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Only four of Hearthstone’s nine classes normally have the ability to equip and swing weapons at their opponents’ faces. But that’s enough that, several expansions in, Hearthstone’s weapon arsenal has grown to a pretty sizable number.
Are there enough weapons to carry a game mode based entirely around them? That’s the question we set out to answer while checking out this week’s weapon-based Tavern Brawl.
If you’d like to see more Hearthstone videos, take a look at our complete YouTube playlist devoted to Blizzard’s digital card game.

Dan Stevens and Aubrey Plaza join FX’s latest FX has announced the first cast members for its X-Men spinoff series, Legion, including who will play Professor Charles Xavier’s son.
Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey), Aubrey Plaza (Parks and Recreation) and Jean Smart (Fargo) have all signed on for the New Mutants spinoff, Marvel announced today.
Most notable is Stevens’ role as David Haller, the schizophrenic son of Charles Xavier and Israeli holocaust survivor, Gabrielle Haller.
As a young teen, Haller was diagnosed with the mental illness and admitted to various psychiatric institutions over the years. It’s during one of his stays that he has an eye-opening interaction with another patient that leads him to believe the visions and voices he suffers from may actually be real.
Haller was first introduced to Marvel Comics readers in issue 25 of New Mutants back in 1985. The character later becomes the Israeli ambassador to the U.K.
Plaza, best known for her work as April in Parks & Rec, will play David’s close friend, Lenny. Lenny has spent years battling drug and alcohol addictions, but is described as a hopeful and optimistic person who believes her life could change at any second.
Lastly, Smart — who recently played Floyd Gerhardt on FX’s Fargo — will pay Melanie. According to the Marvel website, Melanie is a “nurturing, demanding therapist with a sharp mind and unconventional methods."
New Mutants was a spinoff comic book series based on Marvel’s popular X-Men that began in 1983 and ran until 1991. When the series ended, the characters that were created and introduced in New Mutants, including Deadpool, were reintroduced as X-Force.
The show is being helmed by Fargo showrunner Noah Hawley, with X-Men: Apocalypse director Bryan Singer on board to executive produce. It’s the first show being developed by FX and Marvel with executives from both companies overseeing the series. On top of the series, there’s also a New Mutants spinoff film in the works at Fox.
The series is set to start production in March with no premiere date confirmed at this time.

American Truck Simulator didn’t feel like home, and that’s exactly what I was hoping for.
Living on the south coast of England, Euro Truck Simulator has given me countless hours of cathartic enjoyment over the years. Switch on the radio, jump into a truck and barrel down the M5 in the wind and rain. It’s familiar weather, familiar roads, familiar sounds, a palate cleanser when you just want somewhere comforting to call home.
Considering my only experience of American roads is L.A. during the Electronic Entertainment Expo, American Truck Simulator’s opening vistas seemed very reminiscent of the sun-bleached highways running between the San Fernando Valley and LAX. American Truck Simulator is, for all intents and purposes, Euro Truck Simulator 2… but with straighter stretches of highway.
“I learned that California’s sprawling, multi-lane highways mean very little, because as soon as you try and take an exit for an area like Central L.A. you might as well walk your cargo to its destination"
In 2012’s Euro Truck Simulator 2, players took on work as a truck driver. Initially taking contract jobs from other companies, you can save up for your own trucks, eventually your own staff, and basically, just drive trucks from A to B. The next step? Upgrade your trucks, take on bigger jobs with more high-risk cargo, form a business of your own and help it to thrive.
American Truck Simulator operates in very much the same vein as ETS, but they’ve swapped out drizzly motorways and small winding towns for huge American highways and cities you can drive through in an almost entirely straight line.
You’ll need to keep an eye on damage to your truck, how awake your driver is, how much fuel you have and if any cargo has been destroyed, all while trying to avoid fines that could end up making a job cost you rather than earning you money.

Controls
In terms of control schemes, American Truck Simulator has several available options. From controlling the camera with the mouse and the truck with your keyboard, to using a full driving wheel setup, various customizable layouts are on offer to pick from.
While a full driving wheel is obviously ideal, mouse and keyboard control works well enough to not hinder gameplay. Steam Controller support was surprisingly solid, employing a combination of sticks, buttons and gyro motion to control the game. American Truck Simulator does a great job with its menu system of highlighting the pros and cons of each control scheme, where they lie between simplicity and degree of control, which should make picking out a control scheme a far less daunting task for new players.
For those looking for the full experience of a driving wheel and a virtual reality headset, be aware that VR support for looking around is not available in the game at launch. While the developer promises VR support as an optional beta branch in the same way it was offered in Euro Truck Simulator 2, there’s no word how far after launch that support will come.

At launch, American Truck Simulator only has two models of truck available for players; the Kentworth T 680 and Peterbilt 579. While this lack of variety is likely to be a shock to current Euro Truck Simulator players, there’s going to be more than enough for the average newcomer to sink their teeth into. The game also only has California and Nevada available to start with (Arizona and other areas are set to arrive in the coming months as free downloadable content). While you’re not going to be doing a coast-to-coast drive any time soon, there’s already an acceptable amount of content to explore. Driving from Sacramento to Oakland and back is going to take some time, show you a variety of scenery and provide a host of unique driving challenges.
Where Euro Truck Simulator employed European-style static speed cameras, which allowed players to become familiar with the routes and simply ignore speed limits when out of the cameras’ range, American Truck Simulator instead utilizes roaming patrols of police cars that can pop up at any time. You have to remain aware of your speed, the vehicles around you, and areas where police might park to watch out for speeders.It removes some of the satisfaction of learning where you can cut corners on a route, but it does add an element of unpredictability, .
The AI also seems to be more alert and aware. Drivers stop earlier at lights to allow you room to make turns, other road users will pay attention to your indicators and provide openings to change lanes and you’re far less likely to have an idiotic driver pull out in front of you mid-maneuver. While these issues still exist to some degree, as unpredictable blockers to progression they are far less common.
As someone who spends most of their life talking to Americans online, but very rarely has a reference point for the tone or feel of any given state, American Truck Simulator allowed me to sit back for a few days and start to soak in the sights, sounds, and unique identities of California and Nevada. I learned Northern Nevada has these beautiful shades of deep red and orange in its sunsets that made me feel like everything, for just a minute, might be okay.
I learned that California’s sprawling, multi-lane highways mean very little, because as soon as you try and take an exit for an area like Central L.A. you might as well walk your cargo to its destination.
I fell asleep in my work chair one night, listening to an episode of Welcome to Nightvale because I had stayed up too late, and the five minutes spent waiting on weather conditions to improve ended up as a 20-minute long chair nap and a late delivery.
I lost almost 20 hours in a single weekend driving around a place that wasn’t home, until eventually it started to feel a little more familiar. That sense of relaxation and growing familiarity is exactly what makes American Truck Simulator so strong.

Polygon Backstory is a podcast that celebrates conversations about the games we play.
There’s so much news, so many announcements happening every single day in the games press that it’s hard to keep track of them all. Every few weeks I’ll pluck an individual or a topic out of the stream of stories flowing down the front page and bring them here to you.
This week my guest is journalist Andrew Groen, author of the upcoming book Empires of Eve: A History of the Great Wars of Eve Online. Andrew’s book is so special because it’s the first time anyone has ever set out to document the history of a virtual world. Out of the many stories inside, I convinced Andrew to share one of his favorites with us today.

Links to subscribe to Polygon Backstory in iTunes, your podcast player of choice or to download an MP3 are all a click away, tucked inside the buttons below this episode.

Please take a moment today to subscribe to Polygon Backstory using the links above. Enjoy the show, and if you’re so inclined give it a review on iTunes. That would mean a lot.
There are several ways to follow Polygon Backstory. You can subscribe to the podcast in iTunes with one click, or add it to your podcast player of choice using its RSS feed. It also lives online at Polygon Backstory’s SoundCloud page— and in the SoundCloud app. For those of you who’d rather maintain your files manually, you can always download each story as an MP3.
And if you’re a fan of talk radio, news or podcasts in general please look into Polygon’s other programs. Backstory joins our growing list, including our game reviews show Quality Control, our award winning daily news show Minimap and our entertainment podcast, Cutscene.
Thanks for listening.
This week’s soundtrack is a Below the Asteroids, part of the official soundtrack of Eve Online.

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Fire Emblem Fates is one of the year’s most anticipated 3DS titles, with the Special Edition (which includes Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright, Conquest and Revelation all on one cartridge, plus bonus goodies) selling out almost immediately everywhere online.
Above, watch us unbox our copy of that coveted Special Edition, including its unique box, hardcover art book, a New 3DS XL carrying bag (no doubt intended to match the Fire Emblem Fates-themed version of the New 3DS XL hardware, which does not include the game), and a strange, two-sided 3DS retail game box with the cover art of both games on each side of it. Weird!
Fire Emblem Fates comes out in North America on Feb. 19 for $39.99. For more Fire Emblem videos, check out our YouTube playlist with all our coverage of the game so far, and be sure to subscribe to Polygon on YouTube to be notified when our future Fire Emblem coverage hits.

It’s time to make all of the memes Much like how Giphy helps track down the perfect gif to use in any scenario, the newly created Frinkiac will help users find the exact Simpsons screenshot they’ve been searching for.
The project, which was created by developers Sean Schultz, Allie Young and Paul Lehrer, allows users to input any quote from the show and find the matching screenshot.
Once the screenshot is found, users have the option to create a meme out of it. The quote is pasted onto the corresponding screenshot which can then be saved as an image file.
According to one of the developers, the Frinkiac is based on a system that “parses episodes and generates screen captures." He added that the search engine then tries to figure out which are the most relevant screenshots based on the quote being looked up.
The Frinkiac also gives users information on what episode and season the screenshot is from, as well as context for the quote in the shot.
As of right now, the search engine only allows users to look up screenshots from the first 15 seasons. The developers haven’t said if they plan on incorporating any of the more recent seasons.
For a more technical breakdown of how the search engine was built, check out their developers blog.

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Above, watch us play Fire Emblem Fates from the very beginning, including the opening cutscenes, character customization, tactical strategy gameplay and more.

The channel’s first original mobile release Cartoon Network Studios has launched OK K.O.! Lakewood Turbo Plaza — its first original mobile game — for iOS and Android devices, the network announced today. Indie studio Double Stallion co-developed the title based on a concept by Steven Universe producer Ian Jones-Quartey and collaborator Toby Jones, storyboard director on Regular Show.
OK K.O.! Lakewood Turbo Plaza wears those influences proudly, combining the fantastical fights of Steven Universe with the offbeat humor of Regular Show. Cartoon Network, however, is dedicated to expanding the free mobile title (which has no microtransactions) into a game franchise, not an animated one.
Along with today’s launch, the company will host a game jam based upon Lakewood Turbo Plaza and its cast of superhero fighters. From Feb. 12-14, 200 indie designers will convene in Portland, Oregon to create prototypes of future games in the series. Cartoon Network stated in a press release that these builds will “inform future iterations of the property," with the winning team’s design becoming a full-fledged game.
While Cartoon Network is emphasizing its latest IP as a game first, Lakewood Turbo Plaza is also the subject of a series of animated shorts. These videos are animated by various studios, which Cartoon Network hosts on its website for viewing. You can watch the first of these shorts above.
Several of the cable channel’s animated series have translated to the gaming space in the past. We named Steven Universe: Attack the Light one of the best games for new iOS users, for example, and Adventure Time recently received its first virtual reality title.

Will explore her family’s past and future Family memories and a haunted past are the main themes that author Claudia Gray will explore in her upcoming novel, Star Wars: Bloodline.
Gray told USA Today that the events in the novel take place years before The Force Awakens and follow Leia’s transition from princess to general.
Leia will be a senator in Bloodline, and a large portion of the book will focus on helping the new generation of senators and lawmakers remember the importance of the Rebellion and the devastation the Empire caused. Gray said the book would take place decades after the fall of Darth Vader, at the height of a peaceful New Republic.
Gray also confirmed that Leia’s family would play a large part in the book and in the development of the senator. The author said that while the novel isn’t just about Leia as a mother or sister, there would be disastrous developments from within her own family. It’s a theme, Gray said, that would have “pretty far-reaching repercussions for several characters."
Star Wars: Bloodline is a direct follow-up to Star Wars: Aftermath, written by Chuck Wendig. Aftermath was released last year before The Force Awakens.
Bloodline will be released May 3, and an excerpt of the novel can be read on USA Today’s website. For more Star Wars reading material, check out this list Polygon put together of everything available right now.

“I’m making this show as you’re watching it." Louis CK released his new television series, Horace and Pete, with no fanfare because he wanted viewers to experience it without knowing anything about it beforehand, he said on his website today.
The comedian pulled a Beyoncé last Saturday, springing Horace and Pete on the world out of nowhere while his FX series, Louie, is on an extended hiatus. CK is selling episodes of the series exclusively through his website, and released the 67-minute pilot episode Jan. 30.
"As a writer, there’s always a weird that as you unfold the story and reveal the characters and the tone, you always know that the audience will never get the benefit of seeing it the way you wrote it because they always know so much before they watch it," CK said today. "And as a TV watcher I’m always delighted when I can see a thing without knowing anything about it because of the promotion. So making this show and just posting it out of the blue gave me the rare opportunity to give you that experience of discovery."
The way CK is making Horace and Pete also plays into his release plan. The series is filmed as a multi-camera sitcom, and CK said it’s intended to have a "live feeling."
"So I’m making this show as you’re watching it," he said.

CK also touched on the pricing of Horace and Pete, which, at $5 for the pilot, is higher than the standard $3-per-episode pricing for most TV shows. He said today that he is "producing, directing, writing, distributing and financing" Horace and Pete by himself, and noted that the show is "fucking expensive" to make. Its cast includes well-known actors such as Alan Alda, Steve Buscemi, Edie Falco and Jessica Lange.
"Horace and Pete is a full on TV production with four broadcast cameras, two beautiful sets and a state of the art control room and a very talented and skilled crew and a hall-of-fame cast," CK explained. "Basically this is a hand-made, one guy paid for it version of a thing that is usually made by a giant corporation."
The pilot of Horace and Pete will remain at $5, while the second episode — which is being made right now and will be released the morning of Saturday, Feb. 6 — will cost $2. The rest of the episodes will go for $3 each. In keeping with the bootstrap feel of the show, CK did not provide a release schedule or details on how many episodes he plans to produce.