Mighty MAG tournament detailed

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.