Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Interview: Ripstone on Pure Chess Wii U & 3DS - Trophies, Multiplayer, & More (Part 1)


Coffee Beans
Last week, Ripstone's Phil Gaskell told us how they were thrilled at Ripstone to hear about the upcoming Wii U price drop and new 2DS system. Ripstone is planning on releasing Pure Chess for the Wii U and 2DS/3DS eShops in the next few months, and Knytt Underground is looking like it will be an early 2014 Wii U eShop release from Ripstone as well.

With Pure Chess being the first Wii U and 2DS/3DS game from Ripstone, and being a big chess fan myself, I had the opportunity to ask Mr. Gaskell some questions about the upcoming release of Pure Chess on the Wii U and 2DS/3DS. I had not played Pure Chess before sending over the questions, though that has changed in the last week with the mobile version releasing on Android and iOS devices.

What Pure Chess features should appeal the most to chess fans? Will Pure Chess on the Wii U and 3DS offer the same number of "Play By Mail" chess games as the PlayStation 3 version, or has the number been increased or decreased?

Brew yourself some coffee, and find out the answers to some of these questions and a few more, below!

Monday, September 2, 2013

June, July, & August Brewed! Coffees Consumed & Games Played


Coffee Beans
As I mentioned last week, I took July off from posting and worked a bit behind-the-scenes on a few things, as well as had some fun finishing up the Beans' Star Wars May the 4th video from this year. If this is the first post you are seeing in a while, here are two posts from June and one from the end of August I want to highlight:
1) It's Official - Wii's U.S. Nintendo Channel, Forecast Channel, News Channel & more taken offline.
2) Dear Nintendo of America...
3) Ripstone "thrilled" about the Wii U price drop, and 2DS

While I didn't post anything in July and just a little at the end of August, I did find some time to play games during those months and of course, I was consuming lots of coffee, as usual. Brew yourself some coffee, and let's take a look at what games I have been playing and coffees I have been drinking during June, July, and August!

Coffees Consumed
In June and July, there was basically only one coffee we brewed up, and it was the Beaumont Coffee Classic Roast. I had mentioned in the "May Brewed!" post that this is the lowest priced coffee blend we have purchased, and we still find it enjoyable.


I did also consume a good number of the Keurig K-Cups in July, when I visited family and friends on a quick trip out of town. My mom has a Keurig Coffee maker, and lots of Keurig K-Cups that she keeps stored in a Keurig K-Cup Storage Drawer. I probably went through a 10-20 K-Cups on my trip, as well as having some regular coffee brewed as well.

In August, we brewed up two different coffee blends. The first blend was Maxwell House Gourmet Roast, followed by the Beaumont Coffee Classic Roast.

Games Played
Here's the "Instant Coffee" list of games I played in June, July, and August: Call of Duty: Black Ops II, Mutant Mudds (PC), Trine 2: Director's Cut, Kirby Mass Attack, Kung Fu Rabbit, Super Metroid, Mutant Mudds Deluxe, F-Zero, Kirby's Adventure, Toki Tori 2, Donkey Kong, LEGO City Undercover, Super Mario World, and Pure Chess.

Instead of breaking down each individual game that was played over the last several months, I'll highlight and talk about a few of the ones I spent the most time with.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II is my most played game on our Wii U, and will probably have the "most played" title for a long, long, long time to come. Why is it my most played Wii U game? Because of Black Ops II's online multiplayer, coupled with the fact it has Off-TV Play. Being able to have a show playing on Netflix, while playing matches in online multiplayer on the Wii U GamePad is how I have played the majority of my matches in the game.

Mutant Mudds Deluxe released for the Wii U eShop on June 13th and I was planning on buying it the day it released, but was fortunate enough to win a copy of the game! If you're wondering how I won a copy of the game, you can read about it and some of my thoughts on the game, HERE. If you have never seen any gameplay footage from Mutant Mudds Deluxe, the following video is of Bean 1 beating the first level using the GamePad's Off-TV Play feature.

Kung Fu Rabbit was our first Wii U eShop game to actually purchase, and not one we either won in a contest or received directly from the developer. A few things were pretty ironic in the month after it released in early May. One of our family members actually had just gotten two rabbits as pets, and we didn't know about it until late May. Then one day in late May/early June, my phone buzzed and it was one of our neighbors letting us know that there was a rabbit outside our house, and had been pretty much all day. I had known about Kung Fu Rabbit releasing, but didn't really look at it until the two rabbit incidents. When I saw it was only $5, I decided to purchase it and give it a try, thinking that Bean 1 might enjoy it as well. While we haven't beaten it yet, we have completed a good number of levels (I think two complete worlds), and Bean 1 is able to finish some of the levels on his own. If you haven't seen any footage or gameplay of how Kung Fu Rabbit plays (it's a platforming game), here's the eShop trailer for the game:

LEGO City Undercover was one of the gifts to me from Mrs. Coffee and the Beans this year for Father's Day. The opening cinematic I think is very well done, in typical LEGO game humor, and I have enjoyed riding and running around the city so far. While LEGO City Undercover doesn't have any local (or, online) multiplayer that Bean 1 and I can try, Bean 1 does enjoy driving (and crashing) vehicles around the city, and he is learning to follow the pathway points to the next mission objectives in the game. From my early impressions of the game, I think this is a great choice for parents with younger children that might be looking for a more kid friendly/family friendly open world game. It also has at least one coffee reference in i

Pure Chess is scheduled to be releasing later this year for the Wii U and 3DS, but you can currently get it on the PlayStaton 3 and PlayStation Vita, and as of last week you can now download the game for "FREE" on iPhone, iPad, and Android type devices. Mrs. Coffee has an eReader tablet device and I downloaded Pure Chess to it last week, and have really been enjoying it. If you enjoy chess, or have ever been interested in it, I would highly suggest downloading Pure Chess.

So, from June until now, I have had four new games added to our Wii U library: Kung Fu Rabbit, Mutant Mudds Deluxe, LEGO City Undercover, and Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate which isn't even opened yet. Mutant Mudds Deluxe was the most played over the last few months out of all of those, though I have enjoyed my time with the other two new Wii U games. As always, if you own a Wii U feel free to add me to your Wii U's friend list. My NNID is Coffees.

Questions
Have any of you purchased or had new games added to your video game library over the last several months, and if so, are you playing any of them on a regular basis?

Also, did any of you find yourself brewing up new coffee blends during the last few months, like I did with the Keurig K-Cups on my trip out of town?

Friday, August 30, 2013

Ripstone "thrilled" about the Wii U price drop, and 2DS


Coffee Beans
Earlier this month, indie games publisher Ripstone announced their plans to support both the Nintendo Wii U and 3DS systems. Currently, they are planning to release Pure Chess on the Wii U and 3DS eShops later this year, and Knytt Underground should be releasing for the Wii U's eShop early next year.

After Nintendo made the announcement about the planned Wii U price drop and the new 2DS system earlier this week, I had the opportunity to ask Ripstone's Co-Founder and Creative Director, Phil Gaskell, about it.

He said, "We were thrilled to hear the news today from Nintendo about the price drop for the Wii U bundle and the new 2DS console. It's a fantastic move by Nintendo and again it shows they shouldn't be underestimated. Pure Chess and Knytt Undergound will be available for new Wii U and 2DS/3DS owners this holiday season and early next year."

I agree with Phil and I think this is an excellent move by Nintendo. I hope the Wii U price drop and introduction of the lower priced 2DS system this holiday season will help get both systems in more consumers' hands in a significant fashion, and hopefully in turn create an excellent environment for developers and publishers to continue to sell their games.

I have made comments on other sites, but not here, that Mrs. Coffee and I are now debating on grabbing Bean 1 (our oldest) a 2DS for Christmas, because of its lower price point.

As I mentioned in the anniversary post that interviews will be a more common feature now, early next week I will be posting an interview with Ripstone's Phil Gaskell about the upcoming Wii U and 2DS/3DS eShop release of Pure Chess.

Questions
Are any of you that haven't purchased a Wii U or 3DS yet, now more likely to get one of them (or, both) this holiday season because of the Wii U price drop and new 2DS system?

Do you agree with Mr. Gaskell's opinion that the Wii U price drop and new 2DS system are a, "fantastic move by Nintendo"?

Coffee Shop! Online Wii U deals - save 20%, or more!


Coffee Beans
I told a friend back in June who was interested in the Wii U then, that I thought a price drop would happen for the system pretty soon and I would wait a little while to see what Nintendo would do. So, earlier this week when Nintendo announced the Wii U Deluxe Set is getting a new MSRP of $299.99 starting on September 20th, I was glad to see it happen and immediately told my friend about it.

The Wii was hard to find in many locations for nearly 2 years after it released, and because it was selling like hot coffee on a cold winter's day, the prices of many first party Wii games rarely dropped below their MSRPs. Even now, some Wii games have their original MSRPs of $49.99.

The Wii U has been struggling with its monthly sales compared to the other consoles, since January of this year. The biggest beneficiaries of this unfortunate situation for Nintendo though, are the consumers. The Wii U hasn't even been out a year yet, and already many Nintendo published Wii U titles are seeing some significant discounts off their MSRPs.

If you currently own a Wii U, or plan on getting one soon (like The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD Wii U Deluxe Bundle), hit the jump to see some current Wii U deals on games and gear that are at least 20% off their MRSPs/List Prices!

Thursday, August 29, 2013

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!

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