Wednesday
Jan052011
Avoiding the Puddle Episode #13 featuring Tomhilfiger
BY 
Aris ON Wednesday, January 5, 2011 at 10:45PM
Aris ON Wednesday, January 5, 2011 at 10:45PM 
We're back again and this time we interview the legendary Tekken 4 Nina, Tomhilfiger. Tom gives a history lesson on how competitive Tekken started in America and how it changed after the Koreans began attending American tournaments. He also gives his "old man's" perspective of how Tekken has evolved over the years plus much more.
Before that, MYK and I discuss the latest TTT2 trailer as well as talk about the announcement of the new Soul Calibur game. As always, feel free to leave questions or suggestions in the comments section or contact me at Aris@avoidingthepuddle.com.
Listen:
Podcast
Download:
MP3 - 01:13:12 - 69.8 MB
Subscribe:
To see Tom in action chack out the vids below.
Reader Comments (42)
"Grahpics defininitely updated" in TTT2? I personally think the graphics look equally as ugly as in T6, my biggest gripe is the lack of any anti-aliasing since the outlines still look terrible. Also on the Christie-theories: this was BEFORE people noticed the Julia-necklace and if you compare the CG art of the mystery character and Christie, she really doesn't look that much darker. Also a correction that the Changs are NOT sisters.
an incredibly satisfying podcast, well done.
ill be honest with soul calibur. i have no competitive or background knowledge to the game, but this is my perspective as a potential new player to the sc5 scene (if there is one). to me, sc4 really looks much more visually appealing than tekken. the whole composition of the game feels more sacred, as in watching it being played really feels like a real battle - not like the visually retarded hit properties moves have in tekken. i personally have never seen someone extend their airtime by being jabbed in the air. in sc4 they flop in the air realistically when 'juggled'. also, with the exception of rollerblading jang iksu, i have never seen someone light wavedash or backdash cancel. other than the fact that they dont die or get mutilated after being hit by a sharp weapon, soul calibur looks legit.
this is my opinion on its visual appeal, which is obviously the first formula to picking up a game. if sc5 has balanced and competition, i will definitely pick it up.
ill still always be a tekken person though.
also aris, watching you play siegfried is really cool xD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAlC7xrr9JU
xianghua isnt though. that evasive move and taunting setup thing would piss me off
Wing, there isn't as much wavedashing or bdc'ing anymore cause of the strain in movement thats in T6. In TTT if you saw it all the time. Just so much more emphasis on movement in that game.
And besides Hilde I loved SC4...just nobody played it. Unbalanced sure, but its all about the system more than balance, and I thought it was good times until the scene just died from lack of players. SC3 was waaaay to broke to keep my interest.
Tom would undoubtedly be one of the best if not the best player if he could get out of the game of life. Dude was mad sick. Listening to him brought back a lot of memories.
I'm on the fence with the SC because 4 lacked as a game completely. I still have that spark since I have been with the series since Soul Blade but I just really skeptical at this point.
Excellent podcast.
I have some Tomhilfiger matches from Electric Cancel and TiT for those interested.
youtube.com/user/galaxybounce1002
Won't be interested in another soulcalibur game unless they seriously, look at reverting some of the mechanics to be like SC2, and they give the game a major injection and a kick in the ass.
Wing, sorry but I how the fuck is soul calibur realistic, it's actually far less realistic than tekken visually. It's about time they added some severity to the combat because as it stands the characters may as well be hitting each other with giant fucking dildo's.
I can't see them changing Julia's moveset cause that will fuck her up for future canon releases of the game where michelle is to old to take part.
Looks like Michelle to me, and if her luchadore thing turns out too be shit they can just omit her from tekken 7.
Great podcast as usual. What was the intro song?
Great podcast. You still do too much bashing on Soul Calibur. Bash on Mortal Kombat for 20 minutes. Mortal Kombat hasn't had a good game in over a decade and it receives no where near the level of bashing that SC gets.
SC4 was the game that got me playing fighting games competitively. There was no scene whatsoever for the game when I started here in Philly. The people who played were all in Jersey, so I got out the house and started one. These days, not alot of people are willing to do that, or just expect everything to fall into their lap like with Street Fighter.
I can find tons of people playing online, but rarely people want to get out of the house and do something. That's the problem that I have which is the laziness of today's player. Arcades are dead and online is too convenient. I try to get people in my area to come off of online and play offline which is alot more fun, and I get a million excuses. Luckily, I was able to find people who wanted to play the game offline, and we still play several times a week to this day, but trying to get people to play offline and it's like pulling teeth.
I wish there was more people SC4 because it really is a great game, but in America, people are too spread out and arcades are dead. Plus people are lazy. It’s just much easier to hop on whatever is popular, then trying to start a community from scratch.
The only thing I can do is get people around me to play. People in other areas need to do the same or the same shit will happen in other areas which is they play SC for a bit until the next fighting game comes out, then say that there's no competition, or just stick to playing online.
And competitively, people rather play Street Fighter than anything else. It's scrub friendly and takes no effort to get people to play it. Plus you can get a bunch of scrubs to enter in tournament. The competition is still there in SC unless you're just looking for scrubs to beat up on, but the comp has been on the east coast for the longest. France who still have the strongest area for SC came over last month to compete at NEC, but they lost. But then again, how many people have the money to fly across the country to play a video game that they will go 0-2 in?
But it's hard to get people into a game that's two years old and is tough to learn, so I am glad that there is another game in the works. I just hope that it plays nothing like SC2. I know Tekken players love it but the game is boring as hell, plus they probably wouldn't have played it if Tekken 4 wasn't ass. Plus it will be tough because everyone has a different version of the game that is their favorite and have an opinion on what to do for this next game. Trying to please all those people or those who just want to see SC2 again is going to be tough. As long as the game is fun and balanced, I will be happy.
tom is so old for 31. he already sounds like that old guy who can go on and on about anything and everything. just put "back in my day" right before any of his stories and he's grampa simpson.
Another new episode already? Usually we would have to wait forever, keep it up Aris! The new ATP is not fucking around, DORYA!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tP918jT9fNk
Wow, Tom was really good at Tekken 4.
Is that a recent picture of Tom? I thought he had a beard since someone mentioned him being old. Good podcast nonetheless
The movement in SC3 is just fine, but only in some cases. Some characters have really good, deep and fast sidestep some have decent, with these you should apply SS to your game (only SS because 8w is shit), the problem is that there are still many characters with really slow and shitty movement, bigger problem is that usually these characters are those from the bottom and mid tier list. That's the one of things that made this game so unbalanced.
In SC4 is the same thing but much worse (there are less characters with good movement and Hilde have one of the best).
So we cant say that the movement is useless, it cant be useless when some characters like Xian or Sets have 50-60% combos out of the whiff while in SC3 their SS is good enough to kill even some ss-killers when your timing is right. But its bad that not all characters can do that and that kind of unbalanced in sc3 and 4 is absolutely in every aspect of the game.
Also SC4 dont have SCH with was <3
Great podcast.
OH MAN IT WOULD GREAT IF HE WAS STILL PLAYING TEKKEN, GREAT JOB ARIS
I loved this podcast. I'm surprised I don't see a bunch of tekken 6 players arguing with his points. Since I don't see that, are you all agreeing that tekken 6 is a easy game to play compared to others?
That fag got super lucky in that match against me >:/
Thank you for pointing out the counter hit movement point! That was a huge change that was overlooked by everyone because people were crying about balance.
what does aris think about the koreans dickriding jack-6 after anakin blew them up at mlg.
@tieTYT: Saying it's launch based...and it has very basic mind down to it..really sounds that he hasn't played the game too much.. and he hasn't. And that's his opinion.....and I respect that..eventhough I disagree with his point.
It's very hard to keep dominating in this game.
I think it's not because it's random, nor because anyone keep pick the game and be a master..
It's because it gets very complicated once you pass the 'entry level'. IMO
When you begin playing the game..knowing a few juggles, and some basic low-mid mixups, and simple mind games(e.g poke then throw)... can take you somewhere.. I think you can win against scrubs and mashers at least..
But they can't win or at least have a hard time against the veterans, since these players know how to counter ther tactics, gimmicks, have better reflexes, etc.
As for the veterans, it's harder to keep their dominance...because the game is more balanced. Each char has better potential to win/dominate compared to the older games....that means the veterans have to have better anti strats, better knowledge.
The crush & rage system add more unpredictability, so they make defense harder..IMO
I don't think I have to elaborate on this..
And another thing that makes it harder for veterans to dominate, is how badly you are punished for your mistakes.
Every mistake that you make from lack of practice, knowledge, or just being lazy....will get you punished...
I think in TTT & T4...you get more chances when you screwed up your juggle...or not knowing how to counter some gimmick... and that what makes it easier to keep their dominance.
Great podcast as usual. Dude SC went down. I'm a huge fan of namco and I hope they get their shit together. Aris you hit the nail right on the head with this one. I'm all for SC comming back to full force. Potential games like VF and SC should be at major tournies like Evo. Tomhilfiger..... Legend I remember the T4 days wow! Im from that old school era too so I respect this guy. Great interview!