My Eyes are Golden

When I was a kid there were a handful of games that truly consumed me. Mega Man 6, Command and Conquer Red Alert: Retaliation, Final Fantasy 7, Metal Gear Solid, Super Smash Brothers and few others. However none of them seemed to grip me like Goldeneye. 007 Goldeneye was the game of the Pierce Brosnan James Bond movie of the same name. As a kid I was fascinated with the super spy, and what better way to pretend to be one than to play a video game that put you behind the eyes of the greatest secret agent in history.

But the coolest thing about Goldeneye was that it had a four-player split screen. So me and three friends (or me and my brothers and one friend) would gather around one screen and play. Some of the greatest times with my friends were spent staying up till 3am playing this game over and over again.

Last month a reboot of the game came out featuring a Daniel Craig style of Bond. It was a ton of fun but it just wasn't the same. I know it never will be, but I didn't get the same feelings as I did when I was a kid.

Then one night I had several guys over. We were playing cards and stuff, then we decided to all play the new Goldeneye. It was a great time. The multiplayer action may not have been exactly the same, but I realized it wasn't about the game it was about hanging out with the guys.

It's just cool when I realize that even as a kid, though I might not have realized it, I valued community with my friends over the video game itself.