Current Events > Remember Screwattack?

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ay9E3XxerJ8

https://youtu.be/F12T-jU16UI

so weird that a generic looking frat douche started a website about video games, no less a website about humor and video games. It's like he brought collegehumor to video game culture

don't know what to think of their vids. Thought they were just okay. It's sad to see it was acquired and now the site redirects to some other random thing

I remember when Craig backstabbed Tom.

I used to love their Top 10 Countdowns, Id just binge them like crazy.

Foppe posted...

I remember when Craig backstabbed Tom.

What happened?

Remember when they interviewed GameLife

Wish that video was still up

When I first went digging through retro games they were pretty handy because Youtube wasn't giving me a lot of other videos like that back then.

As for Stuttering Craig and Handsome Tom, if I remember right it was something about Craig deciding Tom wasn't pulling his weight around Screwattack and then when he went to register Screwattack as a business or some other transaction, he put himself down as the sole owner of it. Tom walked, was on another game channel called TheGameHeroes for a while, then went off to be part of that big Nostalgia-Critic-and-friends group for a while then decided to quit altogether.

As much as they hated ProJared, Jared carried them for a long time. He was the guy who researched and wrote all of Hard News, which gave them the most consistent stream of views and traffic by a massive margin. Of course Jared wasn't the original host, but he later talked about how he was the one who wrote for it, so it was natural he would be the host when Destin? Dustin? left for IGN, where he still works there but isn't like a host of anything because Jared did all the work.

Being partnered with AVGN also basically put them on the map to begin with. But Hard News was what kept them relevant when AVGN left

Then of course they fucking hit gold with Death Battle, and now the entire company is just Death Battle. They were plummeting downhill really fast after Jared left actually, and Death Battle saved their asses.

They got lucky so many times cuz the core members just didn't have much of a talent imo. But also they had no money luck because they earned almost nothing despite being one of the biggest gaming websites at their heyday. If they had the same momentum in the current decade, they probably would've had a lot of money to work with.

Rockleeroy posted...

What happened?

Hey Craig, we have grown pretty big now, I think it is time that we register Screwattack as a business in both our names...
Sounds good Tom, but... ehm... I got something else to do today, so lets do it the first thing tomorrow!

Next day

Ready to register a business, Craig?
Oh, I did that yesterday.
...but I thought you needed my signature to register it on both of us...
Oh, I am the only owner.
But why? We started this together, we use my videogame collection and Ive appeared in more videos than you, dont you think that Im pulling my weight around here?
Nnnnnoooooo
Alright, if Im not an owner, then I want a raise. I want a contract like Rolfe, being paid by how much I appear in videos.
Nnnnnoooooo
You have to pick one of those, or I feel forced to leave. And you know that some of our staff will leave with me.
If you are ready to leave for something like this, then perhaps you shouldnt work here.

*Tom posts a message on the screwattack website saying that he is leaving. He is professional, doesnt say why he is leaving and he blames nobody.
Craig waits until Tom leaves the building and deletes the message. Then starts banning people talking about it*

Holy shit, thats ice cold, I had no idea that went down behind the scenes.

ViewtifulJoe posted...

When I first went digging through retro games they were pretty handy because Youtube wasn't giving me a lot of other videos like that back then.

As for Stuttering Craig and Handsome Tom, if I remember right it was something about Craig deciding Tom wasn't pulling his weight around Screwattack and then when he went to register Screwattack as a business or some other transaction, he put himself down as the sole owner of it. Tom walked, was on another game channel called TheGameHeroes for a while, then went off to be part of that big Nostalgia-Critic-and-friends group for a while then decided to quit altogether.

Lawl he was on the legion of super critics huh.

Yeah I'd fucking quit internet video production period as a profession too if I had his rotten shit luck, that really sucks for him.

From what I read, the sentiment was justified; Tom basically just showed up to film and did nothing else, but was expecting 50% ownership. The way Craig went about it, though, obviously not okay.

Tom apparently owns a chain of steakhouses, though, so don't feel too bad for him.

Screwattack didn't have amazing content, but they were trailblazers and had that early-internet charm. It felt great just to share our hobbies, and they tapped into that.

I keep forgetting ProJared started out with them. It's wild how he still produces content and has relevance given all he's been through

Yeah Craig wasn't a good guy at all. He fired Jared for talking shit about them in a public space, and looking back, Jared was kinda justified in being pissed cuz they were holding him back and dragging their feet in doing what Jared recommended

Craig kinda got what he deserved though because he supposedly barely earned nothing from Screwattack. But it's difficult to know how true that is cuz he's a known liar.

Rockleeroy posted...

What happened?

iirc, Craig wanted to expand the business but Tom did not. So while Tom was on vacation, Craig went behind his back and did all these shady dealings and basically stole the business from him >_>

Craig was funny to listen to with some of the wacky shit he says on the shows, but I have no respect for him as a human being for doing that.

I never knew Craig was a professional Slamball player, lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKbdZfNACSI

I casually followed some of their stuff a bit, like Hard News, their mid-week live podcast (I forget what it was called >_>) and their Mario Party After Dark where they all got drunk and cursed at each other while playing Mario Party. That shit was so funny. Now it's all Death Battle.

Rockleeroy posted...

I used to love their Top 10 Countdowns, Id just binge them like crazy.

Same. The Metroid music that they used throughout their videos was a nice touch.

They produced some of the early episodes of Angry Video Game Nerd.

FortuneCookie posted...

They produced some of the early episodes of Angry Video Game Nerd.

Yeah I remember watching his videos off there. I don't think I watched any of their other stuff.

The first movie Screwattack released after Tom left was about a Genesis game where you fly around with a ship inside a big cave, saving miners.
And Craig said that he always saved everybody, because he is a hero.
I remember leaving a comment saying that heroes doesnt backstab friends.
He sent me a pm telling me to stfu.

It was fun for a while and very of its time I think. The early-mid 00s were a fun time. I got into them through the AVGN early on and liked their videos/top 10s/Sidescrollers podcast/etc. The early crew (Craig, Tom, Perfect Liz, Ben, Jose El Mexicano, and 8 Bit Mickey) had a cool vibe/charm to them. Cory (I think that was her name?), Destin, and that punk skater dude (forgot his name Kyle/Chad?) were cool too. I stuck around a bit after the whole fallout with Handsome Tom, but I think I just grew out of that sort of thing and just lost interest. I think I left right around they started doing the Death Battle stuff. I think Destin left around that time too.

They had a good name, surprised Nintendo didnt take them down

Shishiwakamaru posted...

They had a good name, surprised Nintendo didnt take them down

Same reason we had a game called Gun.Smoke.

legendarylemur posted...

As much as they hated ProJared, Jared carried them for a long time. He was the guy who researched and wrote all of Hard News, which gave them the most consistent stream of views and traffic by a massive margin. Of course Jared wasn't the original host, but he later talked about how he was the one who wrote for it, so it was natural he would be the host when Destin? Dustin? left for IGN, where he still works there but isn't like a host of anything because Jared did all the work.

Being partnered with AVGN also basically put them on the map to begin with. But Hard News was what kept them relevant when AVGN left

Then of course they fucking hit gold with Death Battle, and now the entire company is just Death Battle. They were plummeting downhill really fast after Jared left actually, and Death Battle saved their asses.

They got lucky so many times cuz the core members just didn't have much of a talent imo. But also they had no money luck because they earned almost nothing despite being one of the biggest gaming websites at their heyday. If they had the same momentum in the current decade, they probably would've had a lot of money to work with.

What a piece of shit.

I loved their top 10s

Foppe posted...

Hey Craig, we have grown pretty big now, I think it is time that we register Screwattack as a business in both our names...
Sounds good Tom, but... ehm... I got something else to do today, so lets do it the first thing tomorrow!

Next day

Ready to register a business, Craig?
Oh, I did that yesterday.
...but I thought you needed my signature to register it on both of us...
Oh, I am the only owner.
But why? We started this together, we use my videogame collection and Ive appeared in more videos than you, dont you think that Im pulling my weight around here?
Nnnnnoooooo
Alright, if Im not an owner, then I want a raise. I want a contract like Rolfe, being paid by how much I appear in videos.
Nnnnnoooooo
You have to pick one of those, or I feel forced to leave. And you know that some of our staff will leave with me.
If you are ready to leave for something like this, then perhaps you shouldnt work here.

*Tom posts a message on the screwattack website saying that he is leaving. He is professional, doesnt say why he is leaving and he blames nobody.
Craig waits until Tom leaves the building and deletes the message. Then starts banning people talking about it*

Yikes that's a toxic situation