- ScrewAttack
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ScrewAttack.com 
Original logo (2007–2011)Genre Video game, reviews, entertainment Created by Craig Skistimas
Thomas HanleyCountry of origin USA Language(s) English Production Location(s) 
United StatesBroadcast Original channel YouTube
Revver
blip.tv
(own embedder)Original run February, 2006 – present (hiatus on YouTube from November 25, 2009 to April 19, 2010) External links Website ScrewAttack URL www.screwattack.com Commercial? Yes Registration Optional (required for posting on the message boards, commenting and rating videos and blogs, making a blog, and uploading videos) Owner Craig Skistimas Launched 2006 ScrewAttack (officially named ScrewAttack Entertainment LLC.). is a video game-related website that showcases original entertainment for an audience of video game enthusiasts. Its content is also shown on GameTrailers and IGN. The name and logo comes from the "screw attack" ability from the Metroid series and Super Smash Bros.
Current programs on ScrewAttack.com include The Angry Video Game Nerd, Video Game Vault, Top 10's, Hard News, Talking Classics, Metal Gear Ben, The Game Overthinker, The Game Underthinker, Free To Play Weekly, VGR, SideScrollers, Underbelly, Jose's Punto's, The Armory, "brentalfloss", Safety First, Brotherhood of Leet, Death Battle and Digital Forecast.
History
ScrewAttack originally started in 2006 by the site's creators "Stuttering" Craig Skistimas and Thomas "Handsome Tom" Hanley. First show was an audio podcast called SideScrollers.
In February 2007, MTV Networks acquired rights to some of ScrewAttack’s programming (Top 10's, Video Game Vault and the Angry Video Game Nerd) adding it to their GameTrailers service.[1] Since working with GameTrailers, ScrewAttack's features have been downloaded over 245 million times.[2]
ScrewAttack.com relaunched with its fourth version, termed "version 4," in November, 2009.
In September, 2011, ScrewAttack.com launched it's newest version, which featured serval overhauled interfaces and designs to the website.
Divisions
ScrewAttack
The ScrewAttack World Headquarters is located in Dallas, Texas. The site’s creator "Stuttering" Craig Skistimas and staff shoot and edit most of the ScrewAttack videos from there.
They hire several interns, that are often featured in the videos on the site. Many of the current personalities of the site started out as interns for the company.
Current Staff
Craig Skistimas- Stuttering Craig
Chad James- ScrewAttack Chad/Boomstick
Jared Knabenbaur- Professional Jared
Bryan Baker- Freelance Bryan the Intern
Nick Cramer- Nervous Nick
Ben Singer- High School Ben/Metal Gear Ben/Wiz
Ian-Merch Dude Ian
Brad Skistimas- Unaware Steve
Sean Hinz
Chaz Tine
Lauren Moore
Drake McWhorter- Trailer Drake
Ryan Conway
Andrej PreradovicScrewAttack Europe
Guru Larry's Retro Corner Logo.
Introduced in late 2006, ScrewAttack Europe, located in Northwood, London, UK, was the name used by video game enthusiasts and TV presenters Guru Larry (Larry Bundy Jr) and "UK" Wez (Wesley Lock) for voluntarily creating video game related content for ScrewAttack.com. ScrewAttack Europe was the first official international feature and the only outside group to have 'ScrewAttack' in their title. Alongside The Angry Video Game Nerd, ScrewAttack Europe was one of the longest lasting associates of ScrewAttack and second most popular partner provider after the AVGN.
Their programs included:
- Games Yanks Can't Wank, a series showcasing and making fun of video games never released in the United States or Canada
- Hack-Job, a machinima-based sketch show
- Pop-Up Review, a review show which posts false facts about games, parodying television shows such as Pop-Up Video.
- Guru Larry's Retro Corner, from December 2007-April 2010, ScrewAttack.com aired episodes of ScrewAttack Europe's XLEAGUE.TV television series Guru Larry's Retro Corner.
In September 2010, Screwattack Europe was closed.
Current shows and featurettes
SideScrollers
SideScroller was a weekly audio podcast covering activities at ScrewAttack and general video games news. Features include "Hard News", which looks at the latest news in the gaming industry, "The SideScrollers News Desk", which is filled with unusual news from around the globe, and "Forum Questions", where they answer questions from members on their official forum.
SideScrollers runs contests with the forum members which originate directly from the show. For instance, in the feature "Name That Video Game Tune", the hosts play samples of short musical clips from often obscure video games and let the fans guess its origin via e-mail. Winners are entered in a contest drawing.
The show frequently runs short promotions and commercials to advertise new content on the site, often using it as a segue into the next discussion topic.
As of the 15th February 2011, SideScrollers changed its audio podcast format to a video format.
Video Game Vault
Hosted by Stuttering Craig, the series serve as a nostalgic, informative and humorous look at classic video games that are infamous for a particular reason.
Hard News
A daily news program shown on the site which is hosted and edited by Professional Jared. Its purpose is to inform viewers on the gaming news highlights of the day, often accompanied with humorous comments (mildly like Weekend Update and The Daily Show, which described the story, then presented a humorous comment). The show is roughly 3 minutes long and is branched off of the Hard News segment on SideScrollers. Hard News is posted on ScrewAttack's website (usually posted at 6:30pm Central time). It has once ceased postings on YouTube since November 30, 2009, but has resumed on April 19, 2010, as confirmed by Destin on his Twitter account. It was revealed on February 25, 2011 that Destin would be leaving Screwattack on March 4, and thus, Hard News. The ScrewAttack Team looked for a new host and g1s could upload their auditions to YouTube. Until a new host was found, Stuttering Craig and Professional Jared (as Craig had a surgery) acted as filler.[3][4] Jared announced in the Hard News Episode of April 20 that he is going to be the new anchor of Hard News.
ScrewAttack Top Ten
Stuttering Craig tries to keep the Top 10 lists non-traditional by focusing on games which might not have received as much critical acclaim as others, instead citing facetiously that because it is their list, the list is automatically great (an example comes from the "Top Ten Worst Fighting Games", where after Handsome Tom stated that everyone's list would be different, Stuttering Craig said "and besides, we're right anyways"). As well, they will have Top 10 lists (such as the Top Ten Fighting Games) which only allow one game from a given franchise on to the list to allow more variety. Airing on GameTrailers, the Top 10 lists generally receive over 300,000 views. The most popular Top 10 list to date is “Top Ten Boobies [in Video Games]”, which has received over 1,000,000 views since February 2007.[5] Other favorites include "Top Ten Douchebags of Gaming" (more than 750,000 views),[6] “Top Ten Worst Fighting Games” (more than 690,000 views),[7] "Top Ten Worst Mario Games", and “The Best and Worst Gaming Peripherals” (more than 650,000 views).[8]
The Angry Video Game Nerd
Main article: The Angry Video Game NerdThe Angry Video Game Nerd (AVGN; formerly "The Angry Nintendo Nerd") is a series of farcical retro gaming reviews by James D. Rolfe, an independent filmmaker and professional video editor.[9] The show consists of reviews for older video games on console systems, such as Atari 2600, Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, PlayStation, SNES, Nintendo 64, and NES. The series' original music is played on guitar by Kyle Justin with lyrics by Rolfe. On August 8, 2007, Rolfe’s character was featured on the Opie and Anthony radio show.[10]
Clip/Quote of the Week
Originally under the direction of Ben,it stars the entire SA staff and some rare cameos, the "Clip of the Week" (also is branded as "Quote of the Week") is a series of vignettes posted weekly that showcases offbeat and strange commercials, movie clips or promotions for products. Originally, the "Quote of the Week" was merely used to spotlight a specific quote from the featured clip, but after evolving into the 'Clip of the Week' it began to feature the SA staff in a skit inspired by the featured clip. After the departure of Hanley, the skits began to become more extravagant, to the point of full-fledged productions in some cases.
Recently Ben Switched direction Seat With Nervous Nick, Who directs Cotw as of April 2011[update].
g1 Submission Sunday
A segment in which fans of ScrewAttack submit their own videos to the site. Created by g1 SWAT Doctor,[11] the segment evolved into a standard feature on the site. The videos vary from user created Video Game Vaults, spoofs of the site’s characters, Flash animation and other video game related material.
Unaware Steve
Unaware Steve, having not played a game since 1992, the last game he played was Cool Spot, goes to gaming conventions and interviews gamers. The interviewee usually ends up agitated with Steve as he is quite annoying when he wants to be. The last time he went to QuakeCon he wore a "sophisticated" outfit which was just a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle costume. More recently he has started a new series "Unaware Steve's Video Game Extravaganza." He reviews an old game, usually giving obvious hints or adding in a different game somewhere down the line. The character is played by Brad Skistimas, Stuttering Craig's brother. According to his interviews at Quakecon 2008, he once drank lots of Sprite after playing Cool Spot (which actually endorses 7 Up), passed out and woke up in 2007 which may explain why he hasn't played a game since then.
Currently, Unaware Steve has been put on hiatus while Brad is promoting his band's new album. Unaware Steve made his return on August 14, 2011 while looking at QuakeCon.
WTF Is That?
"WTF Is That?" is a feature where a still frame is paused and zoomed in to the point of blurriness and near absolute unclarity on a screenshot of a particular game. The purpose is to run a contest on which video game the screenshot is from. The winner usually receives a free lunch or some other merchandise from the ScrewAttack store. Recent installments, however, ask what the games featured have in common.
VGR
VGR is another video game review show on ScrewAttack, similar to The Scoop. However, instead of talking about the highs and lows of the game in question, categories of story, gameplay, sound, etc. are reviewed. At the end of the video, viewers are given a recommendation by the reviewer to Buy it, Rent it, or F' it. For example, New Super Mario Bros. Wii had gotten a Buy It, Green Day Rock Band officially got a Rent It, and Dead To Rights Retribution got a F' it. Currently a score out of 10 is also given to each game reviewed.
Out of the Box
Now produced by Bryan, this is a show that previews recently released games and sneak peeks at upcoming ones. Stuttering Craig and Freelance Bryan the Intern play and express their thoughts about the game they're playing while answering G1 questions about the games on the show.
Talking Classics
As of May 2009, ScrewAttack is the home to this mocumentary that follows video game fan Keith Apicary, starring and created by comedian Nathan Barnatt. Keith Apicary (called the "Borat of the gaming world")[12] is a 28 year old gamer who favors Neo Geo, Virtual Boy, and Sega. Nathan has been forcibly removed from numerous events, including:
- The 2009 Comic Convention in San Diego (for jumping on stage as Keith during Peter Jackson and James Cameron's panel to get a drink of water).
- E3 2010 for interrupting a G4 interview and asking where the Sega Dreamcast 2 was. He was later given a "Dreamcast 2" in the form of two Sega Dreamcasts taped together by Felicia Day at the 2010 Spike Video Game Awards, which he was present for as Gametrailers.com Press.
- At PAX East 2011 he was also forced offstage by security while hosting a panel.[13]
Barnatt is currently developing a TV series for Keith Apicary based on Talking Classics for Comedy Central.
The Game Overthinker
On July 4, 2009, it was announced at the ScrewAttack Gaming Convention that the "Game Overthinker" was the winner of the finals round of the "my vids don't suck" contest. In this tournament style contest, average users submitted videos with the object of becoming the next featured ScrewAttack show. As of December 20, 2009[update], five episodes have been released officially as features. "The Game Overthinker" was an already active show on YouTube, where user "moviebob" rants and explains about video game phenomena purposely in too much depth. Moviebob also has shows on The Escapist Which are called Escape to the Movies And The Big Picture.
In his show, the Game Overthinker chooses to talk about topics ranging from how originality in modern games are more of an exception than rule, violence in video games, the longevity of video game characters, racism in games, and much more.
Death Battle!
This show started on December 7, 2010. The show, which parodies the show Deadliest Warrior, is hosted by Ben and Chad playing the characters Wiz and Boomstick, who guide the viewer through the arsenal of two fictional characters before pitting them against each other in a bloody fight to the death. Each episode showcases a custom-animated fight scene between the two characters, which is created by Ben. The show is scheduled to air a new episode every two to four weeks.
1.Boba Fett (Star Wars) VS Samus Aran (Metroid) - Winner: Samus Aran
2.Akuma (Street Fighter) VS Shang Tsung (Mortal Kombat) - Winner: Akuma
3.Rogue (X-Men) VS Wonder Woman (DC Comics) - Winner: Rogue
4.Goomba (Mario) VS Koopa Troopa (Mario) - Winner: Draw
5.Mike Haggar (Final Fight) VS Zangief (Street Fighter) - Winner: Zangief
6.Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Battle Royale - Winner: Leonardo
7.Leonardo (TMNT) VS Zitz (Battletoads) - Winner: Leonardo (again)
8.Yoshi (Mario) VS Riptor (Killer Instinct) - Winner: Yoshi
9.Felicia (Darkstalkers) VS Taokaka (Blazblue) - Winner: Taokaka
10.Kratos (God of War) VS Spawn (Image Comics) - Winner: Spawn
11.Bomberman VS Dig Dug - Winner: Dig Dug
12.Shadow the Hedgehog (Sonic the Hedgehog) VS Vegeta (Dragon Ball Z) - Winner: Vegeta
13.Mario VS Sonic the Hedgehog - Winner: Sonic the Hedgehog
14.Justin Bieber VS Rebecca Black - Winner: Draw (Both Died)
DEATH BATTLE! T-Shirt Vs Every Other T-Shirt in the World - Winner: DEATH BATTLE! T-Shirt
15.Harry Potter (Harry Potter) VS Luke Skywalker (Star Wars) - Winner: Luke Skywalker
16.Chun-Li (Street Fighter) VS Mai Shiranui (Fatal Fury) - Winner: Mai Shiranui
17.Starscream (Transformers) VS Rainbow Dash (My Little Pony Friendship is Magic) - Winner: Rainbow Dash
18. Master Chief (Halo) VS Doomguy (Doom) - Winner: Master Chief
19. Dr. Eggman (Sonic the Hedgehog) & Mecha Sonic (Sonic & Knuckles) VS Dr. Wily (Mega Man) & Metal Man (Mega Man 2)- Winner: TBA
Reboot or Retro
Premiered May 2010, second made in March 2011. Initially hosted by Craig but now hosted by Jared, it follows games that have been rebooted and compares them both to tell you if you should do the reboot or the original.
First episode - "Rocket Knight" or "Rocket Knight Adventures"
Second episode - "Hard Corps: Uprising" or "Contra: Hard Corps"
Third episode - "Final Fantasy IV" or "Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection"Free To Play Weekly
A new Partner feature to ScrewAttack, from the good folks at MMOBomb.com, Free to Play Weekly brings you the most important news of the week about free-to-play online games and the latest releases, with a few jokes thrown in for good measure.
Screwin' Around
A new live streming show, featuring random ScrewAttack members playing video games for 1 or 2 hours. The purpose of this program is to reconnect with their audience and have a good time.
Prior shows
The Art in Gaming
The Art in Gaming is a series of short videos that focus on the visual art in gaming. This show is more serious and an educational approach, compared to the usual easy-going and humorous, sporadic paces as seen in other ScrewAttack shows and features. As of 6 March 2008[update], four episodes have been released, Rygar, Vigilante 8, Bionic Commando and a feature over geometric shapes in gaming.
The Scoop!
The Scoop! is a short program hosted by Highschool Ben. The program highlights the highs and lows of games and usually focuses on the "top 3" of both aforementioned categories. Once in a while a clearly terrible game is reviewed and is given ironic praise from Ben. It aired on ScrewAttack for quite some time but now has been merged with VGRs.
Awesome Video Games
Awesome Video Games was a show on ScrewAttack which featured Chet, Ace and their father. After creative differences regarding the direction of the show, it was decided that it would separate from ScrewAttack. It aired on ScrewAttack from September 2006 to March 2007.
GameJew
GameJew was a former ScrewAttack series featuring Jonathan Mann, a Jewish fan of Mario. In the story, The GameJew dons his red Mario hat and his red overalls, all while existing in real life situations, and composing songs relevant to games.
GameJew took part in the Austrian Big Brother Awards,[14] produced the Mario Opera,[15] and was featured in the January 15, 2008 edition of EGM Magazine after serenading video game guru, Shigeru Miyamoto.[16]
From July 2006 to August 2007, the GameJew made videos.
As of February 27, 2008, Mann has recommenced production of GameJew videos which air Wednesdays.
Jose's Puntos
Jose's Puntos is a short program hosted by Jose ElMexicano where he gives gaming tips to the g1s. On May 13, 2011, it was rumored on the forums that Jose would be leaving ScrewAttack. Jose confirmed this on the same day. It is Unknown whether Puntos will continue, though it has been mentioned (By Jared) that it might come back some time later,in a different form and With a Different Host.[17]
Puntos include Pokémon Red and Blue, Halo 3, Uno, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: World at War, Fable, Fable II, Gears of War 2, F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin, Bulletstorm, Killzone 3, Homefront and Mortal Kombat(2011)
Metal Gear Ben
Based on the character 'Metal Gear Ben' that appeared in a few Clip of the Week's, this show was set to come out in 2009, and was going to be made with lots of help from the g1 community.
The first episode was showcased this summer at SGC 2009, and the series officially launched on November 23, 2009.
The series finale of Metal Gear Ben was posted on May 15, 2010.
Nametags
Nametags is a sitcom that follows Jared and Dom in the daily grind at the video game store at which they work. In addition to dealing with moronic customers who embody common gamer stereotypes, the pair must often contend with their blunt, mysterious manager, Josh. Several episodes also revolve around Jared's love interest, Cheryl. The show is done in a style similar to that of Scrubs, including brief glimpses into the minds of the characters. It also uses various video game music for its soundtrack.
The store of the show, which has remained unnamed (but is meant to parody GameStop), is filmed in the club house of Jared's improvisation comedy troupe, while all the scenes in the apartment are done in the actors' actual apartments.
RetroRemix
Hosted by DJ Axis, a half-blind musician, the show featured remixes of old video game soundtracks, with a more modern sound and rhythm (similar in execution to OverClocked ReMix). It often contains short interviews or information about the game at the beginning. However, with the departure of DJ Axis, the series has ended.
Toilet Tuesday
A series of shorts created relating to people sitting on the toilet and playing video games. Movies were submitted by g1s to be featured on the site.
The Armory
The Armory was a feature created 100% by host Daily Destin in which the best weapons known in video gaming are detailed. from December 11, 2009 on, the show was hosted by IGN. The show ended with the departure of Daily Destin in March 2011.
The New Adventures of Captain S
The New Adventures of Captain S is an online web serial created by PBC Productions which parodies cartoon and television shows of the 1980s and 1990s, particularly Captain N: The Game Master, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad, Saved by the Bell and Full House (opening credits).[18] The show follows the adventures of high school junior, and major Sega nerd, Chad Belmont after he happens upon a magical Sega Genesis cartridge that enables him to enter into Video-Land through his TV. When he arrives in Video-Land, he is briefed by its benevolent keeper, the Giant Blue Head. Prophecies foretold his arrival, and from that moment forward he would be called Captain S, Video Defender. He must keep the world safe from the evil clutches of the Game Genie and his minion NES. He is joined on his journeys by his best friends Lunk and Becky, and he pines after the sweetheart of Bromley High, Stacey Newfeld. Usually, Chad must use lessons he learns in Video-Land to help him become a better person on the other side of the screen. Season One contained ten episodes, which aired from January to May 2007. The series premiered at MAGFest V in Vienna, VA.
A second season had been planned, and was indeed announced by show creator Chad Williams at MAGFest VI on January 6, 2008. To fill the gap until the second season airs, the writers produced a Captain S web-comic that is available to view on their website.
In May 2009, PBC officially announced the second season of Captain S had been canceled, the second season having never left early preliminary development stages. In addition, the Captain S web-comic has not been updated in quite some time, indicating the concept has been rested entirely.
Main Cast
Chad Belmont/Captain S - Brett Vanderbrook
Nigel Edmund Silverman/NES - Devon Riley
Lunk Stogsdill - Shael Riley
Becky O'Connor - Ivy Hong
Stacey Newfeld - Kitty Ostapowicz
Head, and Game Genie - Chad WilliamsThe effect of Video-Land is achieved through stop-motion animation, where the image of Captain S is super-imposed on the game sprite. In the season one finale, a more free-form style of animation, mimicking Mortal Kombat's motion capture style was used.
A special episode of Captain S was released in August 2007. In this episode, Captain S meets the Angry Video Game Nerd to join forces and save Christmas in July. Since Captain S is considered a family-friendly show, the AVGN's language is heavily toned down (only using the word crap), although at the end, he slips and curses (but it was censored), to which the Captain S characters react in shock.
While the title of the episode says it is non-canonical, an AVGN video seems to continue from where that episode left off.
Life in a Game
Life in a Game was a comedy/adventure series produced by Jonathan Tran from Enemy Crab Productions. It first aired on ScrewAttack in March 2008.
The show stars Guy, a normal person who realizes that classic video game items, characters, and music have begun affecting his everyday life. After fighting and destroying the Jackal, a mysterious boss character who had been stalking him, Guy is thrown into ever-stranger circumstances, from deadly chases to dance competitions. After defeating the reincarnated Red Jackal, Guy meets Frog of Chrono Trigger fame. The reasons for Guy's peril, the threat of the Jackal, and the arrival of Frog are all tied to an as-of-yet unexplained force termed The Haxx.
On April Fool's Day 2009, Enemy Crab Productions & Jared from Nametags pulled a prank on the g1 community, with the season finale of LiaG revealing that the show to that point was just a dream, and in fact, the characters had personalities & lives very similar to the Nametags characters, before it was eventually revealed as a prank at the end of the episode by Jared, and that the real final episode was shown at SGC.
Events and other media
The Iron Man of Gaming
The Iron Man of Gaming is an annual gaming tournament, presented by ScrewAttack, to find who is the best all-round video gamer. Unlike traditional video game tournaments where participants compete on a single title, competitors are given a raft of video games from various genres to compete on. The winner is decided on a points-based system; the contender with the most points is declared the winner.
2007 Game Titles Classic Games Street Fighter II · Sonic the Hedgehog · Pac-Man Championship Edition Modern Games Halo 2 (Xbox) · Madden NFL 08 · Dead or Alive 4 (Xbox 360)
