Official Discussion - Ozzy Osbourne 8 Pack Coming 5/31 - 2 songs exclusive to pack

[LPfan]

The Ozzy Osbourne 8-Pack will include classics from the recently re-released Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of A Madman, including “Mr. Crowley”, “Diary of a Madman” and “Over the Mountain”. Fans who purchase the pack will also be able to play “Bark at the Moon” and “Mama, I’m Coming Home”, both of which are only available as part of the pack, and both of which include built-in Pro Guitar/Bass upgrades at no additional cost.

Available on Xbox 360, Wii and PlayStation®3 system (May 31):

• “Bark at the Moon” X (available only as part of the 8-pack)
• “Diary of a Madman”
• “Flying High Again”
• “I Don’t Know”
• “Mama, I’m Coming Home” X (available only as part of the 8-pack)
• “Mr. Crowley” X
• “Over the Mountain”
• “Steal Away (The Night)”

(These tracks will be available in Europe on PlayStation®3 system June 1)

These tracks will be available for purchase as “Ozzy Osbourne 8-Pack” and as individual tracks on Xbox 360, PlayStation®3 system and Wii. Tracks marked with “X” have optional Pro Guitar and Pro Bass expansions available.

Price:

$1.99 USD, £.99 UK, €1.49 EU (160 Microsoft Points) per song
$2.00 USD (200 Wii Points™) per song
$13.49, £6.69 UK, €9.99 EU (1080 Microsoft Points, 1350 Wii Points) for Ozzy Osbourne 8-Pack

** Dates for Rock Band game tracks are tentative and subject to change. **

i looked and no one posted it yet or i might have missed it somewhere but i just saw on facebook that because of the re-releases of Blizzard Of Ozz and Diary Of a Madman that rockband is posting 8 tracks here is the link of the post

http://www.facebook.com/ozzyosbourne...48084131927153

****Sayburr Edit***

http://www.ozzy.com/us/news/rock-ban...zzdiary-madman

Beginning May 31, Rock Band 3 will offer an eight-pack of songs celebrating the release of Diary of a Madman/Blizzard of Ozz 30th Anniversary Collector's Edition in the Rock Band 3 Music Store of downloadable content for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii consoles. 2011 marks the 30th Anniversary of Blizzard of Ozz (U.S. release) and Diary of a Madman. Both landmark albums took metal in a new direction in the early 1980s, inspiring future generations of rock bands and fans and now you can enjoy them in a truly unique Rock Band experience.The Ozzy Osbourne 8-pack will include 3 remastered classics from each album including "Mr. Crowley" and "Over the Mountain" as well as additional monster hits "Bark at the Moon" and "Mama, I'm Coming Home" and their built-in Pro Guitar/Bass upgrades only available as part of the 8-pack.

***Sayburr Edit***

Full track list is out: http://www.sleazeroxx.com/news/00397.shtml

In celebration of the forthcoming reissues of Ozzy's landmark albums, Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman, fans will be able to download a new 8-pack of songs for the Rock Band platform on May 31st. The tracklist includes
"Mr. Crowley,"
"Steal Away (The Night),"
"I Don't Know,"
"Flying High Again,"
"Over the Mountain,"
"Diary of a Madman,"
"Mama, I'm Coming Home" (pack only),
and "Bark at the Moon" (pack only).

Looks like no cherry picking if you want either of those two last songs...

Thanks goes to Cheech for finding this first.


***HMXHenry Edit 5/19***

Hmmm... there's something fishy here:

I don't like playing devil's advocate but... Does this mean the Pro upgrades are exclusive to the pack? Will the pack cost more then or will the upgrades just be free? Or is there something I'm misunderstanding?

EDIT: Source: http://www.ozzy.com/us/news/rock-ban...zzdiary-madman

So without confirming the entirety of the info floating around (we're still on track to announce the full track list and pricing next week) it's definitely worth providing some clarity on a bit of the language that appeared on Ozzy's site the other day.

Yes, there will be 8 songs in the Ozzy pack. Yes, "Bark at the Moon" and "Mama, I'm Coming Home" will be two of the songs in the pack. Yes, they will have Pro Guitar upgrades. Yes, these two tracks will only be available as part of the 8 pack. And yes, this is the first time we've done something like this. It's an epic release and people will have a ton of fun with these songs and it's exciting to be able to experiment with DLC bundling like this.

I think most folks upset about cherry picking those tracks will be a bit happier when they see the pricing for the 8 pack, especially with the Pro upgrades included. Even if some people are opposed to buying the full pack, there are still 6 classic Ozzy tracks available as singles, along with one additional Pro upgrade. It's shaping up to be a blockbuster week of DLC and we may have a few codes to give away to help promote like we did with the Foo Fighters pack. So keep an eye out for that!

If the songs are exclusive to the pack, I really hope this doesn't become a new thing. I'd hate to think that I get forced to buy songs down the road just because of 1 song I actually want.

We will definitely be watching to see how the community reacts to this DLC release. We're already tracking comments on the forums and we'll be checking download stats on the back end as well. Everyone should feel free to weigh in with their thoughts, especially once the specifics of pricing are announced so everyone is able to get the full picture.

Rest assured that we're not planning on doing this every week from now on or anything like that. It may be a bit different from how we've released DLC before but the last 6 months has seen us release RB3 versions for the first time, Pro guitar charts for the first time, upgraded legacy content for the first time, etc. It's an awesome opportunity to be able to release this landmark content in sync with Ozzy's re releases, and I think bundling the pack together like this is a great way to showcase his catalog as well as offer it in a cool and convenient way for people looking to check out his songs and master those tracks on Pro guitar.

We'll have more info in next Friday's DLC announcement, so keep posted!

****Edit May 27 for HMXHenry Comments****

LINK to post #1
LINK to post #2

Lots and lots of responses. Sorry in advance for the length of this post.

I am fine with doing this type of packaging with a specific artist, but I don't think they should ever do it with various artists.

First of all, I want to let everyone know that we don't have any plans at this time to release pack exclusives again, certainly not any time in the immediate future. Beyond that, due to the tricky nature of licensing and labels protective nature of their artists, it's safe to say that it's extremely unlikely that you'd ever see exclusive content released in a pack of multiple artists.

As mentioned when we confirmed the exclusivity last week, we've passed feedback along to the licensing team, so they know where the hardcore stands on the issue.

Throwing this out there, mainly so HMXHenry (or someone else in the know) answers it:

Is there a possibility of the pack-exclusive songs being made available as singles at a later date (as in, the pack-exclusivity is timed)?

We don't currently have any plans to release these songs as singles. There's no telling how the licensing could work out in the future, so I won't say that it'll never happen, but if it wasn't a possibility for launch it's not very likely that will change.

Henry has already said that HMX will monitor the reactions to this type of DLC release online and also see how the pack sells to inform whether or not they are going to go forward with it. My prediction is that this will happen:

Online: Everyone complains.
X-Box Live: Everyone buys Ozzy.

...and if that happens, which I think is what will happen, HMX will know this is the best way to go about things, whether or not we think it is. They say "vote with your wallet," and I think HMX is banking on the idea that they will vote in their favor.

I know I will. I want my Ozzy.

I don't think it will come as a surprise to anyone that Ozzy DLC will sell well regardless of how it is bundled. It's Ozzy. There's not many artists you could say that about. So it's not as if we'll look at it in a month and say "Hey, it sold great! That must mean everyone loved the exclusives so lets do that all the time! Yaaaaaay!"

It's cool if you deem it worth it. It's cool if you don't. However, I don't think that trying an alternative sales strategy is worthy of that much vitriol... particularly from a company that needs to see DLC profit to keep making that DLC we keep asking for.

With no plans for a new title in the immediate future, you're right in saying that DLC is powering RB right now. That means we need to focus on getting big artists, big songs, awesome promotions, and cool incentives. We know the people on the forums will be checking in on DLC every week, but we need to attract the attention of the rest of the other 99% of the people out there playing RB.

If that means one week out of 150 comes with pack exclusive tracks, or if it means adding free Pro upgrades to a pack to benefit Pro guitarists or re jiggering the DLC release for the week for a AAA artist, then we owe it to the platform, and to you the hardcore fanbase, to try. If it doesn't work out well and it doesn't hit the community the right way then we'll keep looking.

If it's one thing HMX has shown a particular affinity for, it's being unable to properly distinguish between fan reaction and fan desire. This pack will probably sell well enough. I wouldn't hold my breath that they'd realise that in spite of that success, they've also angered a number of people. Money talks. They will do this again.

Hopefully my post above to the contrary is reassuring. I'm interested in your comment about fan reaction vs fan desire and would like to hear more (in PM if you'd rather keep it out of the DLC discussion). We spend a lot of time looking at stats and weighing them against the more intangible quality of forum feedback, so I think we have a pretty good handle about what RB fans want, both on the forums and in the larger RB community. What's best for the hardcore isn't always best for the general audience and vice versa, so we try to balance things as best as we can. I'm always interested in hearing more from folks on the other side of the fence though.

I disagree. I think there are a few who come off as horribly whiny and unappreciative, but you have to realize that the people on the forums are consumers who are providing HMX with information about why they will or won't buy something.

I think people in this thread (and on the forums in general and on Twitter... maybe less so on Facebook) have been extremely reasonable in their reactions. Barring one or two hyperbolic and paranoid posts, there have been a lot of insightful comments about our DLC strategy, the licensing process, the Pro audience, and other factors that are a lot more in depth than we would have seen in discussion here a year ago.

I'm incredibly thankful that we have such a well informed community and that so many of you are able to understand the specifics of how / why a DLC release like this happens, and also read between the lines when we're not able to provide greater detail. We've been pushing to be a lot more open and honest in the past few months and I think, with informed and articulate responses like we've seen here, that it's been worth it. So thanks to everyone for that. We're working on another little thank you for the hardcore when DLC launches next week, so keep an eye out for that.

[dog037]

I expected a big pack and was hoping for a 12 pack, but this is good. I hope we get Bark at the Moon even though it's not on those two albums, because it doesn't say the songs have to be from those two albums.

[thatmarkguy]

Would Ozzy have the rights to authorize RB versions of the live Sabbath 'covers' (for lack of a better word) on Randy Rhoads Tribute?

8 tracks is about what I expected. CCR was the most-recently-released single-artist pack that I bought... any 8 songs from early Ozzy would assuredly make him my next.

If the PSN marketplace ever comes back, of course.

[GNFfhqwhgads]

I expected a big pack and was hoping for a 12 pack,

Well, don't forget we already have a 6 pack and a disc song.

[dog037]

Well, don't forget we already have a 6 pack and a disc song.

That's true, although I could have done without the songs from the new album.

[Ramirez16]

That's true, although I could have done without the songs from the new album.

May have helped with the older tracks...

[Skode]

That's true, although I could have done without the songs from the new album.

They were the REASON we got that pack so you cant knock em buddy and to be fair they were actually decent - i had never heard them before downloading the pack but ive no complaints with them but at least we know what we are getting with this pack... just wish i knew which songs were coming. Eight songs has me excited as i was only expecting six

[MourganDespana]

I wonder if they'll throw in any of his live covers of Sabbath...

Before you run and crucify me, last time I listened to them, they sounded pretty good.

[Plutarch]

As long as the tracks still had Rhodes on guitar, I don't think live versions would go over too badly. Although the lack of "Diary of a Madman" on that particular list makes me a sad panda, so I'm hoping it doesn't line up completely.

[I_Love_You]

8 pack = awesome.