Pac-Man just turned 40 years old and to help mark the anniversary, there’s a new version of Monopoly centered around the iconic character. It includes a digital banking unit that doubles as a mini arcade game you play whenever you pass Go.

You’ll play for points instead of cash in Monopoly Arcade Pac-Man, and you can earn some more through mini-games on the banking unit. You can use your points to buy levels (aka properties). Each player will have a plastic arcade coin they can insert into the banking unit to check their points; buy, sell or steal levels; and pay rent as well as play the mini-games.

Sega already has the basic infrastructure in place. At least in Japan, arcades are still prevalent enough for the fog gaming system to be viable. The company owns around 200 of them, and Sega machines are also prevalent in third-party arcades. 

The company’s machines are connected to game center servers, which are also linked to the cloud. Many of them use the All.net platform, which is a backbone of online arcade competition, and also lets players track high scores, rankings and profiles across various game centers. But Ars Technica reports that non-Sega arcades are cutting ties with All.net because “the fees make it untenable” amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

It’s not entirely clear whether Japanese players would be able to stream games directly from arcade machines. Famitsu suggests fog gaming would add minimal lag (less than 1 ms) on top of regular network latency, which could make that tenable — especially for quick-reflex titles, such as fighting games.

Players actively use arcade machines for eight hours or so a day, and the fog gaming system could give them the option to grind their favorite games outside of game center opening hours. Sega and other arcade operators would also be able to generate revenue from machines when the centers are closed.

It remains to be seen if or when Sega gets the fog gaming platform up and running, or even what shape it’ll take. But at the very least, it points to an even more connected (and potentially more sustainable) future for arcades.

Some players have voiced concerns about queue times, but Kaplan says that Blizzard’s data shows the new mode will actually improve wait times, rather than stretch the out. However, he does reassure fans that the game will continue to be balanced specifically for Role Queue, which will remain the primary competitive mode for Overwatch.

There are a few other tweaks in the pipeline, too. According to Kaplan, the Experimental card will be making a return soon, and there are some planned changes for hero pools, notably that they’ll no longer apply in matches for players with skill ratings below 3500. Come Season 23, then, only the top players will be subject to hero pools. Overwatch 2 is still very much on Blizzard’s agenda, but with no release date yet announced these sort of changes help keep the OG game interesting.

Inmost

Publisher Chucklefish is best known for Stardew Valley and Wargroove, but Inmost, from studio Hidden Layer Games, looks like a very different game again. With bleak pixel art wrapped around a 2D puzzle adventure, you’ll control three different characters, trying to defeat enemies and use traps to your advantage.

ShockRods

For something completely unlike Inmost, ShockRods is another racing game for Apple arcade, with multiplayer and gameplay modes including deathmatch and capture the flag. It looks like a destructive racer — so it’s probably completely different to Sonic Racers, then. The game will also be coming to Steam soon.

Stela

Apple Arcade already has no shortage of puzzle games (they’re good on phones, okay?), and Stela should offer a degree of cerebral challenge alongside platform traversing and exploration. Oh and a creepy soundtrack. Headphones in. You might recall Stela being revealed for the Xbox One — it’s still headed for the Microsoft console on October 17th and Steam early 2020.

Decoherence

Decoherence, a new RTS game involving armies of robots, combines PvP matches with a single-player campaign. Your character will join the fight as a pilot, and you’ll be able to customize your robots to tackle anything. Apparently “anything can happen” during matches. And, importantly, your character can be a penguin general.

Mind Symphony

Mind Symphony promises to “emotionally and mentally impact you”, but we don’t know much about this game, besides the fact that gameplay will sync with the music and play a little like a bullet-hell shoot-em-up. In Release Mode, enemy attacks synchronize with the soundtrack. Meanwhile, Calm Mode focuses more on the melody for timing your attacks — and presumably making things a little easier.

Originally released in 1996, House of the Dead leans hard into its campy style. The stories, characters and dialog are absurd, but in the best way possible. Notably, many of the zombies in the games are fast-moving, which was unheard of in the mid ’90s, long before 28 Days Later, which brought agile undead to the big screen. Speaking of, House of the Dead also has the dubious honor of being adapted into a movie by infamous director Uwe Boll.

A few weeks ago, Polish website Graczpospolita reported on an unverified claim that Forever Entertainment would publish remakes of the first two games in the series. These new versions will feature improved graphics and some slight gameplay tweaks, according to the post. This didn’t sound far fetched; the same company is working on remakes of Sega’s cult rail-shooter games Panzer Dragoon and Panzer Dragoon: Zwei. Forever Entertainment confirmed the rumors on Twitter and elaborated that “No platforms or release dates have been confirmed,” so it sounds like the games won’t be released anytime soon.

When playing light gun games like House of the Dead, arcade goers aim plastic guns at the screen and shoot attacking enemies and hide behind cover. Light gun accessories were often available for older consoles, and the Nintendo Wii’s remote could function as a similar device. The peripherals eventually fell out of style. Plus, light guns — which were built around CRT technology — don’t work on modern TVs (though a recent Kickstarter campaign hopes to rectify that problem). The only current system that could create a similar experience is the PlayStation 4, thanks to its Move controllers. So it seems like a safe bet that the remakes will at least come to that console.

PC versions are additional possibilities. A version with mouse controls would work, but may be too easy. VR versions of the game would be a better option, since the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and Valve Index all have motion controls (not to mention better performance than the PS Move controllers).

That said, we have yet to see Microsoft’s or Sony’s next-gen consoles which will hit shelves late next year. If the PlayStation 5 and Project Scarlett are compatible with motion controllers, the games could also be published on those platforms.

The Graczpospolita report states that Forever Entertainment is aiming to release the first House of the Dead remake in late 2020. In the meantime, Sega fans can get their fix with the Genesis Mini, which features classic 16-bit games like Gunstar Heroes and Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master.

The ultimate arcade eSport comes home.

Killer Queen Black is coming to #NintendoSwitch on Oct. 11! Get 15% off when you pre-purchase on Nintendo #eShop.https://t.co/DHHbW4WeIW pic.twitter.com/BJ8L2Ae4fd

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) September 13, 2019

An Xbox One release is earmarked for next year, and it’ll be available through Xbox Game Pass. Killer Queen Black will support cross-platform play too.

Liquid Bit and BumbleBear have redesigned the game for consoles and PC. It’ll feature multiplayer action for up to eight people across three game modes: quick play, ranked and custom. Along with online multiplayer, you and seven buddies can duke it out in four-on-four LAN play on two Switch consoles. Killer Queen Black will debut with six battlefields (or arenas) with more to follow down the line.

There are three ways to win in Killer Queen Black: take out the enemy queen, collect enough berries or literally ride a snail to the goal. You can choose to play as the queen, a drone or either when you queue up for an online game — a drone can turn into a soldier, which can attack the rival queen. You’ll be able to wield four weapons: a sword, stinger, morning star and laser rifle.

The digital version costs $20 and the physical Switch edition (which comes with themed Joy-Con skins but will be released later) will set you back $30. If you and some friends want to play on PC, you can save with a Steam and Humble deal: they’re offering four copies for the price of three.

The Genesis machine includes snippets from better-known games like Golden Axe, Out Run and Space Harrier. The Taito kit, meanwhile, is more about deep cuts — there’s recognizable titles like Darius, but you might not be as familiar with titles like Kikikaikai or Metal Black.

Both components will be available through Nintendo’s eShop starting July 11th. It’s not certain how much they’ll cost. Unless the pricing is completely outlandish, though, it’ll likely be a small price to pay if you want to create chiptune-like compositions without resorting to exotic hardware.

Apple has declined to comment.

If accurate, it’s a large commitment — roughly half the $1 billion set aside for the initial Apple TV+ show roster. That kind of spending isn’t outlandish given the company’s aims, though. A subscription game service won’t fly if it doesn’t have marquee games to bring you in. Arcade in particular is a bid to revive interest in paid games during the free-to-play era, and could help Apple reinforce its historic advantage over Android in mobile gaming (where big games are either iOS-exclusive or iOS-first). What Apple spends now might pay dividends if it leads to more mobile gamers and game studios flocking to iOS.