Perfect Dark was one of those games I heard about, but never actually played. We all have one. "That game" the masses went Beatlemania over, but which, for one reason or another, we never got around to. Every time I read a '90s gaming retrospective--the original came out in 1998--it's like a finger wagging. Call it parochial ludological guilt.

If you're like me and don't have a spare Nintendo 64 lying around, you'll have a chance to see what all the fuss was about when the Xbox Live Arcade high-def makeover arrives sometime this winter. That's right, the entire game, overhauled and enhanced.

In geek-speak, we're talking 1080p visuals (1920x1080 lines of resolution—the original could run at 640x480 max with severe performance penalties) purring along at 60 frames per second. I still can't tell the difference between 30 and 60 (perhaps, as GTA IV's Brucie might say, I'm ocularly-inferior) but if "six-zero-fps" trips your trigger, check out these brand new comparison shots, just posted, and do a little happy dance for included (formerly absent) online multiplayer and leaderboard scoring modes.

Perfect Dark, Xbox Live Arcade. (Click to enlarge.)

Perect Dark, Nintendo 64. (Click to enlarge.)

Perfect Dark, Xbox Live Arcade. (Click to enlarge.)

Perfect Dark, Nintendo 64. (Click to enlarge.)

More high-res (non-comparison) shots of the game are here.

Follow me on Twitter @game_on.