indie. But that doesn't mean he will let poor games slide without a good thrashing when necessary! 
Thanks for the continued Fury coverage!
No prob, glad to help spread the word! Hopefully I’ll get in and try my hand at the Fury Challenge once it starts, win some of those million bucks worth of prizes :). I was gone for most of the recent sneak peek weekend event, but I did get to try it for maybe an hour and I could see the potential for a lot of fun. Look forward to seeing how it turns out.