Community Spotlight - TwoAngryGamers

Adam from TwoAngryGamers TV tells us what goes into working as a streaming duo!

Some of the most enjoyable things of the past century have come in pairs. Tom and Jerry, Batman and Robin, fish and chips – it’s clear that double acts have given people the world over hours of blissful entertainment. With the rise of YouTube and streaming, that trend has continued into the internet age, and Adam from streaming duo TwoAngryGamers is here to tell us all about how it’s worked out for him and co-host Tommy in our latest Community Spotlight!

The Two Angry Gamers at work!

[Q]: Tell us a little about what got you into gaming?
[A]: I can't remember a time when I wasn't fascinated by computers. BBC Acorns at school with the crystal rainforest puzzle game, an Amiga 500 in the early ’90s with Lemmings on it and of course my Sega Mega Drive which was the first gaming platform that was truly mine. So I think gaming is just something that grew up with me.

I'm fairly sure it was a very similar case for Tommy, I know his first platform was the original Nintendo Game Boy and he was so obsessed with it his parents banned him from gaming until the PlayStation came out some years later.

[Q]: Were you a Rare fan before Sea of Thieves and do you have any favourite Rare games?
[A]: I had an N64 with GoldenEye and Perfect Dark! I've always been a Rare fan, although whoever’s decision it was to leave Oddjob's obviously cheat-worthy height in GoldenEye needs a pinch on the arm!

I also had a brief love affair with Viva Piñata on my 360, but having lost such fine Piñatas as Professor Wormulon the Whirlm and Biggles the Bunnycomb, the heartache was too much to keep going.

[Q]: What games are you playing currently? Any favourites?
[A]: I'm really lucky to do what I do, I get to play pretty much every big release that comes out. This month, Dawn of War 3 and Prey are games I have really enjoyed, but we’ve also been playing a lot of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and that is just a great recipe for fun and adrenaline every time.

I know Tommy recently played Little Nightmares straight through and said it was his game of the year, it did look very good, and kinda freaky!

[Q]: Can you tell us about how Two Angry Gamers started?
[A]: Essentially it goes back to about 2011, a friend of ours decided to make a YouTube channel about Battlefield 3 and we'd help spitball ideas for the videos and be actors/voice actors for various things. As his channel grew and grew over the next few years, we realised we should probably set up our own channel, and as Tommy and I were both working full-time jobs, we decided to work together and do it as a hobby on the side.

Then in January 2014, almost by chance really, we both ended up in a situation where we didn't have jobs. So we decided to try go full-time and started doing Twitch streaming on top of YouTube videos.

Adam visited the studio not long ago to check out the game and talk to us about streaming.

[Q]: Many streamers work on their own, but Two Angry Gamers, as your title suggests, work as a pair. How does that dynamic work into your videos and streams?
[A]: I think having a second person to bounce off really helps keep things rolling and it also means we can really interact with our audience – well, twice as much as any channel that’s run by one person! We both have our own individual strengths that we bring into everything, and two heads are better than one, right?

There is also the fact that we've been friends since the first day of high school, 15+ years ago now I think? So it's really great we have such a deep rapport. I think our audience sees the benefit of that in our content. Nothing is forced or rehearsed, we just have a good time and hope people can join in on that with us.

[Q]: Two Angry Gamers covers a lot of games! How do you go about deciding which ones?
[A]: Well, as I mentioned above, we pretty much play anything and everything going, at least once anyway.

Multiplayer is a big focus for us, it means we can engage and play with the people in our community, so things like Battlefield 1 where we can get us and 62 of our viewers into the same game are perfect.

[Q]: Having played Sea of Thieves, how do you think it could lend itself to the content you create?
[A]: The first time I played Sea of Thieves it instantly reminded me of a game called Guns of Icarus, with a team of people working together to sink other crews. Hopefully the naval battles will be only one slice of the piratey cheesecake, and we'll be able to go swashbuckling down into caves full of skelebobs and whatnot, seeking out treasures and the unknown.

I know that it's still fairly early so we don't know exactly what is coming, but getting some of our subs into our crew and setting sail could make for some very enjoyable antics.

A warning however, Tommy can get a bit captain crazy sometimes and may try to force some of the crew to walk the plank should they disobey orders – which I'm sure will lead to mutiny and more laughs.

Before anyone asks, no, lizards are unfortunately not a staple of our Sea of Thieves swag range.

[Q]: Do you have any standout moments or stories from your time playing the game?
[A]: The first time I got hands-on with the game was at Gamescom last year. I got to lead a crew of German players, who I'm sure completely appreciated my limited knowledge of their language and screams of “SCHNELL! FIRE THE CANNONS!” – but we ended up sinking three other crews and came away relatively unscathed.

I take full responsibility for the victory as Captain.

[Q]: What are you looking forward to most in Sea of Thieves?
[A]: I'm very excited to see what other tasks and quests we will get to take part in, upgrading my character with a rare shiny gold-handled sword or buying new sails for the ship and hoisting the Jolly Roger. I'm hoping for some risk/reward gameplay that urges us forward, a little piracy here and there, stealing from other crews and definitely swashing some buckles.

[Q]: If you had to choose a pirate name, what would it be?
[A]: Hmmm, that's a tough question, I do have a rather large beard so it'd probably be something orientated around that...Cap'n Scruffbeard.

[Q]: What kind of hobbies do you enjoy outside of gaming?
[A]: There are things outside of gaming!?

If I had to name something, I guess I do love a good film at the cinema. Anything sci-fi/fantasy or that has guns and explosions.

[Q]:Share a fun fact about yourself. Anything is fair game!
[A]: I have a lovely pair of bearded dragons, they are something like nine or 10 years old now. I originally thought they lived as long as hamsters! Apparently some have been documented to live for 16-20 years!

...

Another enlightening Community Spotlight. Thanks to Adam for taking the time to chat to us about the channel! We’re looking forward to seeing what adventures (and misadventures) both you and Tommy get up to once Sea of Thieves releases.

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We will of course be back again soon with another Spotlight, but until then, follow us on our social channels to keep up to date with all things Sea of Thieves!

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