September Brewed - Coffees Consumed, Games Played!

Coffee Beans
Like coffee in my cup, the month of September is gone! If you skimmed an occasional post here and there during the month, here are some posts you might have missed during September:

• Caffeinated Thoughts on Mutant Mudds!
• Underrated? Overrated? Must Play? Muramasa: The Demon Blade U.S. Data Report
• Wii U's Release Date, Price, Games, & Features - Caffeinated Thoughts
• Is Kirby's Dream Collection worth $40? What do Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards' hours suggest?
• Time for Wave Race Wii U? Time for Wave Race 64 - Data Report
• Critics vs. Customers! Madden NFL 13 - PS3 & Xbox 360 Reviews Averages
• Grounds for Celebration! Award - LEGO City: Undercover

With October already brewing, what coffees did I consume and games did I play in September? Brew yourself some coffee, and let's take a look!

Coffees Consumed

Maxwell House coffees were the dominate coffee blends in our house during September. We had three Maxwell House coffee blends in September that we enjoyed, those being:

• Maxwell House House Blend
• Maxwell House Dark Roast
• Maxwell House Gourmet Roast

For the first time in a few months, we purchased some Starbucks coffee during the month, but it wasn't just for brewing. I had been wanting whole coffee beans to record the grinding sound with our grinder, for the Grounds for Celebration videos. Mrs. Coffee was out one day early in September, and I messaged her asking if she could grab some whole coffee beans before coming home. She purchased the Starbucks Blonde Veranda Blend, and it is an extremely light blend. If you don't like your coffee dark and very strong, this would be a good blend to try.

Over the last weekend in September though, Mrs. Coffee and I packed our bags and loaded the car with the boys, and headed off to the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee with some friends. While we were in Gatlinburg, I searched for a local coffee shop that I could perhaps grab a cup of coffee from on National Coffee Day. I found a local shop, Coffee & Company, and tried their house blend for the day (either the Costa Rican Tarrazu or the Le Conte View roast).

Games Played

The short list for the games I played in September is: New Super Mario Bros. DS, Super Mario World, Super Mario 64, LittleBigPlanet, Mutant Mudds, Rage of the Gladiator, Blacklight: Retribution, Batman: Arkham Asylum, 2 Fast 4 Gnomz, Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario Bros., and BIT.TRIP RUNNER.

New Super Mario Bros. DS - Bean 1 is still playing this, even with a barely functioning bottom screen. He'll ask/tell me (or, I'll be volun-told as Chalgyr said) to play few of the levels from time-to-time, and we are currently back in World 3. I have been tempted to take apart the DS Lite, and see if I can figure out the touch screen problems; I even looked up a few YouTube videos on how to do it.

Super Mario World - Not much new here to report, but Bean 1 and I are still enjoying this one on the Virtual Console like most of the other Mario games.

Super Mario 64 - This one became Bean 1's Mario game of choice in September. He has improved GREATLY in the game. I have attempted to record footage of him in the levels a few times, but usually start recording a little late. He beat Koopa the Quick on September 9th, and enjoys running around the castle and levels; but like NSMBDS, I get asked/told to play a few levels and do a few things in it from time-to-time.

LittleBigPlanet - Bean 1 asks to play this as his last delay tactic before bed usually. He is pretty good at getting through levels in the game now, and he has found some incredibly designed player created levels, with Mario themes and even a Phineas and Ferb level that I was really impressed with. Like the Mario games, I usually get asked to play a few of the levels to help out, and show him how to get through certain areas.

Mutant Mudds - I purchased Mutant Mudds for my PC the first week of September, and I have really enjoyed my time with it so far. The game is definitely challenging, and platforming fans should enjoy it. I have been using the default controls in the game, but you can adjust them or use a separate gamepad if you want. Bean 1 has even attempted to play a few of the levels, which I found amusing to watch.

Rage of the Gladiator - I played a few matches again, and realized that there are quite a few bosses I haven't recorded/uploaded any footage from yet. I may do that for an October post, or two.

Blacklight: Retribution - I decided to give this one another try in September, and enjoyed my time in a few matches one night in September. I actually placed 3rd in a match, which I think is the highest I have placed so far. I just started attempting to change out my gear, and once finding where to look, it seems like a pretty easy process once you have the points and the required level in the game to use better equipment. If you have a Steam account and enjoy FPS games, I would easily recommend you giving Blacklight: Retribution a try considering it is free-to-play.

The game shows the top three players at the end of each match.

Batman: Arkham Asylum - I'm not sure how close I am to beating the game, but I think I have made some decent progress in it so far. Perhaps before the Wii U releases, I can finish Arkham Asylum, then give Arkham City a try on the Wii U. I'm still enjoying my time with the game, and I like how the game is challenging and makes me think of ways to clear rooms of enemies. Batman is not invincible!

2 Fast 4 Gnomz - Bean 1 clicked on this WiiWare demo from the SD card menu on our Wii. I ended up being volunteered by him to play it, and completed the demo. The game is insane, at least from my time with the demo. Think BIT.TRIP RUNNER style where you don't stop moving forward, but the graphical style kept making me wonder if I was going to have a seizure! One thing I did like that 2 Fast 4 Gnomz provided in each level was the number of times you had attempted it. So, if you hit spikes, fall in holes, or just miss your jumps 20, 30, 40, or 50 times, you know exactly how many times you have been tortured by the level. The level of difficulty might be too much for your average gamer also, but if you enjoy tough challenges I do recommend giving the demo a try.

Super Mario Bros. 3 - Another Virtual Console game that has shown to be a great value for us. Bean 1 is still running around in some of the levels, and can complete World 1-1 and World 1-2 now usually without any/many issues.

BIT.TRIP RUNNER - On National Coffee Day, I started with the Maxwell House Gourmet Roast, then the house blend from Coffee & Company, then a cup from McDonald's, then I ended the day/night with another cup(s) of the Maxwell House Gourmet Roast. Right before sleep took over Saturday night, I played BIT.TRIP RUNNER on Mrs. Coffee's laptop.

Questions

Did you have a coffee blend/roast of choice in September?  What video games did you play during September, and would you recommend any of the ones that you did play?

Also, if you have any questions about the games I played or the coffees I consumed in September, feel free to ask in the comment section below.

May Brewed - Coffees Consumed, Games Played!

Coffee Beans
     So, May marked a "return" of sorts to a more normal posting schedule here on CoffeeWithGames, since the beginning of the year! What games did I play, and coffees did I consume in May? Let's take a look!

Coffees Consumed
     May was pretty simple as for the coffees. All the blends we had were Maxwell House, which Mrs. Coffee buys quite often. First up was the Maxwell House Master Blend. It is a nice mild coffee blend, which they say is "perfect for every morning.", but I can testify it's pretty good throughout the entire day as well.
     Second, we had a big container of the Maxwell House Gourmet Roast and its flavor description says it is "Deliciously Smooth". I prefer my coffee black, and RARELY (about as rare as the Bigfoot sightings, maybe more-so) put cream and/or sugar in my coffee, but I think I have reached a point now where if a coffee is "mild", I don't notice much of a flavor difference. It's definitely not a bad thing, and perhaps it's a reflection that I'm drinking coffee to help me to stay awake, more than just to enjoy...though I do both.
    The last blend in the Coffee House for May was Maxwell House Dark Roast. Its description reads, "Rich & Full Bodied", and I do think this one has the "Dark Roast" part down very well. It's definitely noticeable as a dark roast coffee, but not so much that it tastes burnt. Being that I enjoy "strong" coffee flavors, I enjoy this blend a good deal, and have a cup of it right now, with another cup in the pot.

Can you name them all?

Games Played
     Jett Rocket - I downloaded this WiiWare demo last year, and have played through it twice now, enjoying it both times. As I was preparing the above image, our oldest Bean saw Jett Rocket and asked, "Who's that!?", which then ended up with me finding a few YouTube videos for him to watch while I was piecing it together. I haven't downloaded a WiiWare game in a long-time, but I'm hoping that Nintendo will confirm next week that all WiiWare/Virtual Console purchases already made will transfer to the Wii U, without any major issue(s). If they can finally announce that, I might just perhaps download Jett Rocket and give the full game a try. If you missed the WiiWare Wednesday post on Jett Rocket's reported game-play hours, you can read the full report HERE.
     Sanctum - Sanctum is the very first demo I downloaded after I started my Steam account. I had attempted it last year I believe, and it ran pretty rough due to my GPU at the time. In January, I upgraded my PSU and GPU, and then at the beginning of May I finally gave the Sanctum demo another try, and completed the full demo. Sanctum is a "tower defense" type game with a FPS view, and it does have weapons to shoot at the enemies (not sure how this is compared to other tower defense games). It was the first tower defense game I can recall playing, and the more time I spent in the demo, it started to remind me of chess games. It really does seem to require a good strategy to setup the defenses around the level, and try to be planning ahead for the next waves of enemies that will be coming, even though you aren't sure what those may be.
     Rayman Origins - I started playing Rayman Origins, again, from the beginning on May 18, and finished the campaign yesterday afternoon. According to the Nintendo Channel data, I put just over 27 hours into the game, in 2 weeks! Now, I do know some of that time was the game being left on, as I was going to check on the little Beans at night, and I also recorded some footage one night for the data report on the game, but I would suspect most people should get a good 20 hours out of it easily. Which makes me wonder how/why the reported game-play hours for it are barely over 10 Hours "Per person", as I showed in my "Platforming Awesomeness! Rayman Origins Hours Report" post.
     Red Steel 2 - What happens when you reserve a game with $5 down on it about a month before the game releases, but fail to purchase the game? Then skip 2+ years into the future? Well, you can't remember if the $5 credit is still on the game, if you already used it on another game, or if the wonderful corporation that is Game Stop made it magically disappear. I reported on Red Steel 2's reported game-play hours over the last 2 years in May, and the same day I left the house and decided to stop by Game Stop to see if my $5 credit was still on the game. While the credit wasn't anywhere to be found, I did end up purchasing Red Steel 2, and so far I have played it just under 30 minutes. I'm enjoying the art style, but still getting used to the controls and I'll try to share more thoughts on the game when I either finish it, or perhaps as I progress through it more.
     Rage of the Gladiator - I decided to battle the first boss in Rage of the Gladiator using the game's Wii MotionPlus control settings before I started playing Red Steel 2. While I did defeat the first boss, I failed to defeat him perfectly! One hit too many. If you haven't played Rage of the Gladiator, you can find the WiiWare demo for it on the Nintendo Shop Channel.
     PAYDAY: The Heist - What happens when you go to Game Stop, and spend cash on a game? Well, you come home and find an incredible sale on a PC game, that you can't believe! Amazon.com had PAYDAY: The Heist on sale in May for only $5! I own the PS3 version, but was curious as to how/if my PC could run the game. For $5 bucks, I figured it was worth a try, and sure enough, the game runs pretty well, and I already completed the first "heist" in the game. When I was purchasing it from Amazon.com, I didn't realize the game was actually going to run through Steam, but that's what it does. Fortunately, I already had the Steam account, so that wasn't an issue for me.

Question
     What games did you play in May, and did any coffee blends help you survive the month?
     Also, if you have any questions about the games I played in May, or the coffees I consumed, feel free to ask in the comments below or by contacting me directly.

May Brewed - Coffees Consumed, Games Played

Coffee Beans:
     May was an interesting month for me.  Being that I had finished up school(and am out for the summer), I started looking for summer work.  I was hoping that whatever job I got might turn into a good part-time job when school starts back, but wasn't sure how quickly something would happen in this job market.  I ended up landing a job at Chick-Fil-A, and have been gainfully employed for about the last 3 weeks.  My first day of training I tried the coffee, and I also had it my second day, though I forgot to add it to my "Coffees Consumed" for May.
     So, with a new job and my same spastic nightly schedule, what coffees did I consume and games did I play during May?  Let's take a look!

April Brewed - Coffees Consumed, Games Played

Coffee Beans:
     April was an extremely busy month, and it's gone forever now...at least until next year!  So, with May upon us, let's take a quick look back at the coffees I consumed and the games I played during April!

Coffees Consumed in April:
     Maxwell House's House Blend (Medium Roast) - This was one of the 34.5oz, 270 coffee cup, containers that Mrs. Coffee purchased in March.  It was emptied in April, so I doubt we will see any more of it in May.
     Seattle's Best Coffee Organic Breakfast Blend - This was a surprise purchase for me, by Mrs. Coffee, back in March.  I finished this off during the last week of April, but enjoyed it while it lasted.
     Caribou Coffee Reindeer Blend (Medium-Dark Roast) - Somehow, this blend that I received at Christmas from Mrs. Coffee has survived 4 months, with a few more beans in the bag to make some more coffee!  I doubt it will last through May, but I've been wrong before.
     Maxwell House Original Roast (Medium Roast) - This is another 34.5oz, 270 coffee cups worth, container of coffee that was purchased around mid-April.  It's currently about 2/3rds full, and will probably last us the rest of May.
     New England Coffee's Colombian Supremo Blend - Like the Seattle's Best Coffee blend from March, this New England Coffee's blend was a surprise purchase by Mrs. Coffee.  Interestingly enough, I don't think this coffee, has the "coffee smell".  I don't know what it is, it just doesn't have the typical coffee smell I'm used to with basically every other coffee blend we have had.  I even asked Mrs. Coffee to smell the coffee, and she said it smelled normal...but I call foul!  I can smell the distinct "coffee smell" with the Maxwell House and Caribou coffees, but this New England Coffee blend, there's something different about it.


Video Games Played in April:
     GoldenEye 007 - I didn't play much of the single-player in April, but I did play a good bit of the online multi-player.  I played some matches with Robert from here on the site, and I also played some matches with Keith, from RespawnAction.com.  Hopefully, I should be getting a few videos of some matches uploaded soon.  Also, if you missed it, on April 5th I posted, "GoldenEye 007 - New List Price and Sale!", which showed how Amazon.com had dropped the game's list price by $10, but also had it discounted down to $29.99 at the time.
     Monster Hunter Tri - I picked this up at the beginning of April, and started working on the single-player campaign again.  I hopped online a few nights, and I did some monster hunting with other hunters from NinTemple.com and NintendoWorldReport.com on the one year anniversary for the game.  I also did a post on Monster Hunter Tri's game-play data over the first year, and included a video of a Great Jaggi hunt as well.  You can read that post/watch the video HERE!
     Greg Hastings Paintball 2 - I finished the game's Career mode in March, but I picked it back up and played some matches in April, while I was recording footage for my, "Greg Hastings Paintball 2 - Video Preview and Impressions".  I also posted a two part interview with the developer of Greg Hastings Paintball 2 in April.  You can read the interview, HERE and HERE.  Also, I announced that Greg Hastings Paintball 2 will be releasing on May 10 on the PlayStation Network, though because of the PlayStation Network's crash/downtime, I don't know if the game is still scheduled for release on May 10 now.
     Battlefield 1943 - I played this just two nights during April, kind of out of nowhere.  I decided one night just to try getting into a quick match, and I ended up playing for about two hours, over 2 nights.  The game is still fun, and I like the maps, vehicles, and destruction in the game.  If you never saw my videos of me playing Battlefield 1943, you can see them HERE and HERE!
     Fish'em All - This is a WiiWare title, and I'm going to have to post a video to show what the game-play is like.  I won the game from the developer, Abylight, after answering a few questions about the demo of the game I had played back in March.  If you want a free copy of the WiiWare game Fish'em All! for yourself, they still have 133 copies left they are giving away, HERE!  Not only that, but if you enter and get Fish'em All!, you will also be entered to win a Nintendo 3DS...you enter to get your free copy of Fish'em All! HERE.
     Rage of the Gladiator - I actually played a few rounds of Rage of the Gladiator, to give my Nyko Wand + and Nyko Wireless Kama controllers a try with the game's Wii MotionPlus control setting.  I actually liked the addition of the WM+ moves in the game, and though not perfectly executed every time, I think it helps add to the game-play.

Thoughts/Questions:
     While I didn't complete anymore games from my backlogged list in April, I have made good progress with Monster Hunter Tri's single-player campaign.  Once I finish that, I'm not sure what game I will attempt to finish next.  I enjoyed all the games I played in April, and will hopefully be providing coverage for some of them very soon!
     As for the coffees consumed, I favored the Caribou Reindeer blend the most in April, and I think it's because I brewed it more often at night, while studying for tests; so I had lots of time to drink and enjoy it.

     What coffee blends(or other beverages) did you enjoy during April, and what video games did you find yourself playing in April?

February Brewed, March Brewing - Coffees Consumed, Games Played

Coffee Beans:
     Well, February is over.  For those of you that are following the Reader Points each month, I have January's calculated, but I've made a few adjustments to the algorithm I use to calculate the points, so January and February Reader Points should be posted in the next 2 weeks.

     While I did get sick with the flu in the middle of February, I was able to play quite a few games, and drink some good coffees as well.
     I'm feeling better now, and hopefully with a new month upon us, there won't be anymore sickness!  So, before March takes over, let's take a look at the coffees I consumed and the video games I played during February!

Coffees Consumed in February:

• Caribou Coffee Reindeer Blend(Medium Dark Roast) - This has been a slowly consumed coffee in our house.  I received it as a Christmas gift from Mrs. Coffee, and it's a 16 oz. whole bean bag.  I still have about half the bag left, so depending on how many tests I have this March, it may/may not last the month depending on that.  I enjoy this coffee blend, and our son has fun grinding the coffee beans in our coffee grinder with me at night sometimes, so that's probably why I'm consuming it slower than the regular big tubs of coffee we normally have.
• Maxwell House Custom Roasted Dark Roast Ground Coffee - This was a 270 cup coffee tub, and we finished it during the last week of February.  It was kind of funny, because I knew we were running low, and I kept rationing my pots of coffee thinking, "Hmmm, I need this to last a few more days until Mrs. Coffee goes to the grocery store again."  Well, I was Mr. Unobservant and didn't notice the other 270 cup coffee tub Mrs. Coffee had already purchased and had sitting in the pantry!
• Maxwell House French Roast Ground Coffee - This was the 270 cup coffee container my wife purchased us in February, that I didn't notice for a few days.  I believe this is a newer blend of the Maxwell House coffees we have tried, and it has a pretty solid flavor.

Video Games Played in February:

• Donkey Kong Country Returns - Mrs. Coffee and I completed Donkey Kong Country Returns with all the KONG letters found, and all the puzzle pieces found, on February 8.  We had an absolute blast playing through the game, and if I hadn't of gotten the flu, I would have finished my write-up about our play-through of the game.  Hopefully the write-up will be finished, and with more game-play footage, in the next 2 weeks.
• GoldenEye 007 - I played some more of GoldenEye's single-player campaign, finishing another mission on the "Agent" difficulty setting.  I also hopped online early in February, and played some online multi-player matches: Golden Gun, Black Box, and Team Conflict.  I think I'll be playing GoldenEye less, until I finish(or give up) on my New Year's Video Game Resolution.
• Greg Hastings Paintball 2 - I'm still working my way through the campaign in Greg Hastings Paintball 2 for the Wii.  The game becomes more challenging the further you get, and you have to make sure to trade players out, and/or train your team, to make sure they can compete against the higher ranked teams.  I honestly don't know how any "reviewer" of this game put up a review within a week of receiving the game.  I have put probably 15+ hours just into the campaign, and I'm only about 50% through it now.
• Killzone 3 Demo - If you didn't see my FPS Friday that was on my time with the Killzone 3 multi-player beta, you can read my thoughts, and even watch a video I put together of an online multi-player match HERE.
• Fluidity WiiWare Demo - I downloaded and played through the WiiWare demo for Fluidity, and think it's an interesting idea.  If you missed my data report, you can see how many game-play hours Fluidity debuted on the Nintendo Channel with in February, HERE.  The game only costs $12, and from the game-play hours reported, it appears most Wii owners are getting almost 9 hours of game-play from the game.  I think 9 hours of game-play for $12, is an awesome deal.
• Dementium II - After finding where I "lost" my DS Lite, I started playing some more Dementium II.  I have put a little more than four hours into the game, and a little more than half of those hours were in February.  The game does keep to its atmosphere pretty well, and I'm enjoying it, though it does make me wish the DS(and soon the 3DS) had dual analogs.
• Call of Duty: Black Ops - So, I finally beat Call of Duty: Black Ops on the PS3.  I completed the game's campaign this past Friday night, and I thought the campaign improved the further along it went.  The storyline was interesting, and it would make for an interesting second play-through knowing certain things now, but I don't think that will happen.
• ExciteBots: Trick Racing - If you missed my post on Monday, "An Exciting Wii Racer - Ignored by Nintendo, Not Known by Wii Owners", I talked about how I think ExciteBots: Trick Racing is a game that has flown under the radar of many Wii owners since it released, simply because there was little, or no, advertising for the game.  I started playing ExciteBots again when a fellow blogger, Dustin from MyLittleGamer.Blogspot.com, said his son was going to be reviewing the game.  I was able to hop online one day and play a few races against against his son, Daemion, and Dustin as well.  You can see a video of two of our races in the post from Monday.  You can read Daemion's review for ExciteBots HERE.
• Resistance: Fall of Man - This game is one of the many on my backlog, that I had not touched in months/years.  This was one of my first PS3 games I purchased, when it was on sale on Amazon.com for like $15 one day and I had a gift card to use.  I started playing Resistance: Fall of Man again, after completing Black Ops last Friday.  I'm actually enjoying the game's setting/story, and the game is turning out to be longer than I expected.  I don't know how many hours it will take to finish, but I've already played it more than Call of Duty: Black Ops, and still haven't finished it yet.
• Rage of the Gladiator WiiWare Demo - Okay, this is probably the game on the list.  I own the full WiiWare version of Rage of the Gladiator.  I purchased the WiiWare version of Rage of the Gladiator the day it released on the service last year, yet when I saw the WiiWare demo for Rage of the Gladiator had been released last week, I went and downloaded it.  Why?  Well, I played through the demo to see what you will experience, and it's a pretty solid demo.  I think it offers you enough game-play, to give you a good idea of what to expect from the full version.  I highly suggest you all go and download the Rage of the Gladiator WiiWare demo for FREE, and give it a try.  Rage of the Gladiator is my most played WiiWare game so far, and if you enjoyed the old Punch-Out games, or even the new Wii Punch-Out!! I hear, you should enjoy Rage of the Gladiator.

Thoughts/Questions:

     From my original list of ten games on my New Year's resolution list, I completed just Call of Duty: Black Ops in February, but played three others on the list.  Hopefully in March I can complete several more off the list, and perhaps even provide coverage/thoughts on the games that I complete.

     I really wasn't sure how February was going to go, but I ended up playing more games and game demos than I thought I was at the beginning of the month, with ten total for the month.

     So, what video games did you end up playing in February, and did any of you perhaps try a new coffee blend in February, that you perhaps hadn't tried before?