Mighty MAG tournament detailed

By Eurogamer staff Published 5 January, 2010

Fight our enemies! Date, venue, more.

So, by now we've established that we need you. Now we're telling you where and when. Our upcoming MAG battle against a rival website is fast approaching and it's nearly time to pick sides and book the evening off.

Just to recap: we're getting 64 of our best and brightest readers to battle against an evil website at a Central London venue this month for honour and glory (and prizes). You will then get to team up with the erstwhile enemy and fight against even-more-evil US gamers for even more honour and glory. It's honour and glory city and you could be the mayor.

We can now reveal that the tournament takes place on the evening of 20th January at P3, which is a bit of the University of Westminster (DON'T GO THERE YET). The nearest tube is Baker Street. Hot.

Before we open registration, however, there's the beta to play, and the not insignificant business of deciding which faction we want to represent us.

Because, in the exciting, wicked future of global warfare, the Millennium Accord prevents defence forces from venturing outside their borders, forcing countries who want to assert themselves abroad to turn to Private Military Companies instead.

And apparently quite a lot of them are feeling assertive in the wilds of 2025, too, because multiplayer games of MAG are populated by up to 256 players representing three massive rival PMCs: the Seryi Volk Executive Response (SVER), Raven Industries and Valor Company.

Deciding who to be is obviously far too big a decision for such limited humans as us, however, so as part of our ongoing MARCH TO WAR we will soon be asking you to vote on which faction you want to represent Eurogamer.

With this in mind we've compiled detailed audio-visual dossiers below, and we also encourage you to check out the ongoing open beta to see how each one works.

Seryi Volk Executive Response (SVER)

Straight out of Grozny, SVER are harder than steel-reinforced sudoku - a ragtag band of former soldiers and private citizens, some with shady backgrounds, and all with war in their blood. Men and women of few words and even sexier accents, according to CEO Priya Khan, they will not stand for defeat, they will not stand for death, they will not tidy their bedroom, and there is no such thing as hope, only relentlessness. A woman after our own heart - to cut out and eat, probably.

Raven Industries

Sometimes, crawling on your hands and knees through waist-deep piles of bone splinters covered in Tabasco is not enough to forge the perfect soldier; sometimes you need awesome equipment as well. That's certainly how Raven Industries sees things. Based in Austria, Raven is at the cutting edge of cut and thrust, with high-tech weapons, armour and precision training to support their ambition.

Valor Company

Hailing from the land of the freeze (Alaska, see), Valor Company was formed by US Army veterans and draws from US, Mexican and British special forces. Under the leadership of CEO Gregory Cavanaugh, they believe that success requires sacrifice and discipline, and - perhaps most significantly when it comes to choosing sides - their logo looks the most like a football team crest.

Do your best to make your mind up in the next few days, and look out for registration and voting to open very soon.

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Comments (26) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • CaptainCortez #1 2 years ago

    Ah, excellent!

    Looking forward to this, and that's for the faction I think we should represent. Well, S.V.E.R. looks like the best one. Liking the wolf logo. :D

  • Rirekon #2 2 years ago

    SVER for me too, got to love the rebels

  • Chufty #3 2 years ago

    SVER are a jolly good fun but I played their home maps so bloody much in the beta that I don't think I'll be rolling them next time...

  • CptSupermarket #4 2 years ago

    Also SVER as i was in the closed beta, best teamwork of all 3 factions imo, weapons a bit weak tho. Tried RAVEN in the closed beta, awesome weapons, no teamwork. Valor is for the yanks.

  • Lee_Morris #5 2 years ago

    Naaaaaa Raven is where it's at.

    Played this for a good few hours last night and when teams are working together and you see the massive amount of people in 1 game it does feel like a different type of game that I've not played before. But people do need to talk more.

  • knightmt #6 2 years ago

    Doesn't it depend on who your players are, as far as I can tell the higher the level of the player the better the weapons and characters, so unless you are starting of level one, is it the best 64 players of a single faction that you can get which will decide the clan.
    Raven look like they will kick ass when the higher levels are unlocked but I have not seen this yet.
    How the fuck are the level 15 people online when the current beta is only two days old? Bastards.
    SVER has the best numbers as yet.

  • M_of_the_sys #7 2 years ago

    SVER is the easiest to defend for as it has less weak points in it's defences than the other two PMCs.
    Personally, I found Raven to have the best teamwork and communication on the occasions when I got on a good team. However, SVER had good communication on a more regular basis.

    @knightmt

    The weapons for the different PMC's are balanced out in different ways. So, for example, the level 1 assault rifle for Raven is different to the level 1 assault rifle for Valour.

  • spiny #8 2 years ago

    For me, Valor is a non starter being too Yank centric & Raven edges out SVER for having more toys :)

  • knightmt #9 2 years ago

    @M_of_the_sys , I guessed this but the big scorers seem be higher levels, I guess that this is both cause and effect. But I would of guessed that EG would benefit from having the highest level players of whatever clan.
    P.s.
    How do I try the different clans I seem to have only one license and if I delete that I guess I loose the xp for that character?

  • rambomarv #10 2 years ago

    good controls but rubbish game really bad.

  • hardtech #11 2 years ago

    Iam very jolly well interested in this....if only I had a PS3 *sigh*

  • M_of_the_sys #12 2 years ago

    @knightmt

    Yeah. You lose all your XP if you delete your character and choose another PMC.
    You're right about the higher levels as they will have better perks but I think the effect is somewhat minimal. If you have a good team with good communication you will do well. The levels can vary in this scenario.

  • jambo74 #13 2 years ago

    Played the Beta...was not impressed.

  • thepaddedcell #14 2 years ago

    I played the Beta last night for a couple of rounds. I didnt love it nor hate it. I'll reserve my opinion until I've given it a decent whack.

    I would defintely be interested in participating in this event though! Sounds like fun :D

  • SFG_Clan #15 2 years ago

    This looks to me the most impressive PS3 game, it's ambitious and new. Im liking the S.V.E.R they look cool, sound cool, have a sexy Russian/Eastern European leader lady and they get Sov Bloc style weapons (the best in the world!). I'd go with S.V.E.R, the other two are obviously techno Nazi's and Americans

  • thepaddedcell #16 2 years ago

    I think SVER are probably the best pick too.

  • markymark22 #17 2 years ago

    Ha sounds class, my broadband connections so shit though i wont get a chance to play. But i'm sure if it was i would be THE BEST!

  • deriko24 #18 2 years ago

    SVER for me this time around. i was valor in last beta

  • jag10 #19 2 years ago

    Raven is the best.

  • Netweb #20 2 years ago

    between all eurogamers?

    eg.pt VS eg.es
    eg.net VS eg.nl

    ....

  • Murton #21 2 years ago

    Been playing this a lot over the last few days and as much as I'd love to represent Eurogamer I fear that the grenade spam that will likely ensue will be intolerable. Between the grenade spam and the way that the game often breaks down into a meat-grinder like battle I'm finding it hard to decide if this will be my main multiplayer shooter this year or if I should just wait and get Bad Company 2 instead.

    I guess I'll just have to keep an eye on the forums and see what's said closer to release day, I'm reasonably confident that once the game is out proper people will realise that these approaches simply don't work and start playing tactically but there's perhaps an even chance that people will realise these approaches don't work and just stop playing. It's definitely gonna be a "research before you buy" game I think.

  • bebox2010 #22 2 years ago

    Come on all you Brits out there, get yourself allied with the only PMC we should be backing!!! Valour is made up of British Special Forces and to vote for the S.V.E.R would be a vote for the Ruskies and a vote for RAVEN is a vote for the cowardly French and the megalomaniac Jerries! (jk) But a vote for VALOUR is a vote for BRITAIN! (And the USA and Mexico obviously lol). This is the faction we are meant for..."Valor Company was formed by US Army veterans and draws from US, Mexican and BRITISH SPECIAL FORCES!!!."

  • azazel_fallenangel #23 2 years ago

    Does anybody know what other websites are taking part? I've seen ign seem part of it, but anybody else?

  • sneetch #24 2 years ago

    @MESSIAH999

    You've never played (or heard of) Planetside then I take it? That came out in 2003 and worked very well.

  • StraiderNL #25 2 years ago

    Ah it's good to see there's a european tournament held aswell. The open beta was awesome, it was a great week overall. Now I just hope I get to be selected for this event :D

    I played as Raven myself

    -Straider

  • the_gr81 #26 2 years ago

    go 4 sver ppl i've played as a sver , raven & valor trooper.
    sver is the best faction (most wins & best guns )