Auran is still alive and so is its MMO Fury, despite its parent company Auran Developments throwing in the towel late last year. Even with this setback, Auran was able to produce a hefty content update, Age of the Chosen, that it believed would rectify most of the original criticisms of the game, including its steep learning curve and dodgy performance. For good measure, it removed the subscription fee.

Shortly after the release of Age of the Chosen, Auran was able to confirm that it had even more updates in the pipeline, but surely, three months on, what developers are left have to be operating on two cornflakes and half a can of Red Bull?

Apparently not. MMORPG.COM managed to get a hold of Auran's CEO Tony Hilliam at GDC 2008, and Hilliam was able to reassure the site that the 13-year old company is committed to Fury. Yet, my eyebrows couldn't help but elevate at a few of Hilliam's comments:

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Auran has just fired out a new press release regarding the Dec 14 Age of the Chosen update for its MMO Fury. According to release, the 1v1 mode introduced with the update has proved the most popular.

We asked online producer Paul White for some additional info on what Auran has planned for Fury going forward:

At the moment we are tweaking following the Age of the Chosen update (some fixes went in on Tuesday, more next week) and also working on an improved tutorial (existing tutorial is boring and too text heavy) and additional features like crafting and gametypes.

Crafting? Looks like Fury may be borrowing ideas from its more PvE-orientated competitors. Before this can happen however, Auran wants to focus on making the game as solid as possible:

Our first priority is to ensure the game is stable and fun and then add more content and features in. Whilst I cannot give you an exact date when each of these things will be available I would expect them to start appearing early next year.

Despite the disappointing news surrounding Auran from last week, the company is still breathing.

The release, which can find after the jump, doesn't contain much more than this. It does mention that the game saw "record numbers" of new players when the Age of Chosen update went live, but Auran has not specified exact figures.

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Come the Age of the Chosen update on December 14, players of Auran's hack'n'slash MMO Fury will be given the option to play the game minus the monthly subscription fee.

According to the release, the free mode, called "Chosen", will give players access to all game types, weapons and abilities. Chosen however will gain gold and essence at a reduced rate and will be unable to swap goods with other players.

If a player is willing to spend a bit of cash, an upgraded "Hero" mode is available that will increase the gold and essence gather rate. Players are also free to buy gold from Auran directly.

This news however is foreshadowed by this grim statement from Auran CEO Tony Hilliam, included with the release Kotaku Australia received from the company:

We will then have some bad news to follow (unless a miracle occurs), but there will be a very positive end to the week.

A mixed message if I ever saw one, especially considering the events of earlier today.

If you'd like to shape your own opinion of events (which I encourage you to do) check out the full release after the jump.

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The Brisbane developer's hack'n'slash MMO has been in the wild for only a couple of months, but already there's a content pack waiting like a giant, massively multiplayer bat in the rafters of the studio.

The update, entitled "Age of the Chosen", will feature a buttload of changes, including a new 1v1 game mode; improved user interface; tweaked equipment and combat mechanics, and numerous bug fixes.

Auran expects to deliver the content update by December 14, which is roughly two-and-a-half weeks from now.

Press release and more information after the jump.

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