After an eternity's worth of rumors and teasing, Rare finally made an official reveal at E3 that yes - Perfect Dark XBLA is in development and will hit the online service sometime this winter.  Perfect Dark was easily the game I played the most on my cherished N64 console, and I can guarantee that it'll be in my download queue on day 1 of its release.  Some have expressed concern that the game might be outdated, and that returning to a 9 year old game will only be met with disappointment.  I couldn't disagree more, because to be honest, PD only had a few faults and this XBLA release serves to correct them all.  Here are some reasons you should be as pumped as me:

 5.   HD Graphics

This might not matter to those who are still playing on SD televisions, but simply going back to Perfect Dark to see what it looks like will be a treat.  The game actually had okay graphics for the time, but it'll be nice to see everything in crisp detail.  There's been no word if there will be any actual graphical improvement on the engine, but if there is, it'd be a sight to behold.   The game already had Dolby Sorround Sound with voice acting, and widescreen support - basically unheard of at the time.  That makes these features a certain presence in the game, which is promising.

4.   Updated Controls 

Let's face it:  the N64 controller didn't have the best scheme for shooters.  C-buttons for moving and the joystiq for looking around worked alright at the time, but going back to play it now feels like wearing shoes a size too small.  PC enthusiasts hark that a mouse and keyboard is the only way to play, but a 360 controller is the next best thing - and a much needed addition to a fantastic shooter.  It's likely they'll revamp dual wield to control individually, and now you won't have to obnoxiously hold 'B' to switch to secondary fire - the availability of four trigger buttons makes it all possible.

3.   Increased Framerate

A favored tradition of me and my friends  was to make our N64 cry.  Typically, this consisted of firing up Perfect Dark, playing a fairly large map like Complex, and throwing a hell of a lot of N-Bombs at each other and at sims.  For those not familiar, N-Bombs are the equivalent of a swift kick in the balls - you drop whatever you're carrying, everything gets darker and when it's all over you still can't really see.  In a word, getting stuck in an N-Bomb is torture.  Getting stuck in ten of them is an absolute nightmare - not only is everything in your inventory gone and your vision FUBAR, but the game would chug at a nice, smooth, 3 frames per second.  In PD XBLA, I cannot wait to N-Bomb the shit out of my friends in silky 60 fps.

2.  Xbox Live

The best part of Perfect Dark has returned, and this time you can't yell at your buddies for screenwatching.  That is, of course, unless you do opt to play some good old fashioned split-screeen; nothing wrong with that! (It's something I wish more games still had.)  But the ability to play online multiplayer is going to be an absolute blast...the multiplayer in Perfect Dark was honestly so deep and fleshed out that it blows me away it didn't set a precedent.  Customizable weapon spawns, bot personalities, and profiles across tons of maps and 6 different modes to play from makes it one of the most robust multiplayer experiences ever.  

1.    The Return of the Arcade Shooter

Okay, it's not so much a "return" as it is a "revisiting", but it has me damn excited.  It seems like ever since Halo landed on Xbox, every first person shooter has felt the need to adhere to regenerating shields and limited weapon inventory.  That system has its merits, but I don't understand why it caused the arcade shooter to completely die.  I love amassing as many weapons as humanly possible, and to have to seek armor and health if I get into a grizzly battle.  The fact that there's probably near 50 weapons in Perfect Dark is one of the best parts; each one has its own personality and quirky behavior (anybody who knows about the famous laptop gun knows what I'm talking about).  The fast, frantic atmosphere of multiplayer is amazing, and the straight up action, in my mind,  cannot be beat.  Simply put, I think Perfect Dark is - if not the best shooter - one of the best shooters of all time, and this forthcoming XBLA release has me pumped.