Australian Gamer Game Event :: Fury Launch Party

DRUNKENESS IS THE BEST STATE IN AUSTRALIA

Fury Launch Party - Sydney

Starks attends the Sydney media launch for the game FURY.

Fury launch party in Sydney | Fury launch party in Melbourne | Fury launch party in Brisbane

Discuss in official forum

View Screenshots

view profile

You must have heard it on the news this morning
Congratulations, a new star is born
Sun to shadow, rose to a thorn
But there ain't no fury like a woman scorned

I Googled Fury when I got home last night, and it amused me that two things popped up: The lyrics to Prince�s 2006 song Fury and Auran�s developing masterpiece Fury. I found them quite appropriate.

Ok, so I only mentioned the Googling bit because it justifies why I�m listening to Prince, especially his new stuff.

...

Ok that bit�s a lie too; I was listening to Fleetwood Mac and Wikipedia�d Fury and Prince�s song was one of the results. It is, however, appropriate that the song I was listening too at the time was Little Lies by Fleetwood Mac.

Tell me lies,
Tell me sweet little lies.
Tell me lies, tell me tell me lies.

In any case, I was telling the truth when I said that the lyrics were quite appropriate. A new star is born, and there ain�t no fury like a woman scorned.

Auran�s launch party for Fury in Sydney was held at Tank Club; One of the dingier places I�ve been to while inebriated, but the chicks were good and the drunker I got the better the music was. But that was a long time ago. Last night I was sober, and looking forward to my first taste of �The Industry� as an esteemed Australian Gamer rep, and I wasn�t let down by what was presented to me. The club, I must admit, suited the atmosphere, and the music wasn�t as deafening as I last remembered it to be.

I quickly scanned the scene, looking for the promo girls Yug promised me there would be. My eyes, no longer as sharp as they were due to hours of my work life spent in front of a computer trying to look busy whilst surfing forums. I picked out 5 stunners, and smiled with glee.

�So Yug wasn�t tricking me just to get me here,� I murmured. The security guard looked at me curiously, but I waved my hand in front of his face and told him �I�m not the idiot you�re looking for.� He looked at me oddly then turned away. My Jedi powers were growing stronger.

I pranced down the steps like a flightly gazelle, and did the quick walk through. Snapping away some pictures, I successfully got one of the posters to pose for me. I located Ashwin Segkar (Auran Public Relations ManageR) quick enough, and introduced myself.

Starks and Ashwin

�Sparky! Why of course I remember you mate. Yug told me you were going turn up. Glad to see you!� I kept my mouth shut. Obviously this Sparky fellow was held in high regard. The fact that Ashwin had mistaken me for this famed �Sparky� character was a bonus, as it meant I would be given privileged treatment. I nodded along and deepened my voice so as not to give the game away.

�Have you played Fury yet? Come on man, come have a go. Phil will give you the run down!� Ashwin was holding a colourful drink with a small umbrella in it. He leaned in close to me, and I smelt grenadine on his breath. �This drink is the foulest thing I�ve ever had,� He whispered. I nodded sagely and he introduced me to Phil, a jovial Englishman who was only too happy to introduce me to the game.

�Well, here you have it; Fury.� He pointed at some lovely 23 inch Samsung LCD�s, connected to blue glowing Altech PC�s. He helpfully filled me in on the game, also answering my sporadic questions and showing me how the game played.

It looks and plays like World of Warcraft, but has deceptive differences you begin to notice as you play more of the game. The general theme of the release was, as he explained, the PvP side of WoW. Explaining to me that many of the 9 million people around the world love to PvP, but can�t spend the 17, 374 hours required just to get the basic gear required to go into the Battlefields, Fury could be seen as the game to basically take the concept of WoW PvP, build on it, change it appropriately, and make it all that much better.

Whilst there are elements of questing required by the player, the level of hours and time required to put in to the game is significantly lower that that required of the average WoW player, who requires the sacrifice of 230, 921 low level boars when grinding just to get enough money to afford to repair and buy a small upgrade.

As a relatively experienced, but long retired WoW player, I found this to be the most drawing aspect of the game already. PvP was, to me, the true test of skill as it required a degree of thought and tactics, and I found this level of skill was hindered by those who bought accounts and gold, were lucky with loots, or had the leisure of more time to waste in their chair grinding to get what they required.

The promo girl played the game for well over an hour

One of the first things I begin to notice, when watching and playing, is the speed of the game. It really does look and play fast. Add to that the movements of the character themselves, and how some of the models carry their weapons, and I ask the question: �Is this run on the Unreal 2 engine?�

Phil smiles. �It�s actually run on the Unreal 3 engine. Provided Gears of War 2 doesn�t beat us, we�ll be the first game to release using it.�

I�m intrigued. I concentrate a little harder, and find the game play deep, and involving. Indeed, I want to spend more than the 20 minutes I had learning the spells, learning the different characteristics, and exploring the maps. I step away though to let someone else have a go. Phil keeps on explaining.

�Basically we enjoy World of Warcraft. But to go up against a game like that is something we obviously knew we couldn�t do. However, there were only certain aspects of the game we really enjoyed. PvP was one of them and grinding was not. So we focused on creating a game taking the best elements of PvP and went about producing a completely new experience. Fury is that result.

It�s not as time restrictive, and allows the casual gamer the ability to log on for anywhere between 20 minutes and 3 hours and no matter what the time frame they�re working too, they�ll always be able to walk away with a feeling of enjoyment. We wanted to base the games enjoyment on one specific element, rather than requiring the player to spend hours getting to a particular level so they could then enjoy the kind of experience Fury offers immediately.�

�So are their any classes, and restrictions to those classes?� I query.

Phil goes on to explain how the player has the ability to mix and match character classes dependent on what he wants to do. �Essentially, you could have a close combat mage with healing properties if you really wanted. We give the player that option, and allow them to mix up to 400 different spells and abilities for their character.�

The kind of player options were, quite literally, incredible. Each character at the 9 available terminals were different character models, with different abilities, and all with their own unique flavour.

My impressions of the game move a little further along as I watch one of the more skilled players take advantage of some nifty air lifts, and with brutal precision lay to waste three players. The more you watch, the more it appears to be Unreal 2, mixed with PvP WoW, and with an altogether new flavour of game play and tactics.

I move on, having a scan of the environment. I spot some buxom FHM models playing Fury, and one of them looks to be really enjoying herself. �What do you think of the game?� I ask.

The Fury computer setup

�Yeah, it�s a lot of fun! I really like it.� Believe it or not, she was still there an hour later when I returned. That�s generally a good sign, if you�re wondering.

A hush falls over the crowd. I sniff, thinking the worst, but at the front stage a gentleman stands and introduces himself. There�s applause, for what I�m not sure, but the applause halts and a young lass is introduced.

Siobhan Parekh is as articulate as she is beautiful. A quick introduction of her is made before Tony Hilliam (Auran CEO), takes the stage. A collective sigh echoes through the club, but Tony continues despite the obvious crowd preference to the short brunette that was now standing off to his side.

Tony goes into depth about the game. And quite a lot of depth. Many references are made to WoW, and also the differences they seek to accentuate between them and their competition. A short clip of South Park, the scene of Blizzard executives - �How do you kill that which has no life�, is shown, and Hilliam speaks of how the game is not aimed at the hardcore per se. He states there is the ability for those willing to spend hours learning the game and perfecting their art, but that the appeal to the casual gamer allows them to tap into a market WoW is not designed to reach. By giving the gamer the ability to play, start to finish, the best bit of the title within 20 minutes, Auran has widened the scope of gamer that it can appeal to.

Tony Hilliam explaining the process used to creative Siobhan

The business model is an interesting one too. The game has no required subscription fee to those who purchase a retail copy. However, for the hardcore, a subscription can be paid that gives them access to weapons, armor etc that the non-subscriber is not privy to. He counters the argument of �But what about patches and upgrades etc� by stating that all upgrades, patches, add-ons etc will be made available for free to the more casual gamer.

A clever set up and one I feel deserves to be made a benchmark amongst game developers. He goes on to explain the reason for Siobhan�s inclusion.

�Gamers around the world would prefer to stare at a chicks ass than a guys ass.�

I kid you not; That�s what he said.

The major announcement, well to me anyway, was the fact that Auran had signed a deal with CPL (Cyber-Athlete Professional League) for Fury Challenge; A competition with $1 million dollars in prizes. Undoubtedly an Australian first, I�m serendipitously pleased at the decision, and the desire to not only get the game, but get good at it quickly, is a desire I�m sure many will have.

Hilliam�s presentation ends with a short CGI movie showing off the graphics, and Siobhan�s character model, as well as the clever add where the grinding geek�s girlfriend messes around with the pizza boy. A buzz is present around the crowd as the presentation ends, and I manage to grab Ashwin.

�It looks the goods mate,� I congratulate him. We have a quick chat on the event, before I get a group photo with him, then manage to get one of myself with Siobhan, as well as Ashwin with the glamourous lady herself.

Starks and Siobhan

�So what does it feel like to be in a computer game?� I ask Siobhan.

�Pretty surreal, I�ve never done anything like this before. It�s a real honour and I�m glad they picked me.�

�I heard that you had to wear one of those green suits for the computer CGI modelling. What was that like?�

�Oh that, yeah it was really heavy and uncomfortable. The shoot was fun, but that bit wasn�t so much.�

�Have you played the game?�

�Yeah I have, it�s a lot of fun. I�m not very good at it, but I hope to get better.�

�I hear Yug from Australian Gamer is going to interview you. Are you looking forward to it?�

�Yug? Who�s Yug? I�d much rather be interviewed by you.� She bat�s her eyelashes at me, and with a bit of a head wobble, I offer my arm to her and we walk out of the club for one of the best nights of my life.

Shit, that stupid Fleetwood Mac song is back on�

Discuss in official forum

View Screenshots