Monday, October 3, 2011

September Brewed! Coffees Consumed, Games Played


Coffee Beans
     Tests, homework, tests, homework, family, tests, homework, work, tests.  This is how I pretty much feel September went, along with daily coffee consumption of course, and finding time to play a few games as well.
     So, with October already brewing, let's take a look at the games I played, and the coffees I consumed during September!

Coffees Consumed in September
     Maxwell House French Roast - Started in August, finished in September.  These 270 cup coffee containers seem to last us about a month now, as I have tried to cut back consumption from three pots a day, to just two; though that doesn't always happen!  We enjoyed it while it lasted.
     Trader Joe's Joe's Dark Coffee Roast - Courtesy of my friend Charlie from NicodemusAtNite.com.  If you missed the post about this coffee, you can read it HERE.  There's still about half of the container left, so it should last us at least through October.
     Seattle's Best Coffee Organic House Blend - This one survived a few months, partially because of the wide selection of coffees we have had in the house, but also because it would get "lost" in the back of the selections!  Well, I rediscovered it at the beginning of September and finished it off.
     Maxwell House Master Blend - Another big 270 cup coffee container that was purchased after the Maxwell House French Roast container was emptied.  We have about half of it left, so we'll probably finish it mid-October and replace it with something else, but we are both enjoying it.  I usually brew with this in the mornings before I leave for work, and I make another pot of it at night before Mrs. Coffee leaves.
     New England Coffee Colombian Supremo Blend - Like the Seattle's Best Coffee, this blend has survived many months and is only an 11oz. bag.  As with the Seattle's Best Coffee blend, this one gets buried in the back of the cabinet, which then requires shuffling/moving items around to find it again.  There's still about two pots left in the bag, and it's probably best for me to try and finish this one off, so I'll leave it out by the coffee pot tonight!
     Greek Coffee - For about the last three years, Mrs. Coffee and I have made it to a local Greek Festival that serves all kinds of Greek food and has Greek music/bands.  One item that is served is Greek coffee.  If you have never had Greek coffee, and are not familiar with it, the easiest way I can describe it is very thick, and syrupy; but not necessarily sweet syrupy.  They basically boil coffee grounds in water, so there is a very thick consistency in the bottom of the cup when you finish drinking the liquid portion.  So, I had one cup of Greek coffee while I was at the festival, but it is probably still in my system because of how strong it was!
     Chick-Fil-A Coffee - With my crazy work/family schedule starting the last week, I have been making it more of a routine now to leave the store with a cup of coffee I can start drinking on the way home, and not have to worry with brewing a pot right away upon entering the house.  I had probably three cups when leaving work last week, not to mention a few cups at work during the month of September.

Video Games Played in September
     Borderlands - Keith, from RespawnAction.com, and I played some Borderlands early in September.  We were having a difficult time on our mission, and I said, "We need to just go grind and level up some."  To which Keith said that was lame, and we could handle it.  Well, apparently, we couldn't handle it and are now apparently stuck on our mission due to enemies being so tough to kill, and us having so little ammo/money to survive.  Thanks Keith!
     Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection - The same night Keith and I played Borderlands, we hopped online and played a few rounds of Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection against each other.  Keith beat me every single match, I think except maybe one(unless that was just a round).
     Greg Hastings Paintball 2 - Joe Doyle!  I don't know why, but Joe Doyle is the one character in Greg Hastings Paintball 2 that I remember out of all the other ones.  Keith and I were first playing the game on the PS3 a few months back, and when I saw Joe Doyle's name popup I said, "I know you Joe Doyle!"  It kind of turned into a joke during matches, and Keith and I are now awaiting the imminent announcement of Joe Doyle's Paintball!
     Medal of Honor: Vanguard - Scratch another game off my backlog!  I started this game many moons ago, but decided that it was time to make some more progress on my backlog in September and Medal of Honor: Vanguard was the game I finished up.  The graphics are definitely first generation Wii graphics(last generation PS2-ish graphics I think), and while the controls weren't FULLY customizeable, I thought they worked well enough.  The difficulty level definitely increased the further the game went along, and the last level was pretty challenging in two different spots.  Was it worth about the $5 I got it for?  I think so, and it even has local multi-player if you are interested in that type of option.
     Super Mario Bros. -  Our oldest little bean will now randomly request to "Watch Mario." when he sees it flash on the screen if I accidentally go to the wrong page on the Wii.  Not only does he want to watch, but he wants to "play", which consists of him hitting the 2 button repeatedly and watching Mario jump, and jump, and jump!  I have been attempting to show him more controls, but he seems just fine with knowing how to make Mario jump, and doesn't really care if he walks.  I was playing through a level with him watching one night, and I jumped over a hole, but hit a Goomba and died, to which he replied, "Mario epic fail."
     Battlefield 3 Beta - The Battlefield 3 Beta went live on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 this past Thursday, and being that I own a PS3, I downloaded it that afternoon.  I have been able to play a good number of rounds in it, and though I have experienced a few glitches, the Beta is running pretty smoothly overall for me.  This is my first "modern" Battlefield game to play, as I had only played Battlefield 1943 before.  Battlefield 3 is due out later this month, on October 25.  It will be available on the PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 with a MSRP of $59.95.

Filtered Thoughts
   In total, I consumed seven different coffees in September, and played six games.  If any of you are PS3 owners(I know some of you are!), and you download the Battlefield 3 Beta, make sure to add me to your friend list and hopefully we can play a few matches before the Beta is pulled off the service.

Questions
     What coffees did you consume and what games did you find yourself playing in September?
     Also, have any of you tried Greek coffee before?  If so, I would love to hear your thoughts on it.

19 comments:

  1. Games played in September:

    * The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D - 3DS
    * PAC-MAN & Galaga Dimensions - 3DS
    * The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition - DSiWare
    * Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins - 3DS Virtual Console
    * Excitebike - 3D Classics
    * Excitebike - Wii Virtual Console

    Demos played in September (at the Nintendo Connection Tour):

    * The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword - Wii
    * Super Mario 3D Land - 3DS
    * Mario Kart 7 - 3DS
    * Kirby Wii - Wii
    * Xenoblade Chronicles - Wii (actually game as it is already out in Australia)

    So yeah, an action packed month, all because of going to the Nintendo Connection Tour and because I bought a Flame Red 3DS!

    (@coffee - Are the readers point's going to get updated soon?)

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  2. //Mario epic fail// - That's awesome.

    My sis in law made a trip to trader joe's for us and we're now stocked up for 2 more months on our favorite coffees. (I'm actually putting a resume and cover letter together to become a store manager of a Trader Joe's that's about an hour from us).

    Games I've played this month have been:
    Super Street Fighter 4 AE
    Marvel vs Capcom 3

    And my ICO and Shadow of Colossus PS3 combo should be coming in the mail on Wed.

    Have you guys heard about 007 coming to the PS3 and 360????!?

    nicodemusatnite.com

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  3. @Coffee - about your playlists:

    Borderlands - PS3 I presume, or PC? (I have it through steam on my pc, but haven't played it much yet)

    Battlefield 3 Beta - any idea if you're going to buy this yet or not? Saw you playing some over the weekend. My son's been playing it too. He likes it, but says he still likes Black Ops more to this point.

    Coffee - just random daily brewed from Bigby every 2 or 3 days (dad sent me a gift card for them, they're on my work, so I splurge a couple of times a week). Generally Bigby Best Blend, Costa Rica Blend, or Michigan Cherry.

    Games... here goes off the top of my head (going to break down by system since that'll help me keep them straight):

    PSP:

    Lunar the Silver Star: Harmon

    PS3:

    Black Ops
    Heroes of Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes (beat it)
    Heavy Rain
    Madden 12 (advanced through several seasons)
    Peggle
    Marvel Pinball

    360:

    Gears of War 3 (not quite done, doing co-op w/ my son though, so started over with him)
    Halo: Reach
    Castle Crashers (my daughter wanted to play with me so redoing single player on that one with her)
    Splinter Cell: Conviction (beat it)

    Wii:

    Mark Kart was all with my kids

    PC:

    Frozen Synapse
    Dungeons (having a tough time getting into this one)
    Civ 5 - beat it a few different ways now
    Neverwinter Nights 2
    Crayon Physics Deluxe

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  4. @Charlie - I'd like to hear how much you like the Ico collection. I'm considering grabbing that myself. And yup - my son wants me to get Goldeneye for our PS3.

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  5. @Coffee: That's still alot of gaming for everything that's going on. I don't have nearly the same excuses. :)

    Mario Epic fail: That's awesome.

    It's been Melitta and green tea as usual. (ps: did you manually put that Melitta Amazon ad on the right bar or is that automatic?) I think we had a mixture of cans of classic and breakfast blend. I was trying to find something cheaper, but coffee is really expensive right now even for the "cheap" stuff. Doesn't seem worth it to buy something I don't like to save a few cents.

    Been a pretty light gaming month where I mostly played Liight (haha). October is going to be very busy, but I suspect I'll find time for some 3DS stuff starting Wednesday. :)

    Games:

    Wii:
    - Metroid Other: M

    WiiWare
    - Liight: Demoed for an hour then purchased. I really like this game!

    Wii VC:
    - Super Mario World

    PC:
    - Super Meat Boy
    - Crazy Taxi

    Android:
    - Cut the Rope

    ------------------

    @Strikester: Hey, congratulations on the red 3DS, I almost went red as well. That's awesome that you went to the connection tour too. Any thoughts or observations on the demoed games, especially Mario Kart 7 and Super Mario 3D land?

    @Chalgyr: Epic game list as usual. As far as goldeneye, do you know if the online component will be cross-platform?

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  6. @Robert: Not to spam, but I have all the games I played in detail on my blog

    http://nintendo-nation.blogspot.com/search/label/Nintendo_Connection_Tour_2011

    @Cofee: Totally LOL'd at Mario epic fail. Your son is going to be an IGN reviewer by far!

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  7. Thanks for the link, I hadn't made my way over to your site yet. I think the underscores confused the label search, but I found the posts here.

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  8. @Robert - thanks, definitely been keeping busy- as usual. And I doubt it'll be cross-platform. My guess is they'll be console indepedant

    @The Strikester - glad you posted that link. Had not yet visited your site, but poked around a bit tonight and put a link up on my blog - good stuff. :)

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  9. @Chalgyr:

    I was hopeful, but it's not surprising if they kept it within each console. Too bad though as that would really boost the pool of players.

    @Strikester: Nice site, I'll have to put it in my viewing rotation. Also a nice retro list you got going there for sept.

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  10. @The Strikester:
    Lots of 3DS action going on for you in September! I guess getting a new system definitely helped though. Are you playing your 3DS when you go out and about, or more when you're at home?

    As for reader points, there will be a post/announcement regarding those.

    @Charlie:
    "I'm actually putting a resume and cover letter together to become a store manager of a Trader Joe's that's about an hour from us."
    Well, being that the store is an hour from you, I'm guessing you will be consuming a good bit of coffee before the morning drive when you get the job...at least then you will be contributing to your own paycheck!

    As for GoldenEye 007 heading to the PS3 and 360, buyer beware, it's not a port of the N64 version if that's what you were thinking.

    As for your games, I guess Super Street Fighter 4 is the new chess for you now. Is the online community still strong in the game, and is that what you're playing? Or just the single-player portion?

    @Chalgyr:
    Borderlands is on the PS3.
    Battlefield 3, not so sure about this. I haven't played Black Ops in many months, mainly because of my backlog really. So, I don't see myself purchasing Battlefield 3, unless my backlog is finished in the next few weeks...
    Never heard of Bigby coffee, is this it? http://www.biggby.com/

    Your list of games, once again PROVES you get paid to play games, and your "job" is just a cover story!

    @Robert:
    "did you manually put that Melitta Amazon ad on the right bar or is that automatic?"
    I put it up, something I'm experimenting with...more targeted ads for the audience, than random ads that may not even interest you.

    As for coffee being really expensive...I think it proves INFLATION 100%! How, in a year's time does a 270 cup coffee container go from the $6-7 range, to $10-12?! It's really crazy.

    Interesting you mentioned Liight, I can't recall hearing anything about the game. I'll have to give it a look one day.

    As for your question to Chalgyr about GoldenEye's online, I doubt it will be cross-platform, just because there are no Activision games that I'm aware of that are cross-platform multi-player(was one of the Guitar Hero games?).
    Also, while maybe not a huge issue, I wonder how it would work with the Wii, being that its graphics would be lower resolution than the other consoles.

    @The Strikester:
    I wouldn't wish upon anybody to become an IGN reviewer...it's more like "previewer". "Here's 30 games, and they all need numbers slapped on them in the next 48 hours...and GO!"

    Thank you all for the comments/feedback so far! If any of you set on purchasing a game this month, as Charlie is getting Ico, and Robert is picking up a 3DS...feel free to share it with others, and perhaps you can play some together online.

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  11. @Coffee - ROFL! I really wish I could get paid to play these games. Might make my wife a bit more forgiving for my hobby/pass-time/obsession

    As for that Bigby addy? Correct, that colorful little website is for a coffee place that's pretty common up here. Them and Tim Horton's are two of the bigger coffee places around here.

    My most recent game purchase? Gears of War 3 if anyone's playing that (don't think there's a ton of 360 users on here though?)

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  12. The list is looking good, guys!

    My apologies for falling off the radar for several weeks. We've been doing the ol' "shock and awe" with my job lately and it's been hard to find time to get online to post comments.

    Anywho, I'll do my best to try and remember the coffees I drank and games I've played recently without going back too far. I'll try to keep it to September.

    Coffees Consumed:
    Eight O' Clock: Hazelnut, Original Blend, Mocha
    Caribou: Mint Condition
    Starbucks: Caramel Machiatto, White Chocolate Mocha

    Games Played:
    Bioshock 2 - PS3
    Batman Arkham Asylum - PS3
    Resistance Fall of Man - PS3
    Fatal Frame - PS2
    Silent Hill 4 - PS2
    Siren - PS2

    Closed out playing Zelda for now. Might go for some of the mobile titles in the future. But I decided to get a jump-start on October with the survival horror genre. :)

    @The Strikester:
    I must admit....I'm a little jealous. :)

    @Charlie:
    I'm with Chalgyr, I'm eyeballing the ICO/SotC combo and would like to hear your thoughts on it. Unfortunately, I have Goldeneye for Wii already. If the "Reloaded" is not just cosmetic and they add some really sweet content, then I might consider it. I'd probably just get it for the online play though.

    @Chalgyr:
    Played a demo for Heavy Rain and was intrigued. Shades of Indigo Prophecies for sure. My wife liked it though, so it might be worth a play-through.

    @Robert:
    I hope the demo for Light is still available, cause now I want to check it out. :)

    @Coffee:
    "Mario epic fail". LOL! That's the funniest thing I've heard in a while. Whenever I go back to play that now, I'll have to say that every time I die.

    Haven't had any Greek coffee, but would like to try some.

    If I'm going to make any purchases this month, I'm saving my money for Batman Arkham City. The first one "rocked starred" my world and I'm expecting a lot from the open-world environment. It looks good. We'll see.

    @Anyone:
    I'm a little eager to play GoW 3. I'm gonna have to wait til my brother-in-law comes home for the holidays, but did it meet expectations? I haven't heard a whole lot about it yet.

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  13. @Tim - some quality horror games there in PS2 land - very nice! I like several of those titles.

    I'm liking Heavy Rain so far - definitely a different type of game, and I get the feeling it won't take me long to beat, but cool all the same.

    Gears 3? I am really, really liking it. My son and I have been going through co-op this week, and having a blast. I will have a full review up on my blog in a couple of days:

    http://chalgyrsgameroom.blogspot.com/

    (Coffee has been kind enough to tell me he doesn't mind when I post my blog link here)

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  14. @Tim grab the demo quick, you never know when it will be removed. (game came out in march) I do also have the demo on a sdcard that's in my Wii, but I don't know if its possible for me to extract it and email.

    when it came out I was pretty closeminded and just dismissed it as some wiiware puzzle junk, but it is pretty cool. can even build your own levels to share with friends. (Only $5)

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  15. @Coffee:
    (to Strikester) Are you playing your 3DS when you go out and about, or more when you're at home?

    I'd be interested to hear as well; naturally as I've been thinking much more along those lines lately. True mobile gaming while I'm out still isn't a big draw, but we'll see how it works out. Seems like more of a flexible gaming option. Maybe when friend's children pop out their DS/DSi's when we're at dinner I can now as well. Only be super cooler of course... :) (and hey, if it's a DSi we could get some Zelda four swords multiplayer going..)

    Also, interesting ads.

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  16. @Coffee & Robert: More at home really. Only been a week or so with the 3DS so I'm still getting used to the fact that none of the two 3DS games I own are multiplayer. Still, there is always Mario Kart DS!

    @Tim: I was when my friend got one. I was lucky to get one in Flame Red after the price drop.

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  17. @Chalgyr:
    "@Coffee - ROFL! I really wish I could get paid to play these games. Might make my wife a bit more forgiving for my hobby/pass-time/obsession"

    Uh huh, nobody is buying the story anymore! You get payed to play games, we are on to your secret...now just have to find the source!

    @Tim:
    September is what we were looking at, so your list is perfect for the topic.

    As for your coffees, I noticed the Eight O' Clock blend at Wal-Mart just the other day again, but I don't know if I could purchase a coffee with a time in it...it should be called 24/7 Coffee.

    I see you make a few trips to Caribou and Starbucks, I try to avoid them now, because of how much I used to spend at a coffee shop monthly. So, it's a rarity when I go to them, but the White Chocolate Mocha used to be one of my favorite drinks.

    As for your games, I've only played Resistance Fall of Man, and I enjoyed the single-player campaign. I haven't played any of the others you have listed, except the demo for Batman Arkham Asylum.

    As for the Liight demo, I downloaded it last night...so I don't know if the demos are updated on Thursdays, but I think they are updated on Mondays.

    BTW, did you ever beat Red Steel, or did you give up on that?

    @Robert:
    "can even build your own levels to share with friends. (Only $5)"
    I'm actually interested in it, and downloaded the demo because of your comment on it. I also downloaded the 3D Pixel Racer(not positive on title) demo while I was at it.

    @The Strikester:
    I own Mario Kart DS, but it hasn't been played in more than a year...at the least. My DS just isn't used very often, and I don't/haven't purchased game for it on a regular basis ever.

    Thank you all for the continued comments/feedback!

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  18. @Coffee: //As for your games, I guess Super Street Fighter 4 is the new chess for you now. Is the online community still strong in the game, and is that what you're playing? Or just the single-player portion?//

    The online community is very strong especially since AE2012 is coming out (new changes and updates for the game) Keeps it fresh. I only play that game online. I think that's the only way to get good at fighting games.

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