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WoW Archivist: WoW's craziest TV ads
WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold? Nefarian swallows a truck. Two women duke it out in a supermarket. A trio of singers shouts, "No means no!" Mr. T introduces a new race and Chuck Norris roundhouse-kicks a kodo. Those responsible for advertising World of Warcraft have hit on some crazy ideas. This week, Blizzard debuted its first TV ads for Mists of Pandaria. As I'm writing this, I've just watched them air live on Monday Night Football. That's a big-time slot for a commercial here in the States and runs a cool $325,000 per nationally televised spot. The ads feature clips from the official trailer. If only the Bengals had put up as much of a fight as that panda. But not all of WoW's commercials through the years have been quite so ... straightforward. Let's take a look!
IGN discovers the Aubrey Plaza WoW commercial that never aired
Does anyone remember those World of Warcraft "What's your game?" commercials? They've been around for years, featuring celebrities like Mr. T, William Shatner, Verne Troyer, Ozzy Osbourne, and even a French commercial with Jean-Claude Van Damme. There were two that were introduced last year -- the infamous Chuck Norris commercial, and one done by Aubrey Plaza from Parks and Recreation. I remember liking the Chuck Norris commercial well enough, but the Aubrey Plaza commercial fell a little flat for me. Don't get me wrong, I love Parks and Recreation, but the commercial for WoW didn't seem particularly funny. Well IGN just uncovered an entirely different Aubrey Plaza commercial, one that never aired. Frankly, I think this version is quite a bit funnier than the one originally used, and I'm not sure why they didn't go with it. Perhaps it was just a tad too racy for television? Regardless, you can view the unaired commercial above and decide for yourself. Personally, I like the second version of Aubrey's commercial a lot better -- but then, I'm a fan of silly orc puns. What do you think?
BlizzCon 2011 brings in Foo Fighters for concert -- and to fight the foo
Are you ready to rock? I SAID, ARE YOU READY TO ROCK? Oh, you are? Well then, you had better hope you already have a ticket to this year's BlizzCon, as the Foo Fighters are planning to take the center stage for a concert to end all concerts. The Foo Fighters join Ozzy Osbourne and Tenacious D as the latest headlining act for Blizzard's annual convention. It's become tradition to end the weekend with a huge concert, and Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl is prepared to give the crowd an experience like no other: "We're pretty sure that in the future, music historians will look back at BlizzCon 2011 as the unquestionable pinnacle of Foo Fighters' long and illustrious career. We look forward to living up to that prediction by bringing the Horde and Alliance together to rock the hell out of Anaheim next month." While BlizzCon is already sold out, there are virtual tickets and DirecTV options still available for die-hard fans. The convention will take place in California's Anaheim Convention Center on October 21st and 22nd.
Rock Band Weekly: Ozzy Osbourne 8-Pack
Next week's Rock Band DLC celebrates the 30th anniversary and re-release of Ozzy Osbourne's Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman with eight songs. Take note that "Bark at the Moon" and "Mama, I'm Coming Home" aren't sold individually.
Best Buy Buy Back becomes official, free through February 12th
Best Buy's gadget repurchase program has become official during the Super Bowl, courtesy of a silly commercial starring Ozzy Osbourne and Justin Bieber. The ad's actually a lot less cringe-inducing than it might have been, though the content of the program still doesn't seem to make much fiscal sense to us. You have to buy into it at the time of purchasing a gadget -- that requirement is set aside until this Saturday as a sort of grace / enticement period -- and Best Buy depreciates at a very aggressive annual rate, arguably cutting more of your trinkets' value than the incumbent options like online auction sites. Skip past the break to see the two gentlemen at opposite ends of their careers selling their souls to the almighty dollar, along with Best Buy's full press release and Buy Back Program details.
Best Buy's Buy Back Program to be made official during the Super Bowl... by Justin Bieber and Ozzy Osbourne
We heard about this during the news avalanche that was CES early last month, but today Best Buy has started making its new Buy Back Program official in emails sent out to valued Reward Zone customers. The gist of the scheme is that Best Buy will offer you set "Buy Back" prices for goods you purchase from its stores, advertising it as a reassurance that your electronics won't depreciate too much during your ownership. The leaked info we saw in January showed that you'll have to pay an extra fee at the point of purchase to enroll into the Program and Best Buy's highest re-purchase offers were capped at 50 percent of the initial price, so don't expect this to be any great favor to you, Mr. Consumer. For more info, keep your eyes locked on the Super Bowl this Sunday, when Justin Bieber and Ozzy Osbourne (no, seriously) will do their best to explicate Best Buy's new venture. [Thanks, Jeff and John]
Researchers to map Ozzy Osbourne's genome
Ozzy Osbourne is about to join the ranks of a very fortunate (or unfortunate, depending on how you look at it) minority. DNA research lab Knome has announced that it is going to sequence the lead singer of Black Sabbath's entire genome. Knome, -- which focuses on DNA sequencing in the interest of disease research -- has said that Ozzy's "extreme" medical history (i.e., years of hard partying) makes him an ideal candidate for their purposes. Very few people have had their entire DNA mapped, and the sequencing will take about 3 months to complete, so we'll just have to make do by watching the video after the break until we get the results.
Rock Band Weekly: Ozzy Osbourne six-pack
With all of the downloadable tracks available for Rock Band, it's hard to imagine Ozzy Osbourne hasn't snuck in there somewhere. Sure enough, he hasn't, but don't fret: Ozzy's set to make his Rock Band debut next week with a six-pack of songs, including three from his upcoming studio album, Scream. Rock Band fans gain access to three songs from the album on June 15, in advance of the album's release on June 22. On top of that, fans of Ozzy's classic solo stuff will get three of his older tracks, from three separate albums. Head past the break for the full list.
Apple announces dates for iTunes Festival London 2010
Apple has announced dates for the 2010 London iTunes Festival. The festival will run every night in July this summer. Sixty artists will be performing over thirty-one days at Camden's Roundhouse in London. The first three nights will feature performances from Scissor Sisters, Tony Bennett and Ozzy Osbourne. Tickets to the shows are only available for free via competitions. Apple will be giving away 25 pairs of tickets for each showing. The entry form for the competition is here. Users may apply for as many of the gigs as they'd like. Those who can't make the festival can still watch highlights, read the latest news, and see behind-the-scenes photos on the event's Facebook and Twitter pages. All performances will also be recorded and sold on the iTunes Music Store worldwide. [via 9to5]
BlizzCon in the rearview
BlizzCon 2009 is behind us, and over on the forums, Irhabi has reached the conclusion that he won't be going next year. He says that with everything streaming out onto DirecTV and the Internet, and with no beta access included, and (what he thought was) a less than stellar performance by Ozzy Osbourne, he might as well stayed at home. I don't particularly share his opinion -- there are lots of great reasons to go to BlizzCon, from getting to try out the latest builds of Blizzard's upcoming games, to meeting vendors and other fans on the floor, to getting the chance to ask your own questions of the devs (and maybe even meet some of them at the various parties around Anaheim). If you're just bummed that BlizzCon was lame because you didn't get a beta key this year, maybe you should have wandered the show floor a little bit.On the other side of it, the folks who bought the DirecTV stream at home are a little more split on the subject -- we twittered to get some responses, and they run the gamut from "yes, it was worth it with the pet," to "no, they should have covered WoW more" (not only did the feed cut off halfway through the contest on Friday night -- we later heard from DirecTV employees that they could only broadcast a certain number of hours over the weekend, and that's where they made the cut -- but they also skipped a few big WoW panels for Starcraft coverage on the main stage instead). And don't even get us started on Jo Garcia, lovely and well-meaning though she may be (though Jay Mohr doesn't deserve the crap he's getting -- he did a respectable job this year). Fortunately, there were lots of other outlets to get your WoW news from, and odds are that Grunty will soothe your pains from the $40 you might feel you've wasted.
BlizzCon 2009: Ozzy Osbourne closes show down, injures no bats
Blizzard fittingly chose Ozzy Osbourne to close down BlizzCon last night, since he's been in a fairly funny World of Warcraft commercial arguing about who is the true Prince of Darkness. He put on a fairly deafening, rocktastic show -- some of his setlist was appropriately composed of tracks off his 1980 "Blizzard of Ozz" album -- though he did stumble a bit through the words to "Iron Man." However, he made up for that by maniacally turning a hose on the audience, and I kid you not -- some women actually threw their panties on stage.Opening up for him was Level 80 Elite Tauren Chieftain, although they've now changed their name in protest over their own name changes to a familiar Prince-esque symbol, or The Artists Formerly Known As Level 80 Elite Tauren Chieftain (TAFKAL80ETC). They put on a good show as well, although they really need to write some new songs. Browse the Ozzrific gallery below, and you can also check out one of Ozzy's classics below without the need for earplugs and a raincoat. Even though the show is over, we'll have more BlizzCon news soon. All aboard!
Blizzard officially announces Ozzy at BlizzCon 2009
The Prince of F!@$#ng Darkness, Ozzy Osbourne, has officially been announced as headlining the closing concert at BlizzCon this year. We've previously reported on this, both in the rumor mill and then from a DirecTV listing.The DirecTV listing has since been changed to remove any reference to Ozzy, however it appears they jumped the gun on the announcement initially.The press announcement of the closing concert, which was just released this morning, doesn't give many details of anything special that will happen. Other than "Ozzy will unleash a thunderous spectacle of rock to put the Lich King in his place and cement his own title as the one true Prince of Darkness." Morhaime goes on to say that "Many of us at Blizzard are lifelong fans of Ozzy's music, and we're thrilled that he'll be performing for all of our BlizzCon attendees..."So there you have it. Rumor confirmed! I wonder what else might be announced... WoW.com will let you know!Edit: Check out the Ozzy splash at the World of Warcraft Homepage.BlizzCon 2009 is coming up on August 21st and 22nd! We've got all the latest news and information. At BlizzCon you can play the latest games, meet your guildmates, and ask the developers your questions. Plus, there's some great looking costumes.
Ozzy Osbourne performing at BlizzCon 2009
Though it was meant to be a super-secret surprise, DirecTV recently let the cat out of Blizzard's bag, revealing that Ozzy Osbourne will be performing at BlizzCon via the event's Pay-Per-View description. Rumors of the Prince of Darkness' appearance have been rumored for quite some time now -- which may help explain why tickets for the event sold out in 4.1 seconds flat.Ozzy's performing at BlizzCon seems like a natural fit -- after all, if this old Wrath of the Lich King commercial is to be believed, Ozzy's fond of rolling through Azeroth as an Undead Warlock. However, if the same advertisement is any indication, he's really bad at it.
Ozzy at BlizzCon confirmed!
digg_url = 'http://digg.com/music/Ozzy_Osbourne_to_play_at_BlizzCon_2009'; It's not a rumor and it's no longer a surprise - Ozzy Osbourne is going to appear at BlizzCon 2009, according to the program details of DirecTV. Unless Blizzard's partner for the live stream content is just goofing around, "a special appearance" pretty much confirms that the Prince of Darkness is going to perform in Anaheim this August. The news first started as a rumor that sprung from Zakk Wylde's Twitter message about a month back, corroborated by another rumor that another guitarist would be performing with Ozzy at BlizzCon.Here's to hoping that Ozzy Osbourne's special appearance means he'll actually rock out on stage. As cool as Level 80 Elite Tauren Chieftain are, I'm sure Samwise and his crew will actually enjoy the show (and who says they won't join up for one big supergroup?). Azeroth has its own Prince of Darkness, but having the real deal perform should be a special treat, just as it's sure to be something all fans can look forward to. It seems like another incentive to get the DirecTV package in addition to that cute, gun-toting murloc. With BlizzCon stepping up in the show department, I wonder what other big things are in store for us this year.Ozzy UK Blizzard commercial after the jump!Thanks, Milkingit!BlizzCon 2009 is coming up on August 21st and 22nd! We've got all the latest news and information. At BlizzCon, you can play the latest games, meet your guildmates, and ask the developers your questions. Plus, there are some great looking costumes.
More fuel for the "Ozzy at BlizzCon" fire
Here's another rumor that points at just who we might be seeing on stage BlizzCon -- over on Roadrunner Records' Blabbermouth.net news website, there's a rumor going around that guitarist Gus G., who's part of a band called Firewind, will be playing with Ozzy Osbourne at this year's BlizzCon. This isn't the first time we've heard Ozzy might be there -- Zakk Wylde, who is apparently on his way out of Ozzy's band, previously mentioned that he might be playing there, but Blabbermouth says Zakk is out and Gus is in.Now, before you go all nuts over the excitement of seeing the Prince of Darkness at BlizzCon (and we don't mean Arthas), keep in mind that this is only the second in a series of rumors, both from sources who may not exactly be familiar with BlizzCon anyway (they're only writing about this because they're interested in who's playing guitar with Ozzy, not what's going on at Blizzard's convention). So we definitely don't know for sure what's going on at BlizzCon yet -- don't pack your "Bark at the Moon" t-shirt until you've heard the official announcement from Blizzard.Still, that would be an incredible show. I like Video Games Live and all, but they've never performed "Crazy Train" for us.Thanks, Rob!BlizzCon 2009 is coming up on August 21st and 22nd! We've got all the latest news and information. At BlizzCon, you can play the latest games, meet your guildmates, and ask the developers your questions. Plus, there are some great looking costumes.
Rumor: Ozzy Osbourne at BlizzCon?
This is still rumor central here, but according to Zakk Wylde's Twitter account, we might be seeing a level of rock heads and tails above what Level 70 80 Elite Tauren Chieftain can offer at this year's BlizzCon. We might be getting Ozzy Freaking Osbourne.Wylde's Tweet made it sound like he was surprised to hear the news (well, other news, but considering this was said in the same e-breath...), as if he heard it through the grapevine himself. Combine that with the fact that Ozzy at BlizzCon is such an absurdly amazing notion and you get one skeptical blogger. Still, I'd love to see it. Think of the possibilities! Ozzy and the crew doing L80ETC's I Am Murloc? ...Wait, actually, that would be hella lame. Let's pretend I never said that. I'm pretty okay with Ozzy doing his usual thing.Considering this news came from Zakk Wylde's Twitter account, I feel it necessary to link this picture he posted a few days ago, posing with his new guitar.[Thanks for the tip, Centipede!]
The Daily Grind: Mainstream advertising
It seems like every website I visit these days, from MMO-centric wikis to the LA or New York Times has adverts on it. This is no big surprise as it's the perfect way of making money on free content but what does surprise me is the number of adverts for MMOs like EVE and WoW. Coming across such adverts on gaming sites is understandable but I get a little shock whenever I see them on news sites or even on TV. I watch quite a bit of Sky (British satellite television) and I've noticed more and more commercials for games over the last few years but the first time I saw one for WoW, my exclamation of amazement sent my cat scurrying for cover.But I wonder, constant readers, how much effect do such adverts have on people, especially gamers and folks who already play MMOs? Are you more likely to play an MMO if you see it on a gaming site or TV? Do the Flash ads offering 7/10/14 day trials entice you to defect, even temporarily? Have you ever seen one of the numerous WoW ads on the TV and been inspired to try the game? Do you think MMOs are just following the same trends as mainstream video games in order to attract players? Drop your thoughts in the box below.
Dio cut from Brutal Legend, replaced by Tim Curry
The "Holy Diver" himself, Ronnie James Dio of heavy metal band Dio, has reportedly been cut from Brütal Legend's voice actor list. Dio's management confirmed to Blabbermouth the removal of the lead singer's voice from the game, not citing any specific reasons, though it noted that actor Tim Curry will be filling the position.Speculation surrounding the cut points to a longstanding feud between Brütal Legend's "Guardian of Metal" Ozzy Osbourne and Dio, though we're not so sure that their feud would carry over into the Double Fine-developed, EA-published title. To be honest with you though, we're still reeling from the lack of inclusion of any members of Slayer. "Raining Blood" playing while the act itself takes place in game -- these things write themselves, people![Thanks, The Weaponeer] [Image credit]
Ozzy Osbourne's voice is in Brutal Legend
With Jack Black, Lita Ford and Rob Halford, Tim Schafer's sure-to-be-opus Brutal Legend already has a star-studded cast of voice actors. Add one more to the constellation: Ozzy Osbourne will be portraying an unnamed character in the game, as revealed at today's EA E3 press conference.He looks ... well, he looks like Ozzy Osbourne. Dare we hope that the prince of darkness is appearing as himself?
Blizzard wins big at MI6
Medievaldragon has all the results from the recent MI6 marketing conference (where Blizzard was nominated for a number of awards), and apparently it's a clean sweep: Blizzard won in all six awards they were nominated in. Pretty impressive -- they won for overall marketing on Wrath of the Lich King (which seemed like a tough category for them), best product packaging for the expansion and best product logo for Diablo III, as well as two awards for their TV campaign, including best writing on the Ozzy Osbourne commercial.Very impressive across the board. Congrats to Blizzard on all their wins yet again.
