What's a birthday without a gift? CoffeeWithGames turns 4!

CoffeeWithCupcakes...coming soon? Maybe in my stomach.

Coffee Beans
What's a birthday without a gift? If you have been wondering if my coffee supply ran out and I went into a deep sleep because of it and that's why I haven't been posting, I can say that has not been the case! I have been doing some CoffeeWithGames related things behind-the-scenes, even though I haven't been posting.

At the end of June, I decided to get all of the Nintendo Channel data I had recorded during the final week (EVERY. SINGLE. WII. GAME!), before Nintendo took the Nintendo Channel offline, into a nice spreadsheet form. I spent my spare moments doing that for about 3 weeks, from late June and into July.

I have enough game-play data recorded from Wii games, that I could continue doing the Nintendo Channel data stories for another 10 years, at my usual pace. While I can tell you the Wii's most played game in the United States, as well as the Wii's least played game in the United States, I have decided to refocus and change the type of consistent content I deliver.

Instead of focusing just on past Wii games, CoffeeWithGames will now focus on more current games and systems. Here are a few things CoffeeWithGames will be doing on a more regular basis now:
1) Reviews! Reviews will now be happening on a more regular basis, and game reviews will have a slight twist from the normal method most sites use when reviewing games today.
2) Interviews! I have done interviews randomly in the past, but not on a regular basis. There will now be at least one interview a month (that's my goal), either from developers, publishers, or people within the industry.
3) Videos! I enjoy creating and editing videos. I'm a bit detail oriented (see: OCD) when it comes to things though, and can spend way too much time editing and creating content (not just game related). So, I will now do more standard gameplay videos now of games I'm currently playing, and/or that the Beans are playing like what I did with Mutant Mudds Deluxe.
4) Opinion pieces! I don't do these often, but I am looking to change that. An example of what these may be like, would be what I wrote about and wished for the first Wii U update to fix, before the first system update was released.
5) Coffee Shop! I browse Amazon.com pretty much every single day, for a number of reasons. One, is checking for any incredible deal I might not be able to pass by, another is more data related. So, I will be doing more Coffee Shop posts to share games deals, at least once a week.
6) CoffeeWithGames Game Nights! I enjoy playing games online. Call of Duty: Black Ops II is my most played Wii U game because of the online multiplayer. Instead of just playing by myself though, I will now try and schedule at least on CoffeeWithGames Game Night a month, and announce what game I'll be playing and when about a week in advance. Hopefully, this will make it easier for some of us game together, and of course, recording the footage and doing a video of it might be possible as well.

While these things should provide a decent amount of content each month, there will also still be the random pieces from time-to-time like the "Critics vs. Customers!" pieces, Sales Ranks Analysis pieces, and maybe even the random Grounds for Celebration! piece(s) will make an occasional return.

Now, what about that birthday gift? Hit the jump and keep reading to find out!

The CoffeeWithGames feedback winner is...

Coffee Beans
Did you miss the "CoffeeWithGames Turns 3!" post at the end of August? Well, I ended up having to wait until we finished our Maxwell House Gourmet Roast coffee, so I could have a coffee container for the giveaway drawing.

To enter the contest I said in the post, "If you leave feedback to the questions below, I'll put your name in the coffee container...and draw it for a coffee and/or game related giveaway."

I dropped the names in the coffee container, gave it a good shaking, but I didn't draw out the winner. Mrs. Coffee did! Brew yourself some coffee, and see which lucky provider of feedback was picked from the container!

The "Free Games Giveaway" winner is...

Coffee Beans
Last Saturday, I posted up the "Free Games Giveaway! Connect With Coffee" post. It contained details of how to enter a contest/giveaway for the PC games BIT.TRIP BEAT, Fieldrunners, SpaceChem, and Uplink. The contest/giveaway ended Thursday, and the picture above shows that I did the drawing for the winner as I have done in past contests. Empty coffee container, drop the names in it, shake it up, pull one out. The coffee container used for the drawing was a 33 oz. Maxwell House Gourmet Roast container that "MAKES UP TO 270 6 FL OZ CUPS" of coffee.

Who was the winner of the games? Jump past the break below to find out!

Free Games Giveaway! Connect With Coffee

Coffee Beans

Do you like free games? Here's a chance for you to win not just one game, but four games! Fieldrunners, BIT.TRIP BEAT, SpaceChem, and Uplink are up for grabs, and each is compatible with Android, Windows, MAC OS X, and Linux platforms.

Not only will you get the games, but you will also get the official soundtracks for each as well. Now, how do you go about entering? Brew yourself some coffee, and take a look below!

Instant "Coffee" Video Game Award!

Coffee Beans
     What is an "Instant 'Coffee' Video Game Award"? I'm glad you asked! I write many data posts and usually put many hours into each one reading about the games, looking for a trailer and/or game-play video, and often getting distracted reading about the developers and publishers of the games.
     While I do use older data reports as templates and to keep the layouts similar, every word and number in each data post is typed out and not copied and pasted from older data posts.


     So, back to this "Instant 'Coffee' Video Game Award". According to Dictionary.com, instant coffee is, "dehydrated coffee that can be made into a drink by adding hot water; 'the advantages of instant coffee are speed of preparation and long shelf life.'" While instant coffee isn't part of this instant giveaway, it might be in future giveaways.

     What about the "Video Game Award" part of the title? It simply means this award is video game related.
     Being that some have defaulted to referring to me as "Coffee" or "Mr. Coffee", that's where the "Coffee" part comes from in the title with quotes around it.
     I have done a few contests and giveaways over the last few years and the winners have usually been selected by dropping the entry names into a coffee container, shaking it up, and then drawing the winner out. With an "Instant 'Coffee' Video Game Award" though, the award is instantly awarded to the first person that responds either knowingly/unknowingly, with no coffee container drawing necessary.


     Who is the winner of the first "Instant 'Coffee' Video Game Award" and what did they win, and more importantly how did they win it? Make yourself some coffee, instant or not, and let's take a look!

The Winner of Some Ed Hardy Energy Snacks Is...

Coffee Beans
     Last week, on October 25, I posted my review for some Ed Hardy Energy Snacks I had tried.  You can read my review of the Ed Hardy Energy Snacks HERE.
     I used the Ed Hardy Energy Snacks to go 48+ hours without coffee, because I wanted to see if the Ed Hardy Energy Snacks really worked, and if they could keep me alert and energized like coffee does.
     In my typical post fashion, I broke it up into four different sections and ended it with the "Question" section.  The very first question I asked was, "Would you like to try Ed Hardy Energy Snacks?"  I said if you did to simply reply in the comments with, "I want Ed Hardy Energy Snacks more than my coffee!".
     Well, the contest ended Tuesday night, and who won the Ed Hardy Energy Snacks giveaway?

The Winner of 2 Years' Worth of Coffee Is...

Coffee Beans
     Last month, I posted up a contest/giveaway for 2 years' worth of coffee, and that contest/giveaway is now over!  To enter the contest, the entrants had to write a poem about coffee, with at least one video game reference in it.
     If you have entered any of my contests/giveaways in the past, you know how I usually randomly select the winner; but for those of you that don't know how I select the winner, the images below explain it(you may remember the first two images):

     So, who won the contest/giveaway and what was their poem?  Let's take a look!

Red Steel Giveaway Winner Announcement!

     The time has come!  On April 12 I published, "5 Years Ago, This Day...and GIVEAWAY!", which was a post talking about how Ubisoft had confirmed in 2006 that Red Steel was being developed for the "Revolution", but the post also contained details for readers to enter a Red Steel giveaway.

     The deadline to enter the Red Steel giveaway was this past Tuesday night, April 26.  

     How did I go about drawing the winner, and WHO won the Red Steel giveaway?  The images below show it all:

Red Steel Giveaway Update - Check Your Email!

If you entered the Red Steel giveaway I posted a few weeks back, the time to enter has closed.  If you're wondering "Who WON!?"  Well, if you entered the giveaway, please check your email.

5 Years Ago, This Day...and GIVEAWAY!

Coffee Beans:
     Before we knew it as the Wii, we knew it as the Revolution.  In March of 2006, there were rumblings of a FPS being developed for Nintendo's next console.  Screenshots were even leaked/scanned from magazines, and it was said that Ubisoft was developing it.
     Well, on April 11, 2006, 5 years this day(Tuesday), not today, Ubisoft officially made the announcement, with a press release, that they were developing Red Steel for the Revolution.

     A portion of the press release said, "Today Ubisoft...announced the development of Red Steel, an exclusive first-person action title for the Nintendo Revolution(working name of the new Nintendo platform).  Red Steel is set in modern-day Japan.  Players will master both the ancient art of the katana and the sophisticated technology of modern firearms taking advantage of the emotion and immersive gameplay possible only with the Revolution's remarkable controller."

Filtered Thoughts:
     Red Steel seems to be one of those games with a very love/hate type of relationship with gamers.  I rented the game first, because of the wide range of review scores.  I found that even with some control issues, the game was fun and I enjoyed it enough to play through it at least twice.  I would say at its current prices, used or new, the game is worth a try...or at the least, a rental.

Does that "Drinks" machine have any coffee!

     So, to put money where my mouth is, I'm giving away a copy of Red Steel for the Wii.

Contest/Giveaway Winner!

Coffee Beans:
     Last Wednesday, I posted about a Coffee with Games contest/give-away.  The time for the contest/give-away has expired, and now it's time to announce the winner!

How I Chose the Winner:
1)  I kept an empty Maxwell House Dark Roast 270 cup coffee container.

2)  I dropped the entries into the coffee container, then snapped the lid on.

3)  I gave it a good shaking...then, I opened the lid and drew the name...

     Congratulations to Chalgyr on winning the contest!  The package is in the mail, and should arrive probably next Monday or Tuesday!

Filtered Thoughts:
     Thanks to everybody that participated in the contest!  I really do appreciate the time everybody took to enter; and keep an eye out, because there should be another contest/giveaway within the next 2 months!