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ScrewAttack Entertainment LLC (or simply known as ScrewAttack!) was a division of Rooster Teeth that specialized in edutainment and combat animation. It was launched on February 15, 2006 by Craig Skistimas and Tom Hanley. This was a video game-related website that showcased original entertainment for an audience of video game enthusiasts. Its content was also shown on GameTrailers and IGN. The name and logo come from the "screw attack" ability from the Metroid series. Their fanbase is affectionately called "g1s", based in part of an old radio term.

ScrewAttack additionally held a yearly convention dubbed SGC in the Dallas, Texas area before it was merged with RTX following its acquisition by Fullscreen. Labeled as "The Biggest Party in Gaming," SGC featured an array of panels ranging from people within the gaming industry to YouTube celebrities, as well a 24-hour free-to-play arcade, exhibitor hall, and video game and cosplay tournaments.

The name and logo are derived from a spinning jump attack of the same name in the Metroid video game series. On November 4, 2015 it was announced that fellow Fullscreen subsidiary ScrewAttack would become a division of Rooster Teeth and Let's Play. Its website was updated to be consistent with Rooster Teeth's branding, along with all its previously existing users becoming Rooster Teeth users and its forums being absorbed into Rooster Teeth's forums.

The website is primarily known for the web series Death Battle, in which they pit pop culture icons against each other in a fight to the death and determine who would win based on extensive research of the characters. The series' most popular episode remains Goku vs Superman, and attracted controversy after calculating that Superman would win the heavily contested debate. Other content includes an animated fight show without research called DBX, a podcast called Death Battle Cast (formerly Sidescrollers), an informative show called Desk of Death Battle, and Top 10 lists.

They've even developed their own iPhone game, The Texting of the Bread, an obvious parody of Typing of the Dead. On September 20, 2013, their second game, Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures, was released.

As of March 28, 2014, ScrewAttack has been acquired by, and is the new brand face, of the YouTube Network Fullscreen. On November 4, 2015, it was revealed that ScrewAttack would be brought into the Rooster Teeth fold.

On October 10, 2016, ScrewAttack announced that Craig, Shaun, Bryan and Parker left to start a new, corporately separate (but still part of Rooster Teeth) gaming channel, Game Attack. On May 1, 2017, Game Attack was revealed to have gone fully independent of both ScrewAttack and Rooster Teeth.

On February 4, 2019, a brief announcement was made that ScrewAttack was revealed to have closed and shut down, renaming, re-branded and reformatting themselves as “Death Battle” [1][2] ScrewAttack's URL was changed to serve as a redirect to the Rooster Teeth website, effectively ending ScrewAttack's run. The ScrewAttack section of the Rooster Teeth website was turned into an archive for the channel's old content.

Early company history[]

ScrewAttack was created in 2006 by Craig Skistimas and Thomas Hanley. The first show featured on the site was an audio podcast called SideScrollers. Viacom Media Networks acquired rights to some of ScrewAttack's programming (Top 10, Video Game Vault and the Angry Video Game Nerd) adding it to their GameTrailers service. Since working with GameTrailers, ScrewAttack's features were downloaded over 245 million times from 2007 to 2009. Overall, ScrewAttack's content has been viewed over 1 billion times through its website and various syndication partners including YouTube, GameTrailers, IGN, Revision 3 and Escapist Magazine.

In September 2011, ScrewAttack.com launched its new version, "The New ScrewAttack", which featured several overhauled interfaces and designs to the website. Another website version, "Phase 2" was officially launched on May 22, 2012. Some of the new features of Phase 2 included the ability to customize profiles and the ability to "subscribe" to other members. Also included is the ability to create shows by uploading videos from the user's preferred video player, giving aspiring content creators a platform.

On March 28, 2014, ScrewAttack was acquired by Fullscreen. With the acquisition, Fullscreen rebranded its gaming-focused hub, Fullscreen Arcade, to the ScrewAttack Network. On November 4, 2015, it was announced that fellow Fullscreen subsidiary ScrewAttack would be becoming a division of Rooster Teeth. Its website was updated to be consistent with Rooster Teeth's branding, along with all its previously existing users becoming Rooster Teeth users and its forums being absorbed into Rooster Teeth's forums.

On September 26, 2016, ScrewAttack released a video on their YouTube channel titled "EVERYTHING CHANGES", with the video itself just stating the date October 10, 2016. On that day, at 10 am CT, they released another video explaining how Craig, along with employees Shaun Bolen, Bryan Baker, and Parker Bohon, would be leaving the company and making a brand known as Game Attack, named after a gameplay series that had been airing for a few months at that point.

On February 4, 2019 the ScrewAttack YouTube channel was re-branded to Death Battle to better match the channel's main content. The ScrewAttack section of the Rooster Teeth website was turned into an archive for the channel's old content.

Staff[]

Current[]

Former[]

Shows and featurettes[]

DEATH BATTLE[]

ScrewAttack's most popular series, in which fights to the death between different popular fictional characters are depicted, using research to determine a winner. Its hosts, Wiz and Boomstick, are voiced by Ben Singer and Chad James, respectively. A new logo was developed for the fourth season of the show.

The Desk of DEATH BATTLE[]

A series written by Sam Mitchell discussing interesting facts learned while researching different DEATH BATTLE competitors. Its host is the intern Jocelyn, voiced by Lisa Foiles.

Death Battle Cast[]

A weekly Death Battle-themed podcast hosted by Ben Singer in which he and the other staff members of DEATH BATTLE discuss the behind the scenes workings of the show and debate about anything and everything.

DBX[]

A series "created" by DEATH BATTLE host, Boomstick, in which two combatants are pitted to fight against each other to the death with no rules and no analysis or research to determine the outcome of the fight. puo

Top 10[]

A series voiced by Nick Cramer in which the staff ranks the ten best and worst examples of a certain topic.

Events and other media[]

SGC[]

Formerly known as "ScrewAttack Gaming Convention", SGC was a live event ScrewAttack produced annually for their fans. SGC was originally held in 2009 and 2010 and after a three-year hiatus to allow ScrewAttack to focus on other business opportunities, the event returned after being successfully Kickstarted by the ScrewAttack community. SGC 2013 was held at the Hyatt Regency in Dallas, Texas on June 2013. SGC 2014 took place July 11–13, 2014 at the Sheraton Dallas. SGC 2015 took place July 17–19, 2015 at the Embassy Suites in Frisco, Texas.

SGC was merged into Rooster Teeth's RTX expo following parent company Fullscreen's acquisition of both companies.

Video Games[]

ScrewAttack Games is a separate brand within ScrewAttack that focuses on digital titles. It is now a part of Rooster Teeth Games

  • Texting of the Bread (2011 - iOS, Android)
  • Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures (2013 - Steam, Wii U, 3DS)
  • Disorder (2015 -Steam)
  • Jump 'N' Shoot Attack (2015 - iOS, Android)
  • Angry Video Game Nerd II: ASSimilation (2016 - Steam)
  • Super Rad Raygun (2016 - Steam)

Former shows[]

  • SideScrollers - The site's weekly news podcast.
  • Video Game Vault - A series where a host gives a review on a video game and why it should be remembered and "stored in the vault".
  • Unaware Steve - Steve (played by Brad Skistimas) has not played a video game since 1992. He awkwardly goes around interviewing people, or talking nonsense about video games.
  • Metal Gear Ben - A live-action series that parodies Metal Gear Solid.
  • The Scoop! - A review show ran by Ben Singer that highlights several pros and cons in video games.
  • Jose's Puntos - Jose Mejia shares various tips on how to be "leet" at video games.
  • Hard News - A daily news show telling recent video game-related news.
  • How-to with Chad - Chad James shows viewers how to do various mechanical tinkerings with game systems, such as repairing an NES.
  • Life in a Game - A live-action show about a guy named Guy whose life turns into a video game.
  • Nametags - A live-action show created by Jared Knabenbauer. It follows the daily life of a video game store employee.
  • The Digital Forecast - A series ran by Nick Cramer (later by Ben Singer). It provides a rundown of several video game trailers that were shown during the week.
  • Reboot or Retro - A series where the host compares two games of the same series. One being a retro (NES, SNES, etc.) game, and the other being a recent reboot.
  • The Armory - A series ran by Destin Legarie where he reviews several notable video game weapons.
  • Totally SCREWED - A series that uses the video game WWE All Stars to show various fights between ScrewAttack crew members.
  • The Clip of the Week - A live-action series where a random commercial, scene, or clip is shown, followed by a skit based on that clip.
  • Newsroom - A live action comedy series parodying conversations between Jared and Lauren.
  • Great Moments in Video Game History! - A series where various iconic moments from gaming history are showcased.
  • Out of the Box - A series in which the staff unboxes and plays a title shortly after release, giving their first impressions.
  • ScrewAttack Live - A live let's play series in which the staff plays a random selection of games.
  • Real Trailers - The crew makes their own trailers for various video games with sarcasm and brutal honesty.
  • The Industry - A live action series focusing mostly on crew member Shaun Bolen and his exploits around the ScrewAttack office.
  • Reasons We Love - A series in which one of the editors lists off a number of reasons why they love a certain game, character, developer, etc. in a short amount of time.
  • Reasons We Hate - A companion series released alongside each "Reasons We Love" episode in which "Evil Craig" lists off the reasons why he hates the same subject.
  • Is It Good? - ScrewAttack's poke at the arbitrary nature of game reviews, featuring a brief synopsis of a game followed by a random video clip to serve as a rating.
  • The Best/Worst EVER! - A series in which various ScrewAttack staff members and occasional guests discuss their personal favorite, or least favorite, examples of a certain topic.
  • Five Fun Facts - A weekly series, bringing viewers facts about various popular video game franchises.
  • Available Now - A weekly podcast where the crew discusses recently released video games.

References[]

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