Game On, Game Off

So this morning I was watching The Karate Kid, because, well...it's a great movie. Besides making it crystal clear that refurbishing a home will tone your karate skills to "the best" (arouuuund), Mr. Miyagi provided a smorgasboard of sage advice. One such line went,"Lesson not just karate only. Lesson for whole life. Whole life have a balance. Everything be better."

As he puts it, this can be associated with any facet of life. Balance and moderation is key to enjoying anything. Too much of a good thing inevitably may be doing you some form of harm, or so they say. In my case, I think my scale is a bit askew when it comes to gaming.

The thing is, my whole life is probably a bit outta whack at the moment. Sparing you the details, there's a whole lot I should probably be doing. I'm not exactly the most motivated person in the world, but I suppose that's for another story I may or may not share (doesn't exactly sound pleasant).

As a casual gamer, I often get the drive to game, and enjoy my time while doing it without the requirement to be judged on a professional basis. However, the pendulum also swings the other way, making me wonder when (and how) I should occasionally shut it down and face the real world with that same level of motivation. I have recently made a couple of baby strives toward that goal, but it often feels like the princess is in another castle, and I have many more stages to go. I just gotta remain positive, as usual, teetering my way into a more balanced lifestyle. Maybe learning that Mr. Miyagi healing hands technique would also make me a better minstrel...

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This week in gaming

• My grandmother & I managed to go from level 290-300 on her Candy Crush. While one or two levels were fairly easy to pass within the five allotted lives (the timed ones are very reactionary, so I get to feel useful by assisting), most felt very luck-based (as I have mentioned before here). Getting to 300 was our goal for this week's visit, so hooray for gaming accomplishment of the week!

• I also played a decent amount of Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. I've been tackling the Career mode, which gives you a choice of police or street racer missions. Attaining medals via skill unlock new events to conquer. The police side has been more entertaining in particular, as it provides a more tactical and aggressive driving experience. I think I have unlocked all the police cars at this point, so plenty of zoom-zooming about.

Somewhere in that mess of lights is a hero...

• The other game I've given a whirl this week is Really Big Sky, which was offered for free with several other games last month. I guess Really Big Sky could be described as a shoot-em-up space roguelike. It has a pretty wide number of game modes, which let the player choose their difficulty. You may want to pass on this game if you are at risk for epilepsy - it's basically an interactive light show shooter.