It’s been confirmed that Retro Studio’s secret project was the new Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, but they almost went with another Metroid game. I guess we’ll have to look beyond Retro Studios for some Star Fox love.

Super Smash Bros., for both 3DS and Wii U was shown, and Fox makes his expected appearance, but no other Star Fox characters were seen. Keep an eye on the official game site for new character reveals. There have already been two today: Animal Crossing’s Villager and the Female Wii Fit Trainer.

Other than that, Nintendo had a great press conference, in my opinion. They showed lots of good looking, interesting games and provided a couple of nice surprises like the sequel to Xenoblade. The only thing that could have made this presentation perfect would be a surprise Star Fox (obviously) or actual footage of the new 3D Zelda game they’re apparently working on (NOT the Wind Waker remake, which also looks fantastic).

Check out all the new games

Tuesday, June 11th @ 7AM Pacific

This corresponds to the first official day of E3 expo proper, but the day after the official keynotes of Microsoft, Sony, Ubisoft, and EA. Might actually be a smart move, because Nintendo’s announcements will likely be the “newest” news available that day, everyone else having already revealed their stuff the day before, fighting among themselves for attention.

Update
The Nintendo Direct WILL feature a video of the new Super Smash Bros. Source

An announcement was made today that tomorrow morning, at 7AM Pacific time, we will be getting our first Nintendo Direct of this type. This one is to be about upcoming Wii U games for summer and fall 2013. You know what that means! If they are set to reveal Retro Studio’s new game, and actual details on the next Smash Bros, this is the first place we might see them. Fingers crossed!

Presentation Site
Source

There will be other Nintendo Direct for Europe tomorrow as well, and possibly Japan, so be on the lookout for news.

Update
No Star Fox or Smash this time. The direct was mostly about the new Mario and Sonic Winter Olympic Games, Pikmen 3, Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D, Resident Evil, New Super Luigi U, and a bunch of little details and launch dates on games that we already knew about or expected. There will be another Nintendo Direct coming “around the time of E3,” so we’ll have to look forward to that.

Checkin 1
Checkin 2

If you want to go ahead and join the DeviantArt group, it can be found here: Krystal Archive on DeviantArt

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Show Notes

I’m planning to do another podcast episode this weekend. There’s been a LOT of stuff going on in my RL life, so I have much to tell with regard to updates and why I haven’t been responding to emails. Thanks for being patient. All will be explained soon.

Sorry for the long wait. After years of delays and many hours of editing the past couple days, I’m proud to finally be able to release the interview you’ve all be waiting to hear. I decided to make it a video interview much like the previous FATPodcast episode we posted a couple months back. Which voice actress? I’ll give you two guesses!

Edit: Happy April Fools’ Day Everybody!

Sorry for the delay, but DarkFantasyTV has posted his interview with Alésia Glidewell, the voice of Krystal in Star Fox Assault and Super Smash Bros. Brawl, among other characters. There is also some extra, behind the scenes video (language warning) and some additional blog posts about Alésia’s more recent work.

Source (saucy artwork warning)

As promised, her’s two other videos of Ayano cosplaying as Krystal from Further Confusion 2011. The first video is someone handing her their Subway sandwich, a la the “Krystal can’t enjoy her sandwich” meme. The second one is about a small wardrobe malfunction she experienced. The little clips on the sides of her loincloth have a tendency to fall off (one fell off this year too).

Downloads of the full version are available too!

• Krystal Finally Enjoys Her Sandwich
• Wardrobe Malfunction

This is the sister video to the Friends Forever video posted back in February 2011. It’s over 20 minutes of footage of Ayano cosplaying as Krystal at Further Confusion 2011. She walks the halls, interacts with con goers, sees the sights, walks in the fursuit parade, and visits the dealer’s den. There are lots of interesting moments spread throughout the video.

I’m spectacularly late with this video! FoxType1973 sent me a DVD of his recordings more than a year ago. I really have no excuse for taking this long before finally uploading it. I figured I should post this before the video from 2013 is ready. ;)

There are two more videos from the 2011 Further Confusion already uploaded and ready for posting, but I’m going to spread them out for a few days. Look forward to them!

Here’s the original video for download.

With Silfur Nakamura’s permission, I’ve enhanced the podcast audio with video and images from the con, as well as a little textual commentary from me. That means a bunch of photos and video of Ayano as Krystal, a preview of what’s to come. You’ll love it!

Turns out he has his own podcast, the FATPawedCast (Furry. Anime. Technology.) and he interviewed me for his latest episode. We talked all about our experiences at the con, taking photos with Ayano, interesting events, and the site. There are also tons of puns. We had a great time.

Listen to FATPawedCast #9 Here

I’m going to see if he’ll let me turn the podcast into a video with photos and maybe footage from the con.

Anyway, if any interested readers of the site will be there, be sure to email me so we can have a chance to meet and talk about Krystal, the site, and whatever you want!

GreyFireFox is almost ready to release his next and final iteration of his Krystal rig. The Krystal Archive will host it when he sends it (probably in the next couple days). In the meantime, he sent me a high resolution video showing off the new rig in various lighting environments.

But, it’s a new year. Time to start anew! The site is being slowly, but surely, reconstructed. We have many reasons to believe that Retro Studio’s secret project is Star Fox. Both it and the next version of Super Smash Bros. should be revealed at this year’s E3 in June. I expect to release a lot of cool Krystal stuff this year: the Estelle Ellis interview, all the Dinosaur Planet info, and if we’re lucky, HD versions of all the cutscenes from Adventures and Assault. So, let us step boldly into the new year and make it better than the last!

That Star Fox 3D animation I mentioned in passing a few days ago has been posted. The work of Joe Morriss and several others, the film depicts a dogfight and chase sequence between Fox, Falco, Peppy, and some unknown enemy.

Thanks to Glitcher for the info.

Edit
Someone sent me an email asking what furry cons are like, and I thought that information would benefit everyone. First, let me paraphrase the email:
“What exactly goes on at a furry convention? Do you sell art? Just talk? Walk around in suits? I’ve heard rumors of some less respectable things going on there, so I’m curious if that’s true.”

Different cons are different, but from what I’ve seen, they usually have these things:

• Panels – These are little events where at least one person speaks. They can be in the format of a lecture, a presentation, a roundtable (where a group talks and takes questions from the audience), or even open discussion, where everyone gets together to talk about a specific subject (like Pokémon).
• Dealers Room – Famous and not-so-famous artists and craftsmakers set up tables where they put their art pieces for sale. Often the artists will take commissions right there for whatever you want (for the right price, of course)
• Art Show – Artists show off their works in an art gallery style. Sometimes the art is for sale or part of a silent auction
• Fursuit Parade – All fursuiters are encouraged to dress up all at once. They all walk through the halls showing off their suits. This is usually considered the highlight of the entire show, happening at the peak time with the most con goers present
• Larger Ceremonies – There are usually a few larger events by the con itself, such as the Opening and Closing ceremonies. They also usually have some kind of fursuit/acting contest complete with judging and prizes
• Gaming – Gamers get together and play games like Rock Band, Smash Bros., Magic the Gathering, Pokémon, and many others
• Dances – Usually every night, there are different DJs playing different types of music and encouraging people to dance. Some dances are specifically for fursuiters. As these dances get later into the night, the music becomes more and more dance/electronic type stuff, going very late
• Charity Events – Where they get a bunch of con goers to participate in a charity activity. I’ve heard of fursuit runs where they run a mile in a fursuit or something for charity. Most cons have at least one charity, but they don’t always have an event associated with it
• General Meeting and Hanging Out – For people who go to a lot of cons, this is usually the most important aspect of the con. It represents the one or two times per year that they can meet and hang out with their furry friends from all over the country (or world)

Other than the fursuit parade, the activities listed above are exactly the same kind of thing you’ll find at a Brony con, and I suspect many other types of nerdy cons (anime, Trekkie, etc).

As for less than reputable activities, there are a couple things to avoid:

• There are sometimes adults-only panels late at night, requiring ID. Things like “how to write erotic fiction”
• Sometimes the art show will have adult content artwork. When they do, it’s sectioned off with curtains or in a different room, and they require ID
• Some of the dealers sell inappropriate artwork. If it’s a dealer selling primarily erotic stuff, just avoid their table entirely. Usually, it’s a mixture, with one artist selling both adult and general audience art. They usually separate the adult-only stuff into a separate binder or area, or if not that, they put stickers over the offending parts of the art
• Most con goers have a hotel room, and occasionally they will have a small party in their rooms. This is usually discouraged by the con staff to avoid disturbing the other hotel guests. If anything inappropriate activities were to happen, they would probably happen in some hotel room without the knowledge or approval of the con itself

Also, most con goers do not wear fursuits. From what I saw there are at least five to ten times as many people not wearing fursuits than those that do. Much more common are people wearing tails or ears, and more recently, themed hats. I actually felt a little out of place with my polo shirt and jeans.