diff --git a/game/main.cpp b/game/main.cpp
index c5f23b1301..ed189cb233 100644
--- a/game/main.cpp
+++ b/game/main.cpp
@@ -2,19 +2,42 @@
  * @file main.cpp
  * Main for the game. Launches the runtime.
  */
-#include <cstdio>
+
+#include <string>
 #include "runtime.h"
 #include "common/versions.h"
 #include "third-party/spdlog/include/spdlog/spdlog.h"
 #include "third-party/spdlog/include/spdlog/sinks/basic_file_sink.h"
+#include "third-party/spdlog/include/spdlog/sinks/stdout_color_sinks.h"
 
-int main(int argc, char** argv) {
-  while (true) {
-    spdlog::set_level(spdlog::level::debug);
-    auto game_logger = spdlog::basic_logger_mt("GOAL Runtime", "logs/runtime.log");
+void setup_logging(bool verbose) {
+  spdlog::set_level(spdlog::level::debug);
+  if (verbose) {
+    auto game_logger = spdlog::stdout_color_mt("GOAL Runtime");
     spdlog::set_default_logger(game_logger);
     spdlog::flush_on(spdlog::level::info);
+    spdlog::set_pattern("%v");
+    spdlog::info("Verbose logging enabled");
+  } else {
+    auto game_logger = spdlog::basic_logger_mt("GOAL Runtime", "logs/runtime.log");
+    spdlog::set_default_logger(game_logger);
+    spdlog::flush_on(spdlog::level::debug);
+    printf("OpenGOAL Runtime %d.%d\n", versions::GOAL_VERSION_MAJOR, versions::GOAL_VERSION_MINOR);
+  }
+}
 
+int main(int argc, char** argv) {
+  bool verbose = false;
+  for (int i = 1; i < argc; i++) {
+    if (std::string("-v") == argv[i]) {
+      verbose = true;
+      break;
+    }
+  }
+
+  setup_logging(verbose);
+
+  while (true) {
     // run the runtime in a loop so we can reset the game and have it restart cleanly
     spdlog::info("OpenGOAL Runtime {}.{}", versions::GOAL_VERSION_MAJOR,
                  versions::GOAL_VERSION_MINOR);
diff --git a/gk.sh b/gk.sh
index e80d3fb5f4..d2c102a573 100755
--- a/gk.sh
+++ b/gk.sh
@@ -3,4 +3,4 @@
 # Directory of this script
 DIR="$( cd "$( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" >/dev/null 2>&1 && pwd )"
 
-$DIR/build/game/gk -fakeiso -debug -nokernel
+$DIR/build/game/gk -fakeiso -debug -nokernel "$@"