June Brewed - Coffees Consumed, Games Played!

Coffee Beans
     Good morning! June marked the start of summer, and I think the temperatures outside confirm that it has officially arrived!  E3 2012 came and went. We now know a little bit more about the Wii U and some of the games for it; Sony showed off two new IPs at E3, and both seem interesting and a bit "different" if that's the word I'm looking for; and Microsoft showed off many of the core games and franchises the Xbox 360 I think has become known for.
     With June having wrapped up, here are a few posts from the month I enjoyed putting together, that you might have missed:
     Zombies Run Nintendo - Zombie Iwata & Zombie Reggie?
     Caffeinated Thoughts on the E3 Conferences - Microsoft's, Nintendo's, and Sony's
     God of War & Punch-Out!! Mixed = Rage of the Gladiator? Arena Hours Debut!
     MarioCare, or ObamaCare? Dr. Mario Online Rx's Reported Hours
     THIS is what the 3DS XL should have looked like.
     A TKO Father's Day Gift! Nintendo Selects: Punch-Out!!

     With July now upon us, what games did I play and coffees did I consume in June? Brew a pot of coffee, and read on!

Coffees Consumed
     June, like May, was pretty simple for the coffees I consumed. All the coffee blends brewed in June were Maxwell House, and the month started us off with the Maxwell House Dark Roast blend continued from May. After we ran out of the Dark Roast, Mrs. Coffee purchased us a container of the Maxwell House Gourmet Roast, and that lasted almost to the end of June. Then there was a coffee emergency, and we ran out of coffee!
     It was last week, I believe Thursday, that I got up and brewed the morning pot of coffee like normal. That afternoon, I brewed another pot like normal, and ended up using all of the remaining coffee for that pot. I brew Mrs. Coffee a cup each night before she leaves for work, but when I used it all that afternoon, it meant no more coffee for that night. It also meant there would be no coffee before I would left for work the next morning.

     What did I do? After getting the little Beans off to bed, I sped to Wal-Mart in a mad coffee purchase run. We fortunately live very close to a Wal-Mart, and I was able to make it back to the house and brew the nightly pot of coffee before Mrs. Coffee left. I ended up grabbing Maxwell House's French Roast in the coffee run.

Do you know what this image shows? I spend too much time on images!

Games Played
     Mario Kart Wii - I played this early in June, racing . While I didn't race but one or two races, our oldest Bean took notice of the game, and I decided to let him give it a try. He was pretty successful at driving backwards, and doing backwards circles, but rarely driving forward.

     PAYDAY: The Heist - I have enjoyed my short time with PAYDAY again, playing it just over an hour on my PC. I really like how Steam shows the amount of time played, and the last date the game was played, as well as any "Achievements" gained in the game. So far, I have 2/51 Achievements on my Steam copy of PAYDAY: The Heist with 75 minutes played.

     Red Steel 2 - I purchased Red Steel 2 in May from Game Stop, after I published the "Did Wii Owners Enjoy Red Steel 2? What Do the Hours Say?" post. I finished the game's story mode on Thursday, June 7. The reported average "Per person" was just under 10 hours, but my Nintendo Channel data was showing my play-time as just over 13 hours. While the game's setting and graphics were well done, and even the game-play was enjoyable, I just don't think the game should have had "Red Steel" in its title. It wasn't a perfect game, with the ending feeling kind of rushed, and I wish there was a way to go back into the main story mode to walk around and complete other missions, but considering I purchased and completed it within 2 weeks, I think shows I enjoyed it enough while it lasted.

     Rage of the Gladiator - I played a few more battles in Rage of the Gladiator during June, using the Wii MotionPlus controls in the game. I created a new file, and am working my way through it using only the Wii MotionPlus controls to see how it goes. So far, I'm enjoying the Wii MotionPlus controls in the game, and appreciate the efforts with the new Wii MotionPlus attack animations put in by the developers. It wasn't something they had to do, but they took the time and made it an option, which I think is great.

     Super Mario Bros. 3 - What happens when I didn't want our oldest Bean playing Mario Kart Wii, because of mainly being paranoid about the game running our system's disc drive? He quickly becomes an expert at navigating the Wii menu, and discovering WiiWare and Virtual Console games, and of course recognizes Mario. So, he fired up Super Mario Bros. 3, and while he can't advance very far in the levels on his own, it has been a BLAST playing through the game with him watching/participating. He instructs me well, and has repeat requests for me to go to the "Dark Castle" and "Castle" in general. He identifies the enemies in the game pretty well, but the default "Castle" boss enemies are all "Koopas", because of the Mario cartoon series on Netflix. So far, we have made it to World 4.

     Groovin' Blocks - This is referred to as "The puzzle game.", by the oldest Bean. I played a few rounds of it, and beat one or two of my older high scores, but I'm not very good with keeping the beats in the game, and getting the "points multiplier" to go/stay higher.

     Uncharted: Drake's Fortune - This was a game Keith, of the now semi-retired RespawnAction.com, gifted me. I had played through I believe the first six chapters in the game last year, and wasn't sure how much more I had to go. I randomly decided to give it another go in June, and not only stuck with it, but finished the game on June 20th. If you have a PS3 system, or are looking at getting a PS3 system, I would highly suggest picking up Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. I have now added the sequels of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune to my "Video Games Wish List". I watched the credits all the way through the night/morning I completed the game, and was very surprised to re-learn the game was originally released in 2007. I guess because I didn't get my PlayStation 3 until 2009, I didn't really pay attention to when it was originally released before, but was very impressed with the game considering it was released that early in the PS3's "life".

     Punch-Out!! - This was one of my Father's Day gifts this year, and I have been enjoying my time with the game. I actually won the belts from the Minor, Major, & World Circuits in June, completing the World Circuit on June 30th. My reported time for the game was showing up as 5 Hours 32 Minutes, but that was without starting the Title Defense mode, and only completing two Challenges against Glass Joe in the game's Exhibition mode. You can see me box against Glass Joe in the game's Exhibition mode, in a video from the June post on the game. I have started the game's Title Defense mode now, and getting laughed at by Glass Joe is absolutely hilarious, and almost humbling!

     Bit.Trip Runner - If there is a case for free demos helping "sell" a game, this could possibly be one. I had downloaded the Bit.Trip Runner WiiWare demo last year, but never really gave it a chance. After our oldest and I started our SMB3 adventure, I thought, "I wonder if he only had to push a button to jump, and not concentrate on running also, it would be easier for him?", and that's how I ended up giving Bit.Trip Runner another try. Our oldest knows the name, and now recognizes the menu screen, for Bit.Trip Runner, and Commander Video is known as a "ninja" in our house. While I have not downloaded the FULL version of Bit.Trip Runner, I did look it up on Steam, and I also have been thinking about just adding the entire collection on the Wii, Bit.Trip Complete, to my "Video Games Wish List". Our oldest Bean has given the game a few tries, and can hop over at least the first obstacle, though not every time.

Questions/Thoughts
     What video games did you play in June, and did you perhaps try any new coffee blends/roasts in June (like our French Roasts blend), or just stick with the regular coffee blends? Out of the games you played, would any of them come highly recommended from you, like I would definitely recommend at least Uncharted: Drake's Fortune?
     With me writing out more thoughts on the games I played during the previous month, and the ones I have completed, I may start breaking these posts up into a "Coffees Consumed" and a separate "Games Played" post, so there isn't as much of a WALL-O-TEXT. Also, if anybody has any questions about the games I played in June, or even the coffees I consumed, feel free to leave a comment below or contact me by emailing me at, Scott(@)CoffeeWithGames.com.