August Brewed - Coffees Consumed, Games Played!

Coffee Beans
September 2012 is already upon us, and August has vanished like the Statue of Liberty when David Copperfield is around. If you just visited the site occasionally when you saw CoffeeWithGames posts pop up on other sites, here are a few posts you might have missed in August:

• Critics vs. Customers! New Review Feature
• Played more than Mario? Skylanders Spyro's Adventure Hours Report
• Critics vs. Customers! Best & Worst 3DS Launch Titles
• President Obama, Space Camp, & Six Flags Fun Park? How they are oddly connected.
• Did You Board the Nintendo 3DS XL Hype Train?
• Free Games Giveaway! Connect With Coffee
• CoffeeWithGames Turns 3!

September has just started brewing, but what coffees did I consume and games did I play in August? Brew yourself a fresh pot of coffee, and let's take a look!

Coffees Consumed

The three Green Mountain coffee blends I had listed for August, were from our trip when we visited family and we were using my mom's Keurig coffee machine. The Green Mountain Coffee Gingerbread, Green Mountain Coffee Golden French Toast, and Green Mountain Coffee Spicy Eggnog were all brewed and consumed in early August, before we made our trip back home.

The Maxwell House Dark Roast coffee blend was waiting for us when we arrived home from our trip, sitting on the shelf right where I had left it, imagine that! It lasted us a few more days, and when it ran out Mrs. Coffee purchased us the Maxwell House Gourmet Roast. The Gourmet Roast blend lasted us almost until the end of August, and then Mrs. Coffee purchase us the Maxwell House House Blend coffee. We still have right around half the container of it as September has started up, so it should last us a little while longer.

Maxwell House is our "go to" coffee blend now, for two reasons really. It has a good price and decent variety of coffee roasts available. We usually buy the "240 6 FL OZ CUPS" ground coffee containers, and enjoy them while they lasts.

Games Played

What's the "Instant Coffee" list of games I played in August? They are: Super Mario Bros. 3, New Super Mario Bros. DS, Super Mario World, Super Mario 64, PAYDAY: The Heist, Blacklight: Retribution, Rage of the Gladiator, Madden NFL 13 Demo, Punch-Out!!, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Little Big Planet, and GoldenEye 007 for the Nintendo 64.

Super Mario Bros. 3 - We have made it I think to World 6 now, maybe World 7. It has been about a week since we last played it, but we are making slow progress in it. Bean 1 has greatly improved though, and can now beat multiple levels in the game just by going through them with normal items found in the levels.

New Super Mario Bros. DS - Bean 1 was really enjoying this one, until the DS he was using stopped functioning properly. He still runs around the game, but for some reason the DS' touch screen does not register touches, so changing World maps and using stored items in the game can't be done anymore. The bottom screen displays everything properly as it should, but for some reason the touch function just doesn't work, even after trying to calibrate it again. We had completed the game, and were working on all the secret exits before the touch screen stopped functioning.

Super Mario World - Bean 1 and I have beaten this one a few times, using the "Star Road" shortcuts. Bean 1 often calls the game "Mario Super World", but like Super Mario Bros. 3 he has made some great progress in improving his game-play, and can complete entire levels on his own now.

Super Mario Bros. - Playing through and beating the original is still challenging, and if you haven't played it, I highly suggest going into the final level with a fire flower at the least.

Super Mario 64 - Bean 1 has "finished" one mission in a level all on his own. He is able to run around most of the levels pretty well now, knows how to use the cannons, and enjoys climbing trees in the game. The first Star he found on his own was in "Course 1 BOB-OMB BATTLEFIELD".

PAYDAY: The Heist - I played another level on my Steam version in August, and it reminded me quickly of how touch the A.I. can be in the levels! It's definitely a challenging game and there are a lot of police officers, SWAT team members, etc., thrown your way as you try to complete your mission objectives.

Blacklight: Retribution - A free FPS game? Good. A free FPS game on Steam? Awesome! I have enjoyed my brief time with Blacklight: Retribution, though I haven't yet purchased any of the in-game items. I should probably start a video game "schedule" and post it up, where it will have certain times and games I will be playing and maybe some of you could join in. Otherwise, my schedule right now is pretty spastic.

Rage of the Gladiator - I played and completed a few matches in the game, and will probably be playing a few more this month as well.

Madden NFL 13 Demo - I gave the demo a try for the PlayStation 3. I won a few games, and lost a few games. The demo didn't sell me though, because of small things in it that I don't think the Madden series should have considering how long they have been making them. Players running through apparent hologram people on the sidelines, cars that look like they're made from cardboard boxes, no replay function, terrible camera shots of recently completed plays. Perhaps the retail version fixed some of the issues before it shipped, but the demo didn't sell me on the game.

Punch-Out!! - I'm still slowly making my way through Title Defense mode, I completed on more match in Title Defense mode in August, but didn't play it but one night.

Batman: Arkham Asylum - I think I have made decent progress in the game, and I have been enjoying my time with it. I did get "lost" or confused on how to make progress at one point, but that was resolved after taking a break and picking it up again. I'm not sure how many hours of game-play I can expect from it, but I have probably played it around 10 hours so far.

Little Big Planet - I started this up for Bean 1 randomly one night in August and he is making a little progress with the game-play, but having to hold the R1 button to grab onto objects is a little challenging for him still. I had never really played it before, and I am finding it interesting as I play through some of the levels with him watching. I might need to start a new file though, and start from the beginning to understand the storyline and more of the game-play elements in it, but so far the game-play seems pretty solid and I like the graphical style in the game.

GoldenEye 007 - Which one? GoldenEye 007 for the Nintendo 64. The game turned 15 years old on August 25th, and I put many hours into back when it originally released. I have been playing through some of the single player missions, and enjoying the game. If I can ever "pull the trigger", I will have two posts up on GoldenEye 007 sometime this week (said that last week also!).

Thoughts/Questions

I enjoyed all of the games I played in August, even my brief games with the Madden demo, though it failed to sell me on the game. If you are looking for a great way to play the old NES and SNES Mario games, I think buying a cheap Wii console and purchasing the Mario games off the Virtual Console is a great way to go about it.

If you have a Steam account and like FPS games, I do recommend giving Blacklight: Retribution a try, especially considering its free. If any of you have PAYDAY: The Heist on Steam or for the PlayStation 3, and want to try some cooperative matches in the game, leave a comment below or feel free to email me at Scott(@)CoffeeWithGames.com to let me know when you play the most.

What video games did you play in August, and did you have a drink of choice while gaming? Are there any games you played in August that you would recommend others to check out? Also, if any of you are Nintendo DS owners, have you ever had an issue where the touch screen stopped registering any "touch" on it? If so, were you able to fix the problem?