Friday, November 2, 2012

October Brewed - Coffees Consumed, Games Played, & Site Notes


Coffee Beans
October has vanished like Halloween candy from a kid's basket! If you skimmed here occasionally during October, here are some posts you might have missed:
     1) Is Okami for the PS3 worth $20? How many hours can you expect from Okami? Data Report
     2) Can the Wii U GamePad be charged with a USB port on the console? Nintendo answers, sort of...
     3) Nintendo says no, then yes, now no AGAIN on LEGO City: Undercover's multiplayer feature.
     4) New Super Mario Bros. U to have online multiplayer? "Online Interactions Not Rated..."
     5) What is the most played Just Dance Wii game?
     6) STAY CALM! Wii U's Miiverse details before launch, & all Wii U features and functionality ready at launch? Nintendo's Bill Trinen and Scott Moffitt
     7) "Black Ops II will just be on Wii U", Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 not releasing for the 3DS, DS, or Wii.

November is now brewing, and what coffees did I consume and games did I play during October? Brew yourself some coffee and let's take a look!

Coffees Consumed
Maxwell House coffees were the main coffee blends for us in October, with us finishing off a Maxwell House Gourmet Roast blend container, as well a Maxwell House 100% Colombian blend.

Another coffee that we brewed quite often in October, one Mrs. Coffee gave me as one of my birthday gifts, was the Gevalia Espresso Roast. The name says it all really, "Espresso Roast" and it is a nice, super dark, roast. I enjoyed it a great deal, but it was a tad too strong for Mrs. Coffee's liking.


Games Played
The skimmer list for games I played in October is: Super Mario 64, Super Mario World, Rage of the Gladiator, New Super Mario Bros. DS, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Mutant Mudds, LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean, Double Dragon Neon, Punch-Out!!, Rayman Raving Rabbids 2, BIT.TRIP COMPLETE, Mario Kart Wii, and LittleBigPlanet.

All Super Mario Games - I'm still playing these with Bean 1, randomly. The Mario game(s) he selects to play can vary each day, but in October Super Mario 64 was a favorite of his, as well as New Super Mario Bros. Wii. We have made decent progress in New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and when he requests me to play through a level with him, I am instructed to carry him through the entire level. He doesn't want to bubble necessarily (he did enjoy doing that for a while), he just wants me to carry Toad, Luigi, or Mario (depending who I'm playing as) through the level and survive. He recognized and called out New Super Mario Bros. U in the first Wii U system commercial Nintendo released yesterday, then went back to his snacks.


Rage of the Gladiator - I'm just going to leave the following link for a site that covers a lot of digitally downloaded titleshttp://www.facebook.com/RageOfTheGladiator.
Batman: Arkham Asylum - Our neighbors are gamers, and we have loaned/traded games over the last few years. The last loan-trade was me giving him Metroid: Other M, and me getting Batman: Arkham Asylum in return. I completed Arkham Asylum in October, and I enjoyed my time with the game. Being that the game can be found for under $20 new, if you have been interested in this title but not played it, I can easily recommend the game.
Mutant Mudds - I'm still playing through Mutant Mudds, and enjoying it. I have said it before, and I'll say it again, if you enjoy challenging platformers, I recommend you give the game a try. Bean 1 had discovered the start menu on my PC and I have randomly found him attempting to play the game a few times, and he will tell me sometimes to play "Mutant Mudds" so he can watch me. I'm waiting to learn more about Mutant Mudds Deluxe for the Wii U, before I worry with buying the Xbox 360 controller to make it easier for Bean 1 to play it on my PC.
LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean - Mrs. Coffee gave me this as a gift a few months back, but it wasn't until October that I actually opened it up. I have completed the first movie's levels so far, and have enjoyed my time back in a LEGO video game world. I think the developers did a great job making LEGO Captain Jack run/walk like he does in the movies, and I like how in certain levels there aren't hidden/invisible walls to keep you from venturing further than they want, but an actual LEGO shark in the water to help keep you where they want you.
Double Dragon Neon - I won this in a contest/giveaway over on Chalgyr's Game Room, and played through the first level, and almost finished the second level (maybe third?). The game plays well so far, and the boss I'm currently on though was giving me quite the challenge my first night, and after a few attempts I had to get that thing some call sleep. I haven't been back to it since, but I do plan on trying to finish it up this month.
Punch-Out!! - I'm slowly making my way through the game's Title Defense Mode, and I believe Bear Hugger was the last boxer I was able to get my belt back from. Yes, he pummeled so many times while I was trying to figure out the new timing of his attacks.


Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 - Did you miss the Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 data report post? If so, you can see how many hours the game has been played, as well as gameplay video I uploaded from one of the FPS minigames in it. Bean 1 enjoys one of the plunger FPS levels a lot (the one in the video), and can make his way through it. Every time the Rabbid shows up with a camera, he says, "Cheese!" Bean 1 also found the Rabbids LAND trailer on the Wii's Nintendo Channel earlier this week, and played it 3-4 times in a row laughing at the Rabbids in the trailer. I'm interested in Rabbids LAND on the Wii U, as I mentioned in the data post, because of Ubisoft's history/support on the Wii.
BIT.TRIP COMPLETE - If you missed my birthday post, Mrs. Coffee gave me this game(s) as a gift. I have just played BIT.TRIP RUNNER on it, but I have enjoyed the game so far. I'm up to world 1-11, I think? Considering I burned through almost the first world my first night with it, I may finish this one sooner than I was expecting. I am looking forward to hearing more about Runner2 on the Wii U, so hopefully I finish this one up soon, and perhaps be ready for more endless running when the Wii U launches.

Screen grab from Bean 1 playing.
Mario Kart Wii - Bean 1 randomly, out of nowhere, asked to play the, "Mario Wii Racing" game one day. I was surprised he remember the game from his time with it from over a month ago, and broke it out for him to try. We have both played the game, sometimes together, but often times with me watching him, or him watching me. He surprised me earlier in the week when he finished 2nd in a race, which means he's made some great improvements since he first started off by driving in circles and often in reverse.
LittleBigPlanet - This is Bean 1's final game delay tactic at night. The PlayStation 3 is the console closest to his room, and to play LittleBigPlanet is his last request/delay tactic. He enjoys finding a lot of the user created levels, and just running around in them. He completes many of them though, and I'm impressed with how he has learned to grab and hold onto items since he first started playing the game not that long ago.

Site Notes
Changes are brewing! If you haven't noticed, there's a tab that has now been removed from the top section. The "Reader Points" tab has been removed, but the "Reader Points" that were there are stored (across three emails!), and if I can get over my reluctance to go to the Post Office again, I can mail the rest...yes, they are sitting on the table, and Bean 1 has been looking at them this last week.

Also, gameplay videos (of myself playing and even Bean 1, and Mrs. Coffee occasionally) and impressions of games will become more standard on the site, and the "Critics vs. Consumers" posts will continue. Data posts will continue, but probably slow down once the Wii U releases, unless the Wii U provides the same type of data for Wii U games...PLEASE NINTENDO! I have even been experimenting, a little, with a podcast idea...

There's a few other features/ideas/changes I have been roasting for a while now, and one should be popping up at the end of next week.

Questions
What video games did you play in October, and are there any you would recommend to others? Also, were there any new coffee blends or drinks of choice in October, perhaps even while gaming?

As always, if you have any questions about the games I played, or the coffees I consumed in October, please me in the comment section below, or by sending me an email.

13 comments:

  1. Glad to see you were able to get some mileage out of the Double Dragon win. I like it pretty well, but the problem with Beat 'em Ups is I tend to neglect them for long stretches of time myself, even though I enjoy them.

    I liked the initial game played/games - all Super Mario. That's a lot of Mario. Not much Mario getting played in our house lately. The closest was my son briefly considering Luigi's Mansion on Halloween night (like he did last year) before opting for FEAR on my PC.

    For me? Just been grabbing my occasional Bigby cup on the way in as my coffee fix. As it's getting colder, I'm seeing the visits go up from maybe once a week to more like three times a week.


    Games huh? Not terribly diverse really.


    PS3:


    Madden
    Ar tonelico
    a handful of PSN games for brief periods of time


    iDevice:


    Rage of Bahamut
    Guardian Cross
    Marvel: War of Heroes


    PC:


    Magic: The Gathering 2013
    War of roses


    360:


    Dragon's Dogma


    I don't think my 3DS, PSP or Wii got touched this last month really.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The "iDevice", is that your iPhone and the house iPad? Also, you might have answered this in the past (if I asked), but do you not have a coffee machine at your house for regular use, and that's why you stop by Bigby?


    I saw your post about your Madden gaming (Super Bowl win!), and was actually going to ask here (before I saw that post) if the online has smoothed out, and if the glitches with the engine perhaps have been patched?


    Thanks for the comment and for stopping by!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Good morning. I use iDevice generically because while I have an iPhone 4 I play on, I also use my wife's iPad 3 from time to time. Generally when I'm testing games for review, I bounce them off of my daughter's iPad 1 and my wife's iPhone 3 as well just to see if any crashes/odd behavior occurs (for example, Guardian Cross and Rage of Bahamut crash somewhat frequently on my daughter's iPad)


    I actually have 2 coffee pots, one REALLY old one, and a fairly new single cup one. Mostly it's just a time thing. Even with me getting up before 6 most mornings, by the time I shave, shower and get around and get the 3 kids around, the car warmed up in the winter, etc - I'm usually pushing getting to work on time. I use it occassionally, but my dad wins and sends me Bigby cards all of the time though, so my stops there are free most of the time.


    The online definitely seems better. There was a lot less lag than the lat time I played this friend online about a month ago. There was a moment near the end where the game froze for a few seconds and I was SURE we were going to lose connection. That is a real pisser when it happens, because you have to start the game over again when you re-connect. EA needs to find a way to cache those games so you can resume later I think as one of their next initiatives for improving online play.

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  4. Another busy month where we finally moved into the new house and I went on a business trip, so gaming has been light. Melitta Euro continues to flow and we actually received a new coffee maker (Cuisinart CHW-12) this weekend to use instead of the perc. Green and Lady grey tea were also consumed as usual.


    3DS:
    - New Super Mario Bros 2
    - Mutant Mudds
    - The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
    - Zen Pinball




    PC/Steam:
    (only briefly played these)
    - Portal 2
    - Super Meat Boy
    - CaveStory+
    - Limbo


    I did purchase two retail games this past Friday as a late bday gift to myself, but will save that for another post. (one a pre-release [3DS] I've been looking forward to for almost a year and another a classic [Wii] at a bargain price)


    In other odd news my mother in law bought the new Wii Sports/Resort bundle so I hooked that up the other night for her. It continues to draw the non-gamer in! We played some of each game and while I'm not sure how much use she will get after the initial break-in period, I'm sure the kids will as they get older.


    @Coffee that's a good list of games going there, you've been keeping busy. Regarding Mutant Mudds I had to laugh after I downloaded the new grannie update on 3DS. For whatever reason I forgot that you need to BE grannie to reach those new levels and I haven't completed the main game yet. Those last 2 levels keep getting me!


    Also the gameplay videos, commentary and impressions sound good.

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  5. That's a pretty solid list of your own there, Robert. But did you beat any of them? :P

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  6. LOL, do you even need to ask? Out of that list I've only beaten Portal 2 back in 2011. I'm close on MM and suppose I could just sit down and knock out Limbo in ~3 hours...

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  7. You should totally do that with Limbo. I think in total I spent about 3-4 hours with it was all, and it was a very cool experience imo

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  8. "we actually received a new coffee maker (Cuisinart CHW-12) this weekend to use instead of the perc."

    Looks nice...I've been silent, but we have been putting one through the paces for the last 3-ish months that looks very similar to your new one.

    "In other odd news my mother in law bought the new Wii Sports/Resort bundle so I hooked that up the other night for her. It continues to draw the non-gamer in!"

    I think the price drop will help some, and Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort bundled in together makes sense (didn't understand why they stopped the original).


    On Mutant Mudds, you're still further ahead in the game than I am...I am making slow progress though, and Bean 1 tells me to play it quite often.


    Portal 2......I need to finish the first. My neighbor told me just to pick it up, and start it and it will be over before I realize it. Then I can progress to Portal 2. Ughhhh...time, blogging, gaming...school decisions, work decisions, Wii U decisions!


    Thanks for the comment, OH! TV news...I've been looking at Black Friday deals, looks like there are some pretty good TV deals that day, I'm just debating if I want to brave the madness now!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Coffee maker is still in the box.... Maybe this weekend we'll have time to unbox.

    I agree on Wii Sports. Despite being a basic game, it's very fun with a group and should have been a pack-in along side other games as an extra incentive.

    MM: I'm ahead still???!!! I'm sure you'll still complete it before me though..

    I'm with your neighbor on Portal/Portal 2. I think I put 5-7 hours into the original, but was taking my time and trying different stuff out. You could knock it out faster than that and I'd recommend doing so before P2.

    That's cool on the TV, hope it works out. Just saw a black friday thing at samsclub for a Samsung (UN55ES6003). Too bad we can't justify one right now.. :)

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  10. "MM: I'm ahead still???!!! I'm sure you'll still complete it before me though.."

    Yup, the majority of my game time has been with Bean 1, and even though he'll tell me to play Mutant Mudds, I usually can't sit for very long at the PC if Bean 1 and Bean 2 are in the room...

    ReplyDelete

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