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?

May Brewed! Coffees Consumed & Games Played

Coffee Beans
It’s already June, and that means E3 is right around the corner and I’m sure this will be a busy month with video game news. If you perhaps skimmed here occasionally during May, here is a recap of some of the posts from the month you may have missed, but possibly find interesting:
1) Do you enjoy FPS games and ever wonder how much FPS games on the Wii are/were played? If so, you may find the Conduit 2 official Nintendo Channel data report interesting, HERE.
2) Are you a Star Wars fan? Then you may find it interesting what the Wii’s “least played” Star Wars game is, according to the average hours reported “Per person” in the United States, HERE.
3) What is the best Metroid game of all time? I don’t know because I haven’t played all of them, but Super Metroid is regarded pretty highly by many, and you can now buy it on Wii U’s Virtual Console until June 13th for just 30 cents. If you wonder how many hours you might expect from the game, check out Super Metroid’s official U.S. Nintendo Channel data, HERE.
4) The Wii U now has two Batman games that you can buy. One is Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition, a Wii U launch title, which my neighbor has played and really enjoyed on the system. The other is LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes which released last month for the Wii U. If you’re wondering about how many hours you can get from the game, you can read the LEGO Batman 2 Nintendo Channel data report for the Wii version, HERE.
5) Did you skip Donkey Kong Country Returns on the Wii, but are perhaps interested in it for the Nintendo 3DS? Are you curious as to how many hours you might expect from the game? You can see the average hours reported for the game, “Per person”, in its official Wii U.S. Nintendo Channel data report from last month, HERE.
6) Did you not own a Wii, but do own a Wii U? I think one big benefit of the Wii U is its backwards compatibility with Wii titles. If you own a Wii U and have a Wii Remote and Nunchuk, you might be interested in the Super Mario Galaxy games. While I only played the original, you can see how many hours you might be able to expect from Super Mario Galaxy 2, HERE, in last month’s Nintendo Channel data report.

Now, what were two new coffee blends I consumed in May, and what was our most played Wii U game during the month? Brew yourself some coffee, let’s take a look at what games I played, and coffees I consumed during May.

Coffees Consumed
May was back to being more “normal”, than April was. In April, we only brewed up one coffee blend during the month, but in May we brewed four blends, plus I had an iced coffee drink as well.

Here’s the short list of the coffees I consumed in May:
1) Maxwell House Gourmet Roast
2) Puroast Dark French Roast
3) Maxwell House Dark Roast
4) Beaumont Coffee Classic Roast
5) Dunkin’ Donuts Iced Coffee

The lowest priced coffee we have purchased…

The Beaumont Coffee Classic Roast was the first completely new coffee blend for us, and Mrs. Coffee purchased it for us from ALDI. It was their store brand coffee blend, which made me wary of it before we even opened it. While I have purchased store brands of other items, we had never tried it with our coffee blends before. The container she purchased was 33.9 OZ (over 2 pounds!), and like the Maxwell House blends she normally buys, it said it can make “…UP TO 270” cups of coffee. So, if I (we) didn’t like it, we would have a backup supply of coffee for a while.

The container even had a coffee roast guide that put this blend as a “MEDIUM” roast coffee, while letting us know the range for the coffee blends is: MILD, MEDIUM, MED-DARK, or DARK. The real question though, is how did it taste?

I was very surprised by it, in a good way, because it had a good solid flavor for a medium roast coffee. If you like your coffees more dark roasted, this might not be for you; but, if you are cheap (I think Merriam-Webster wants my picture for the word’s definition update next year) and enjoy a wide range of coffee blends, I would highly suggest giving this one a try. Not only was this the lowest priced coffee blend Mrs. Coffee has found for us yet (only $5.49 for it!), but it surprised both of us by not being a weak blend. We enjoyed it so much, that after we finished the first container in May, Mrs. Coffee bought us another one that has now started June off for us as well.

This cup image was altered to make it look like my drink, without cream and/or sugar. Yes, it’s sad, I know.

The second new coffee blend I had in May, at least “new” in a while, was the Dunkin’ Donuts Iced Coffee. This actually was a mistaken coffee order, but I decided to give it a try anyway. We had gone out for ice cream at a Baskin-Robbins location, which just so happened to be a Baskin-Robbins/Dunkin’ Donuts joint location. We asked the employee to add a medium coffee to our order, but with the hustle and bustle of juggling multiple customers, he heard “Medium iced coffee”. He asked if I wanted room for cream and sugar, and after I picked myself up off the floor from laughing, I kindly said no, and told him he could be a stand-up comic. (Only part of that previous sentence is the actual account of what happened.)

So, how was the iced coffee drink? Surprisingly, very strong. I don’t drink iced coffee beverages very often, and actually I can’t remember the last time before this Dunkin’ Donuts Iced Coffee that I had one. If you don’t like strong coffee though, you should definitely leave room for cream and sugar in this one. If you do like your coffee blends strong though, this might be something you can enjoy during the hot days of summer that are probably right around the corner.

Games Played
The following “Instant Coffee” list doesn’t contain all of the games I “played” in May, as I was volunteered to play some by Bean 1, or I would hop on some to play for just a few minutes to help him out if he was having trouble. One of those games for example, was Fluidity, which he plays from time-to-time. While I would help him get through certain sections, I wouldn’t play the entire level/levels.

The “Instant Coffee” list of games I played in May is: Kirby’s Adventure, Kirby Mass Attack, New Super Mario Bros. U, Rayman Legends Challenges App, Tank! Tank! Tank!, Toki Tori 2, Nintendo Land, Trine 2, Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed, Mario Kart Wii, Mario Kart DS, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and Super Mario 64. Instead of breaking down each individual game like I did last month, I’m going to talk about just a few them in a little more detail.

First, what was our most played Wii U game out those listed? It’s kind of interesting, but between myself and Bean 1, Kirby’s Adventure was the most played game on our Wii U in May. If you missed the video in last month’s post, the following video is footage of Bean 1 playing Kirby’s Adventure on our Wii U:

Bean 1 has really been enjoying Kirby’s Adventure, and Kirby Mass Attack on his DS even more. If you have never played a Kirby game, just from my time with both Kirby’s Adventure and Kirby Mass Attack, I would easily recommend both of them. If you own a DS and/or 3DS, I would highly suggest finding a copy of Kirby Mass Attack, because of the amount of content the game has and the fact you should be able to find it for under $15 now.

Nintendo Land received some decent play-time in May, not only from Bean 1 and me, but also from a cousin of Bean 1 who visited us for a few days. She had never played it before, and she really enjoyed playing Animal Crossing: Sweet Day the most. It was interesting, because she’s a few years older than Bean 1 and she described the mini-game as, “It’s like Easter, and hunting for eggs.” When she said it, I thought it was an interesting description, and thought that Nintendo could have even released some free DLC Easter Bunny costumes for it, and changed the candies to Easter eggs to help promote the game and Wii U during Easter week.

I unlocked Trine 2’s exclusive Wii U level back near the end of April, but I didn’t play it in April. I finally played and beat the Wii U’s exclusive level, the Dwarven Caverns, in the middle of May though. There was one spot where I encountered an audio glitch, and I haven’t played back through the level to see if it happens every time, but it was a bit odd hearing it happen and makes me wonder if perhaps it was missed in QA testing, because it was a new level? The last level is challenging in certain spots though, with trying to figure out the mechanics of certain switches and equipment to progress through it, and I did enjoy my time playing through it despite the weird audio glitch.

While Super Metroid was my only “new” game purchase in May, I still haven’t played it yet, but I didn’t want to pass up its awesome sale price. As for the other games I listed above, if you have any specific questions (even thoughts) about any of them I played in May, feel free to ask me in the comments section below, or by emailing me at Scott(@)CoffeeWithGames.com.

Questions
Did any of you buy any new games in May, or perhaps any new systems like the Wii U Basic Set that I highlighted in a post?

Also, what games did you find yourself playing in May, and did you enjoy any new coffee blends in the month?

April Brewed! Coffee Consumed & Games Played

Coffee Beans
April was a busy month for gaming around here, and while the amount of coffee consumed in the month stayed the same, the number of blends brewed in the month was pretty low from previous months. There was no April Fools post, like one in a previous year, but there was a debut data report, a WiiWare Wednesday post, and even one of my more rare opinion pieces!

If you only skimmed occasional posts here in April, here’s what you may have missed:
1) Do you enjoy playing darts? You might want to download the free WiiWare demo for Dart Rage and try it out, and you can see its official U.S. Nintendo Channel data report, HERE.
2) Want a highly rated Wii fishing game? If you own a Wii or even a Wii U, you should check out Fishing Resort. Its official Nintendo Channel debut data report, HERE.
3) Was Xenoblade Chronicles good? Apparently so, and it had a solid number of hours reported over its first year. You can read its official Nintendo Channel data report, HERE.
4) How many hours can you expect to play Red Steel 2 before beating it? You can see the average hours reported “Per person” for the game in its official Nintendo Channel data report from last month, HERE.
5) Have you been interested in getting a Kirby game, but wanted to know how many hours you could expect? If you own a Wii or Wii U, I would suggest starting with Kirby’s Adventure from my short time with the game so far. See how much the Wii version was reported to have been played since it released, in its official U.S. Nintendo Channel data report posted last month, HERE.
6) Yes, I covered a darts game and a fishing game in April, but I also covered one of the Wii’s best racing games (my opinion, I know) where you could play darts and fish randomly, DURING races. If you skipped ExciteBots: Trick Racing, you can see the average hours you might expect from the game, HERE.

Now, what coffee(s) did I consume and games did I play in April, even seeing the credits roll in one? Brew yourself some coffee (seriously, wall of text below!), and let’s take a look!

Coffee(s) Consumed
This is short, and simple. During April we only brewed up Maxwell House Gourmet Roast coffee. We did go through one full container of it in April though, and the second container which we bought in April is about empty. Mrs. Coffee enjoys the blend a lot, and I think it has a nice, solid, flavor as well.

Games Played
Assassin’s Creed III – Why did the colonists win the Revolutionary War? One going theory is because they threw a tea party, and chose coffee as their drink of choice during the war instead. The very first night I played Assassin’s Creed III, I noticed a coffee reference in the game and even took a picture of it. I don’t remember another coffee reference in the game, but that doesn’t matter. I ended up putting a good number of hours into the game in early April, and on April 14th I tweeted the following out:

Credits now rolling in Assassin’s Creed III, on the GamePad! 90%+ of the game played on just the GamePad. @ubisoft @nintendoamerica#WiiU
— Scott (@CoffeeWithGames) April 15, 2013

Speaking of putting in a good number of hours into the game, I’m a little confused on what my play time with the game actually was. My Wii U’s Daily Log channel shows one number, while my save file shows two different times (I didn’t notice this until today). You can see in the image below two times shown on my Assassin’s Creed III save file, as it appeared after I beat the game:

39 hours, or 20 hours? Which one was it?

I did leave the game paused/on quite often, so being near 40 hours overall doesn’t surprise me (the Wii U cut off several times due to the game being paused for an hour). I just wonder if the 20 hours shown are more of a direct reflection of when I was actually moving in and playing the game? I thought that perhaps my play time was around 15-20 hours when I had completed it, before even looking at the time(s) on the file. Overall though, I enjoyed my time with the game, and it offers a lot of content (notice in my save file image, I finished the game with only 37% of it complete).
LittleBigPlanet – Bean 1 really enjoys this game, and laughs hysterically when certain things happen in it. It could be Sackboy falling in a hole, getting pounded by something in the level, or just racing vehicles in levels and watching them make jumps. I am volunteered by him to play some of the levels every now and then, and this is how I ended up playing LBP in April. I didn’t play it a lot, but I did beat a few of the levels when I would randomly sit down to play it. I’m not sure how much we have really progressed in the game, but I do enjoy it when I play it.
Nintendo Land – Bean 1 and I played some matches of Animal Crossing: Sweet Day, Luigi’s Ghost Mansion, and Mario Chase. We also attempted a few rounds of Metroid Blast, so he could start learning the controls in that mini-game as well. Bean 1 played Donkey Kong’s Crash Course on his own, and I showed him a trick (a few months ago) to get around the blowing in the microphone aspect, which results in hilariously loud “GO! GO! GO! GO! GO! GO!” phrases at the Wii U GamePad. It works, and if you don’t like blowing into the GamePad’s mic, or have little kids that may run out of air quickly, just teach them to talk to it loudly. Bean 1 also played Yoshi’s Fruit Cart, and is incredibly good (for his age!) at Pikmin Adventure! I think Nintendo Land will continue to be a slow burner for us, with some months where it’s played a lot, and other months perhaps not at all.

Rabbids Land – Last month in my March Brewed post I asked, “How many hours does it take to unlock all the mini-games in Rabbids Land?” I already had more than 10 hours of play time logged for the game, but still didn’t have all the mini-games unlocked. Well, I unlocked the rest of the Rabbids Land mini-games in early April, and my current play time is now 12 hours 21 minutes.
Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed – I’m making some slow progress in this one, but still really enjoying the game. I’m working my way through the game’s career mode and unlocking new tracks, and leveling up some of the racers in the game (slowly, but surely).
Toki Tori 2 – I ran out to Best Buy in early April to grab a Wii U eShop card. Why? We had some saved up Best Buy Reward Zone coupons, that almost covered the price of the eShop card, which I planned to use to grab Toki Tori 2 and other Wii U eShop games. I did end up getting Toki Tori 2, but without having to use my eShop card! I have enjoyed my short time with the game, and some of the puzzles I have encountered so far are incredibly well designed.

Do you know the names of these characters?

Trine 2: Director’s Cut – If you have played Trine 2, you may remember how the levels in the game have hidden items scattered about. After I finished the game’s main campaign (saw the credits roll) a few months back, I had been going back and attempting to find the items I had missed in the different levels. In April, I found all of the hidden map pieces, and finally unlocked the Wii U’s exclusive level!
World of Goo – Bean 1 can start this one up on his own, and he is even beating some of the levels in it. I played some levels in the game with him watching, and I’m not really sure how many more levels we have left (if any), because we have reached one, and I’m not really sure what to do in it. It’s gotten a good bit of play time though, and was well worth the price of admission I paid for it, which I think was around $1.

Mario Kart DS – I don’t how many times I played the different mini-games in this one during April, but it was a good bit. One thing I am learning though, Bean 1 will probably soon be able to beat me in a race! He’s doing power-slides, finishing first in many races, and even completing entire cup races in first. Having Mario Kart on the go is a nice option for him in the car, and it’s gotten a lot more play time these last few months from Bean 1 (and I) playing than it ever did in the many years before.
Mario Kart Wii – We have had Mario Kart Wii in our collection for a few years, like Mario Kart DS, but I think because of Bean 1 the game has actually been played more recently, than the past years combined as well. I really enjoy just listening to the music in some of the levels, and I think Moo Moo Meadows is probably my favorite track right now because of its tune. Bean 1 is pretty good in this one, but the items in the game are pretty ridiculous. He’ll often be in 1st place approaching the finishing line in the last lap, then get hit with by a Spiny Shell ( the evil blue shell!), sometimes followed up by consecutive hits from Red Shells. He sometimes gets frustrated when it happens, because he’s understanding finishing the race in different places gets different points now, and I get frustrated for him when I see it happen! I really hope Nintendo balances Mario Kart U, more than Mario Kart Wii.

New Super Mario Bros. U – I beat the last level in New Super Mario Bros. U, again, in April because Bean 1 had attempted it a few times on his own. We usually run around in the game just playing random levels now, and Bean 1 actually enjoys running around the world map, launching from the cannons randomly placed around it. We started playing some of the “Challenges” and “Boost Rush” levels under the game’s “Play with Mii” section, and even Mrs. Coffee attempted a few of the Boost Rush levels. How many hours have we played New Super Mario Bros. U? According to our Wii U’s Daily Log channel, our play time is currently 30 hours 13 minutes, over 20 “Times Played”. If you finished the main campaign of New Super Mario Bros. U, have you found yourself going back and playing the game more?
Super Mario 64 – I still haven’t finished this game! We have collected 20+ stars though, and the file has not yet been deleted, so we are making some progress. Bean 1 enjoys running around the castle and different levels, and can even complete a few of the hunts for stars in the levels. This one seems to be a slow burner for us, played pretty randomly, but we definitely enjoy it when its played.

Kirby’s Adventure – I never owned Kirby’s Adventure on the NES, but I can remember watching a friend play it. When Nintendo put Kirby’s Adventure on sale for only 30 cents to help promote the Wii U’s Virtual Console service, I bought it the first day it became available. I think that Kirby’s ability to suck up an enemy and copy its power is really awesome. I have really enjoyed my time with the game, and Bean 1 has enjoyed playing the game as well. Here is a video (again) of him playing in a few of the levels:

Kirby Mass Attack – This is a new one that is now in our collection! With how much Bean 1 was enjoying Kirby’s Adventure on the Wii U, I took advantage of an Amazon.com sale on Kirby Mass Attack last week and grabbed it for him for just $12.72. Not only have Bean 1 and I played the game, but Mrs. Coffee has as well. So far, we’re enjoying the game and the touch screen mechanics haven’t really given Bean 1 any trouble. Seeing how well the touch screen controls work in the game (from my time with it anyway, not sure if the later stages represent any problems?), I think it’ll be interesting if Nintendo releases a Wii U Kirby game like Mass Attack, where the GamePad’s touch screen is the main (or, even only) way of controlling the game.

The quick “Instant Coffee” list of games (also including demos) I played in April is: Super Mario 64, Assassin’s Creed III, World of Goo, Rabbids Land, Toki Tori 2, New Super Mario Bros. U, Mario Kart DS, Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed, Mario Kart Wii, LittleBigPlanet, Kirby’s Adventure, Trine 2: Director’s Cut, Kirby Mass Attack, Fat Princess, Rayman Legends Demo, Rayman Legends Challenges App, and Nintendo Land.

Questions
Did any of you perhaps get a new game in April, like how Kirby Mass Attack joined our collection? If so, what game(s) did you get, and have you enjoyed it?

As always though, what games did you play in April (even if not necessarily “new”), and coffees did you consume during the month?

March Brewed – Coffees Consumed & Games Played!

Coffee Beans
March saw several new Wii U releases, the most in quite a while actually. I mentioned some of the new Wii U games that released in March, HERE. While I ended up not buying any of those, yet, all of them have landed in my current “Wish List”.

If you only skimmed posts or stopped by only occasionally in March, here’s what you might have missed:
1) One reason I find Call of Duty: Black Ops 2’s multiplayer addictive, HERE.
2) What is the most played Mega Man game on the Wii, based on Total Hours reported? You can read that report, HERE.
3) Why you should never give up in a Black Ops 2 online multiplayer match, HERE.
4) What is the Wii’s most played Need for Speed game, based on Total Hours reported? Find out HERE.
5) What are current Wii U trade-in values, for both the Basic Set and Deluxe Set? Find out HERE.
6) A new feature, done twice in the month, Movie Magic Monday! If you like dragons, you might like this one. If you’re a fan of Alice in Wonderland, you might find this one interesting.
7) ZombiU has been patched! You can see the full patch notes and details I gathered on the ZombiU patch, HERE.

Now, what games did I get around to playing in March, and what coffees helped me make it through the month? Start brewing yourself some coffee, and let’s take a look!

Coffees Consumed
We brewed and consumed four different coffee blends in March: Maxwell House Dark Roast, Maxwell House Gourmet Roast, Puroast Dark French Roast, and Medaglia D’Oro Caffé.

The Maxwell House blends were our go to coffee blends for the majority of the month, like February, with us finishing off the Maxwell House Dark Roast early in the month, and the Maxwell House Gourmet Roast helping us make it through the end of the month.

The Puroast Dark French Roast and Medaglia D’oro Caffé were coffees we started brewing and consuming in February, as I wrote about last month, and they helped us get through the middle of March when the Maxwell House Dark Roast started running low.

With the amount of coffee we consume in a month, the Maxwell House coffees are the best bargain and the best tasting coffees at their prices that we have found. While I enjoy the smaller batches of coffee like the Medaglia D’ora Caffé, being that we still brew so much coffee in a month, we are still sticking with the larger containers of coffee (usually the 240 cup containers).

Games Played
The quick Instant Coffee list of games I played in March is: Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, Super Mario Bros., Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed, Assassin’s Creed III, Nintendo Land, Rabbids Land, Trine 2: Director’s Cut, World of Goo, Super Mario 64, Punch-Out!!, and Super Mario World.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 – It was all multiplayer for me in March, as it pretty much was in February as well. This was my most played game in March, and I enjoyed recording and putting together a few videos of multiplayer battles. If you didn’t see either of the multiplayer videos I put together of some of my Black Ops 2 matches, here’s one you might enjoy if you like FPS matches that are close:

Assassin’s Creed III – I have had this Wii U game sitting around since December, thanks to GameFly, and had made very little progress in it until last month. I decided to try and get more accomplished in March, and was decently successful. While I haven’t beat the game, and I don’t think I’m even close to it yet, I was able to put a few more hours into it in March. I’m enjoying the story and setting of the game so far, even if I have only found one coffee reference so far…

CoffeeInGames.com, my next site!?

Nintendo Land – Bean 1 and I played this together in March. He enjoyed the Mario Chase and Luigi’s Ghost Mansion games a lot, and I played a few rounds of Donkey Kong’s Crash Course and Battle Quest while he watched as well.
Punch-Out!! – I have written that I enjoyed Punch-Out!! on the NES. When Nintendo put this one on sale for 30 cents on the Wii U’s eShop, I purchased it the first day it became available in March. Yes, we did own it on our Wii’s Virtual Console already, but that didn’t stop me. I have enjoyed playing a few rounds on the Wii U’s GamePad already, while having shows streaming on Netflix in the background. I’m not sure if I’ll beat this one, as the last two boxers seem to really destroy me, but it’s already been worth the 30 cents I bought it for (again).
Rabbids Land – How many hours does it take to unlock all the mini-games in Rabbids Land? Well, from my experience with the game so far, more than 10 hours. I have played the game 10 hours 25 minutes so far, and I still haven’t unlocked all of the mini-games yet. I’m not sure if perhaps I need to play the game with an additional human player, before unlocking the last two mini-games, or if I just haven’t been fortunate enough to experience them when playing the board game rounds by myself. Once I unlock the rest of the mini-games, I plan on doing some additional coverage for the game though.

My current Rabbids Land play time.

Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed – I played this early in March, and later in the middle of the month as well. I was over on Destructoid checking out their community blogs section early in March, when I saw a post that was advertising a Friday Night Fights community event, and this was the Wii U game they were playing. I decided to hop on and give it a try, and played a few races on just the GamePad while the Beans were running around. After I played (and lost) in the Friday Night Fights event, I decided to play the game a bit more later in the month, and started working my way through the single player campaign. I was able to unlock more tracks and power-up certain drivers (mainly Sonic), in just a few short hours. I really, really like the way the races are setup with the driving, flying, and boating incorporated into each one. While I haven’t unlocked all the levels yet, or leveled-up one character all the way, I am looking forward to putting some more time into this one eventually.
Trine 2: Director’s Cut – While I beat Trine 2 back in January, I still haven’t unlocked everything in the game. So, in March I played through a few more of the levels attempting to find items I had previously missed. While I did complete one level with items I had not collected before in March, I still haven’t unlocked the extra level, but I am still enjoying the game when I play it.
World of Goo – Bean 1 and I have been playing this on the PC, and we have made it to Chapter 4, several times, but he still enjoys deleting files and creating names on new ones and starting from the beginning. Bean 1 is pretty good at understanding the idea behind the game, and can complete many of the levels in the game.

A Mario inspired castle? It passed the Bean 1 sight test!

Super Mario 64 – Bean 1 randomly one night near the end of March said, “I’m going to play Mario 64.” It was random, because he hadn’t mentioned the game in a while, but sure enough he sat on the couch and played it for nearly an hour straight that night after mentioning it. This has been a game we have made slow progress in over the last year, and I hope that we can eventually beat it, as it was one Nintendo 64 title I enjoyed when I played it originally on the console, but I never beat it.
Super Mario Bros. – This was played on our Wii, as we still haven’t done the Wii to Wii U transfer for Virtual Console and WiiWare titles yet. I did beat this one in March, which I still find extremely challenging to do, but rewarding as well. Bean 1 really enjoys watching me play through the latter levels in the game, and was a big encourager in the final level when I was getting killed by the hammer brother right before Bowser. He would say, “Daddy, if you think you can, you will!”
Super Mario World – This is another one started by Bean 1, and then ends up with me being volunteered to play and beat certain levels. Bean 1 is pretty good though, and can be Yoshi’s Island 1 and Yoshi’s Island 2 in it, as well as some of the other levels. It’s usually the Castle levels that give him a bit of a challenge, but he is improving and I enjoy watching him play it and also listening to him direct me to make sure that I take the “secret exit” in the appropriate levels.

Questions
Did any of you pick up some of the new Wii U games that released in March (maybe all of them?!), and if so what do you think about what you have played? If you didn’t purchase any of the new Wii U releases in March, did you find yourself playing any other game(s) in the month?

And as always, were there any coffee blends that helped you make it through the month?

December Brewed – "Coffees Consumed", "Games Played", & "Caffeinated Thoughts"

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:

     1) Are you interested in ZombiU, but not sure about the game because of a few reviews you have read, or maybe things you have heard about it? You might find “Critics vs. Customers! ZombiU reviews, or zombie reviewers?” an interesting read.

     2) Want to see Bean 1 throw a Mario fireball? Watch the video embedded in the “Merry ‘Mario’ Christmas!?” post.

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?