Coffee Beans
So, I performed another vanishing act, like a great magician, during the months of November and December (and much of January!) on the site. While I wasn't posting, I was keeping busy in the video game world and drinking lots of coffee though!
What coffees did I consume and games have I been playing? Brew yourself some coffee, and let's take a look!
Coffees Consumed
The quick list: Beaumont Coffee Classic Roast, Community Coffee Medium Roast, Café Du Monde, Beaumont Coffee Gingerbread, Beaumont Coffee Salted Caramel, Beaumont Coffee Pumpkin Spice, and Beaumont Coffee Toasted Coconut.
If you're wondering what's up with all the different Beaumont Coffee roasts and flavors, it is Mrs. Coffee's fault! I personally don't like flavored coffees (on a rare occasion maybe, like spotting a Sasquatch!), but Mrs. Coffee does. So, when the holiday flavors hit the store shelves, she decided to try some out, as you can tell from the list!
I don't mind the Beaumont Coffee Salted Caramel that much, and I'm not remember bad thoughts about the Toasted Coconut, but the Pumpkin Spice and Gingerbread just aren't for me. Will I still drink them? Yes. But, I would never buy them for myself. The flavors in them are a bit too artificial for me, and seem to cover up any actual coffee flavor.
Still, I don't mind trying new flavors out, and was even glad to see Mrs. Coffee bring in some new coffee flavors during the holidays.
Games Played
The quick list breakdown by system:
Wii U - Call of Duty: Black Ops II, Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Wii Sports Club, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, LEGO City Undercover, Toki Tori 2+, F-Zero, Mega Man X, Super Mario Bros. 2, Donkey Kong, Wii Fit U, Nintendo Land, Kung Fu Rabbit, and Super Mario 3D World.
PC - Full Bore.
2DS - Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon and Mario & Luigi Dream Team.
Super Mario 3D World has been absolutely awesome to play through with Mrs. Coffee. While we started playing it in December, we have played it A LOT more this month. If you have ever enjoyed any Mario platforming games in the past, I highly recommend you giving Super Mario 3D World a try. We haven't finished everything in it just yet, but we are making excellent progress on our Mushroom Kingdom adventure. We have finished up the "main" portion of the game (saw the credits roll), and are working on finding and unlocking everything now.
This is actually an image of Mrs. Coffee (Princess) and me (Mario) completing a level,
and saving/posting it to Miiverse. Notice the time in the top right corner? Ignore the timer at your own risk!
Bean 1 received a Nintendo 2DS for Christmas, and he received both Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon and Mario & Luigi Dream Team for it. I have helped him play both games, but Mario & Luigi Dream Team has gotten more play-time so far. And, I really like the game! While I have only played a Final Fantasy game for maybe 20 minutes, I have watched Mrs. Coffee play some in the past. The way the battles are in Mario & Luigi Dream Team reminded me of the battle system in some of the Final Fantasy games I have seen (probably a lot more simple though?).
Caffeinated Thoughts
While I have been absent from posting, like I mentioned above, I have been busy working on a side project that has turned out to be a bit more time consuming than I ever imagined it would have been, when I first started it. Hopefully once I get the next step of my side project done, I will resume normal posting (whatever that is around here!).
Since this is the first post-Christmas post, there were gaming and coffee related items on Christmas morning other than Bean 1's 2DS and games. Super Mario 3D World was the "family gift" for Christmas, and we actually went the digital route with it and downloaded it. I also received some coffee blends for Christmas, which I have been enjoying and they should be getting listed in the January Brewed post next month. Another Wii U title I grabbed during the holidays that was opened on Christmas morning was Scribblenauts Unlimited, but it wasn't played until after the first of the year.
Questions Being that this is the first post since Christmas, did any of you get a new system or new games for Christmas that you have been enjoying? Or, perhaps you got something coffee related and have been enjoying coffee more?
As always, if you have any questions about the games I played or the coffees I consumed that I posted about above, feel free to leave a question below or by contacting me directly!
Coffee Beans
Did Santa Claus come to your town? I hope everybody had a great holiday season, and has gotten the new year off to a great start so far. December was a bit busy around here, maybe the total of "3" posts for the month was a clue? If you're reading this and missed the posts in December, there are basically 2 you might be interested in:
With another month (and year) gone, what coffees did I consume and what games did I play during December? You know the routine, brew yourself some coffee and let's take a look!
Coffees Consumed
Maxwell House coffee blends were the "go to" coffees for us during the month, with us finishing off a Maxwell House Original Roast container and a Maxwell House Daily Brew container as well. The Master Chef blend was a smaller container of coffee that Mrs. Coffee purchased for us in the middle of the month, but it didn't last us about a week with one of the Maxwell House blends.
I also brewed up some our Kona Blend Coffee, which is one of the coffee blends I received for my birthday last year. We still have some of the Kona Blend Coffee, as it's whole bean coffee and I use it as a "backup" coffee when the others run out, or start running really low. When we went out of town for a long weekend, Mrs. Coffee purchased us some Folgers Black Silk coffee in a small container to bring with us, and we enjoyed it while it lasted.
Games Played
Here's the "Instant Coffee" list of games I played in December: Trine 2, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, ZombiU, Nintendo Land, Rage of the Gladiator, Mario Kart DS, Mutant Mudds, BIT.TRIP Runner, Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed, and New Super Mario Bros. U.
Many games would be green with envy over Trine 2's graphics and art style.
Trine 2: Director's Cut - I have completed the main campaign in Trine 2, which took me right around 20 hours, and I am now working my way through the Goblin Menace levels. Like I mentioned last month, I'm still pretty much playing using only the Wii U's GamePad and not even looking at our TV. The graphics and art style have continued to impress me throughout the game, and I enjoy the slower paced design of the levels with puzzles scattered throughout. I have found that Trine 2 is an excellent game to have a pot of coffee brewed while playing, because of how often I stop to think of how to keep progressing through the levels. Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 - Black Ops 2 could really be used by Nintendo to help "sell" the Wii U to the "hardcore" players, especially those that are married and/or have roommates they have share a TV with. The ability to play Black Ops 2 on just the GamePad, is absolutely awesome. I completed Black Ops 2's single-player campaign on just the GamePad early one morning, while Mrs. Coffee was using our Wii system (not the Wii U) to watch a show on Netflix. I have also enjoyed quite a few multiplayer matches using just the GamePad, while she uses the TV to watch something on Netflix. ZombiU - I completed ZombiU's single-player campaign in November, but attempted Survival Mode a few times in December. I haven't made it far, or lasted very long at all though. I have now loaned out ZombiU to our neighbors, but I'm not quite sure how far he has made it now. Last I checked, he had made it to Buckingham Palace. If you own a Wii U, and haven't played ZombiU but are interested in the game, European Wii U owners just received a demo of it, and it might be hitting the North American eShop on Thursday. So, make sure to keep an eye out for a ZombiU demo possibly hitting the eShop this week if you have been interested in the game. If you missed the ZombiU post in December, here's a video of Mrs. Coffee and I playing one of the game's multiplayer modes:
Nintendo Land - I played this early in December, and then when we visited some family out of town one weekend later in the month. My cousin and I played Battle Quest together, with him doing the sword fighting and me using the GamePad for the bow and arrows. I still want to finish off the Metroid Blast levels here soon, but I have a few other Wii U titles to finish before the. Rage of the Gladiator - I played a few rounds of this on Mrs. Coffee's iPhone early in the month, and when we were traveling out of town. It did get an update though, and I need to get that downloaded and see what it changed/updated. Mario Kart DS - Bean 1 has made some incredible gameplay progress in this one. He can beat the Eyerok boss in the Level 1 mini-games (I think Level 1). He can now even do "power slides" in the game, and complete one of the mini-game challenges that require 4 power slides in a lap. When we were out of town visiting family, as we were leaving a parking lot, he said, "Daddy, can you power slide?" While it caused me to laugh, because I'm sure he was 100% serious, I had to sadly inform him we couldn't do it in our car. My time with this game during the month was helping Bean 1 beat the mini-game challenges. I think we have made it to the Level 4 challenges so far, but I think he erases them after he takes over, or they auto-erase when you leave that section of the game; I'm still not sure about it. Mutant Mudds - I completed the main levels of Mutant Mudds on December 31st. When I finished the last level, I had 24/40 levels completed. Bean 1 started playing Mutant Mudds a good bit in December, and volunteered me to play the game all the time. Mutant Mudds released for iOS devices in early December, and is available to purchase for just $0.99 on them. While I don't own that copy of it, I am looking forward to learning more about Mutant Mudds Deluxe for the Wii U in the next few months. If you haven't played Mutant Mudds, but enjoy platformers, I do recommend it.
Max and Grannie will thank you for playing, too!
BIT.TRIP RUNNER - Even though we own a Wii U, I still have not done the Wii to Wii U data transfer. One reason is because the Wii U does not have the Nintendo Channel, so I still use the Wii weekly to access and record game data; another reason is because I know some of our game save files won't transfer over to the Wii U. So, for now we are using our Wii as we were before we got the Wii U. Bean 1 voluntold me to play BIT.TRIP RUNNER one night, so I put it back in the Wii and gave it a try. I still haven't beat it yet, but I am close. I think a good solid day (or two, or three) of playing might be the solution to beating it. Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed - One weekend we were heading out of town to visit family, my cousin that enjoys games a good deal said that Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed would be one of the Wii U games he would be interested in playing. So, I checked Redbox to see if it was available to rent from one in our area. It wasn't. I checked with Blockbuster in our area and online, thinking they might have it to rent. They didn't. Next, I decided to give GameFly a try and put Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed first in my queue expecting it to ship out and arrive before we left. What I didn't realize is that GameFly does not follow the typical queue order, and they don't ship from the top down. No, they ship the first available game in your queue, even if it's not the first game listed. So, this game joined our Wii U collection right before our weekend trip, when I purchased it. While my cousin played it a good amount, Bean 1 wasn't really aware of the game being "ours", so we hid and "re-gifted" it to him as another Christmas gift. We haven't played it a whole lot, but I really do like how each level seems to be designed around the three transformations: driving, flying, and boating. It really seems to keep each race fresh, and the courses seem to be well designed from those I have played so far. New Super Mario Bros. U - This was a Christmas gift for Bean 1, and we left it sealed until he requested to play it (or, requested me to play it). That day wasn't until December 31st, so I opened it up and he attempted the first level and I thought he was going to beat it. After he tried a few times, I was voluntold to play it. I completed World 1, saved the game, and Bean 1 took over again for a bit. He ended up finding the magic "erase" button, and deleted the file in short order. Fortunately, World 1 isn't that challenging. While playing through World 1 though, I did find the background in the game, how it's layered anyway, a bit disorienting at first. I will say that I haven't been "wowed" by the graphics in it yet (our HD TV is not hooked up yet, so that may help); not like I was/have been with Trine 2 anyway. The gameplay is solid though, as is probably expected in a Mario platformer, but I noticed something in World 1 with a pipe that has me wondering if it changed from the older Mario games. I may have to put on my investigation gear, and see if the difference is what I'm thinking it is, or if I just don't remember the older pipes systems correctly.
Caffeinated Thoughts
I have really been enjoying our Wii U, and the games on it so far. I'm still debating on whether or not to keep the GameFly subscription going, or end it after the first month. You also may remember me commenting randomly about our HD TV hunt that started during the holidays, and we ended up purchasing one Christmas Eve (yes, I'm THAT kind of shopper). The TV is still in its box though, as we have been a little busy as I mentioned above. After getting some painting done this past weekend, and ordering the mount today, the TV should be going up on Thursday if everything arrives as planned.
While 2012 ended slower than I was planning here on the site with posts, and I have a few posts "in the works", I'm debating on a few things for 2013 that may change the frequency of posts (and type).
If any of you received a Wii U for Christmas, or are planning on buying one here soon, feel free to add my Nintendo Network ID to your Wii U friend list. My NNID is Coffees. As always, if you have any questions about the games I played, feel free to ask me in the comments below or by sending me an email at: Scott(@)CoffeeWithGames.com.
Questions Did any of you perhaps get a Wii U, or other game related items, during the holidays? If so, did you get anything you would recommend? If you perhaps didn't get anything new, what games did you play during December, and did you find yourself drinking any coffee during the month?
Coffee Beans
Happy New Year! December was super busy, with January and the new year in full swing, let's take a quick look at the coffees and Ed Hardy Energy Snacks I consumed, and video games I played in December.
Coffees (and Energy Snacks) Consumed in December Maxwell House Dark Roast - I believe this was purchased by Mrs. Coffee for us early in December, and was one of the 270 cup coffee containers. It didn't survive through December, but we did enjoy it. Community Coffee - I consumed several different blends of this during December. We had some Community Coffee Medium Roast at our house, but we also consumed some Community Coffee blends while we were visiting family in Louisiana. Mrs. Coffee's family likes to brew the Community Coffee blends. Folgers Coffee - This was another coffee blend I consumed when we were visiting family. The Folger Coffees blends are what my mom likes to brew. Maxwell House Gourmet Roast - This is another big 270 cup coffee container, that was purchased after we arrived back home from Louisiana. We still have a good amount left, and it should last us at least another 2 weeks or so. I think Mrs. Coffee enjoys this blend a good bit, because it's the second time she has purchased it in 2 months. Trader Joe's WAKE UP Blend - Upon arriving home from Louisiana, we had a lot of packages in the mail. One of the packages was pretty big, and it contained a 28 oz. (1 LB 12 OZ) container of this Trader Joe's WAKE UP Blend Medium Roast coffee. Like in the past, this Trader Joe's coffee blend was mailed to me from fellow reader Charlie, who writes on his own blog at NicodemusAtNite.com. Thank you Charlie! Ed Hardy Coffee & Chocolate Rocks - What do you do to stay awake while driving through the night? Well, I chose to eat some Ed Hardy Coffee Rocks, and the Chocolate Rocks, to help me stay awake. I found the Ed Hardy Energy Snacks to be great while driving, as I was able to eat a few at a time, without overdoing it. I ate them in moderation, so I would not become super caffeinated and get pulled over for driving 100+ mph, but I was in the driver's seat for about 13 hours with the help of Ed Hardy's Energy Snacks. Not only did I find them useful, but I discovered Mrs. Coffee was sneaking some of them after we made our final stop!
Games Played in December Super Mario Bros. - I played this random nights in December, as our oldest son plays the "delay fish" game before bed. Basically, the "delay fish" game is where he names everything he can possibly think of to delay going into his room by a few minutes, that I may fall for. Super Mario Bros. is one of those things. I did end up beating Super Mario Bros. in December, when Mrs. Coffee and I had some friends over one night for a Christmas get together. It took me multiple tries, but I eventually made the dash just right, and hit the switch(if you have played it, you know what I'm talking about). Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 - Played some more online, and a bit more of the single-player for a video project (not just the coffee one). Haven't played it since we left before Christmas, and since we made it back. Perhaps a few rounds in a bit to see how it's playing would do well. Tenchu: Shadow Assassins - A game on my New Year's Video Game resolution list. I had played this on and off, but really started playing it a good bit in December attempting to finish my resolution. Did I finish the game? That's for another post! New Super Mario Bros. Wii - When Mrs. Coffee and I visited family out of town, one of my friends brought this over to my parents' house and Mrs. Coffee, he, and I played through this in one night. We "completed" the game, by using the canons (he knew where they were), and defeated the final boss in just over 3 hours. I did record a lot of it, but my PC's HDD is almost 100% full, so I'm having to shuffle files around now. Endless Ocean: Blue World - Another game on my New Year's Video Game resolution list. I had played this almost 2 years ago, but started a completely new file in December so I could try and actually pay attention to the storyline. I have enjoyed my time with the game, actually much moreso than I thought I would. Was I able to reach the end of Endless Ocean: Blue World though? More later!
Filtered Thoughts
Can you all believe another year has already flown by? Crazy. If any of you are wondering, "Coffee, why aren't you posting much right now?" Well, we were out of town for a little over a week, then I was sick. I have been working since we got back also, and now school is starting up.
Also, to add a little more to my craziness, as I mentioned above, my computer's HDD is nearly 100% full (typing this on Mrs. Coffee's laptop actually), and I just installed a new PSU and GPU (Christmas gifts), and am waiting on a DVI to HDMI cable to show up any day now, because the one that came with my PC is AWOL. Once I get my desktop back 100% functioning with the HDD cleared off some, posting should pick back up a bit.
Questions What coffees did you consume (or other beverages) and games did you play during December? Also, do any of you have Endless Ocean: Blue World by any chance?
