Battlefield 3 tournament offers $1.6 million prize

How good would you say you are at console Battlefield games? If the answer is "extremely," then you either have an inflated ego or a real chance at winning a lot of money. EA announced a partnership with Virgin Gaming today, to open the Battlefield 3 Worldwide Conquest Tournament. The competition is set for early 2012 with a $1.6 million purse at stake.

You can pre-register at the Virgin Gaming site as a 360 or PS3 player. For whatever reason, it doesn't extend to the PC version. The announcement teases that the players will take a share of the large prize, so the live finale will most likely group a team of players together to split the reward.

"We're always looking to raise the bar for our members, to give them truly epic gaming experiences they won’t find anywhere else and Battlefield 3 hits the mark," said Virgin Gaming co-founder Zachary Zeldin in the announcement. "This partnership with EA and DICE is exactly the kind of relationship it takes to deliver on that goal, and we can’t be more excited to be working with them to host the greatest competitive gaming event I've ever seen."

Battlefield 3 is set to launch on PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 on October 25, so you'll have a little time to practice and learn the maps before the competition starts next year.