Quick Ayano Video from Furry Fiesta 2017
Vulpine Media, the guy doing photos for us at Furry Fiesta 2017, has posted a short video of Ayano Harumaki doing some poses outside at the convention hotel. I even make a brief appearance in the video. Vulpine Media only took two videos: this one, and the fursuit parade. The rest of his time was doing photography. You can check out the fursuit parade video below. Krystal and the Fox McCloud cosplayer (Wolfenpilot687) both appear at 17:37.
Gatebox Virtual Assistant Announces Nintendo Characters
Gatebox, the "Virtual Home Robot", is a clever new invention coming in December 2017 to Japan. The idea to put a human face on a virtual assistant is an old one, but this is probably the cutest attempt so far. The holographic display shows a cute girl who's artificial intelligence responses and personality are designed to make her more wife-like. A literal waifu bot that reminds you to take an umbrella when it's supposed to rain, who encourages you to come home when staying late at work, and who tries to make the home comfortable through lighting and air conditioning control.
The default character, Azuma Hikari (pictured in the video above), will be available at release. After that, the company plans to implement new characters and personalities to suit any taste. Which brings us to today's announcement.
The Gatebox company has announced a partnership with several Japanese companies with prominent... shall we say, "waifu material." These include Crypton Future Media for their Vocaloid Hatsune Miku character, and Nintendo for their characters Princess Peach, Princess Zelda, Samus Aran, and Krystal!
As soon as photos or videos become available, I'll post them here. Gatebox is available for preorder now. It is a bit pricy at 298,000 yen (about $2,600). However, for Krystal, *I* might even get one... you know... for science!
The announcement was made via a partnership video on Nintendo of Japan's YouTube channel.
Happy April Fools Day 2017! I'm glad you guys liked this joke. To be fair, every single thing about this joke is actually true. Gatebox is a real thing. It's really coming out in December. They really are going to have new characters in the future. I just don't know who those characters will be. I doubt it'll be Nintendo characters.
Post Furry Fiesta Update
Hello friends! I'm sorry I haven't updated yet. I've been constantly busy since arriving back home after Furry Fiesta because I'm going on yet another trip, tomorrow in fact. I haven't had time to report on Furry Fiesta, or anything else that's happened. But rest assured, I will get to it. Here's just a couple things to whet your appetite:
- I recorded 5 to 7 hours of footage at the convention. Lylat-Mobius Adventurer recorded even more.
- Vulpine Media, one of our site readers, took over 1700 photos. The photos are slowly being processed, and I will begin posting them to Flickr. You can follow his posts on Twitter.
- I brought my Nintendo Switch to do a photoshoot with Krystal playing it. I thought she was going to just pose with it, but she legitimately played the game for quite a while, enraptured.
- A Star Fox Zero Fox McCloud cosplayer showed up to our surprise, and took several photos with Ayano.
- Neither we nor Ayano's crew could get rooms at the actual con hotel. So, throughout the con, I ended up driving Ayano to and from the convention about 8 times! Turns out, we were just down the hall from each other in the hotel, too. Funny story about that.
- Lylat-Mobius Adventurer and I were roommates at this con. We actually tried to record Podcast #39 in our room on Saturday night, but ran out of time, there was too much to talk about! We'll have to give our impressions of the con at a later date.
- Ayano showed off her Zero Suit Samus costume for the first time publicly at this con.
- I 3D printed a camera mount to keep my video camera stable, so I got some very nice video. Several people asked me about obtaining a mount of their.
I'll talk about all this, and much more, when I can! Please be patient. I am leaving for California tomorrow, and won't be back for week. Posts will resume, but edited content from the convention will have to wait a bit longer. See you soon.
Furry Fiesta 2017 Prep
Furry Fiesta 2017 starts up on Friday at the InterContinental hotel in Dallas Texas. The theme for this year's con is Mad Science, it seems. Should be interesting.
Ayano and Lylat-Mobius Adventurer are on their way to America, and I will be heading there tomorrow evening. Along with one other person, we plan to get lots of footage and photos of Ayano and the convention. There might even be a Krystal Archive Podcast recorded there at some point (no video this time, guys).
As before, we will be following Ayano around, filming and photographing her. In the downtime, I'll be visiting the dealer den, attending panels, and seeing the sights. If you are going to be there, please come by and say 'hello.'
So, yeah. Don't expect regular posts until I get back. Although we will try to post some photos during the convention. See you guys later!
Taking a Break
I have a lot on my plate. Also, I'm prepping for Furry Fiesta 2017. I won't be posting on the site for a bit, unless something big happens. Sorry about that! Post below if you're going to Furry Fiesta 2017 in Dallas Texas next weekend!
Relaxing Krystal Speedpaint
This is Nintendo P.A.L's entry for Nintendo of America's Art Academy Contest. It was done in Art Academy: Home Studio.
Making of Zelda
One of the problems with posting something every day is when you run out of stuff to post, or at least, run out of stuff that's ready to post. So, I'm taking a break from Star Fox and Krystal for today. Instead, how are you guys liking the new Zelda? For me, it's a fantastic game! Basically, one of the best games of all time. Seriously! The only complaint I have is it has no Krystal in it (at least, so far). :D
So, how about this for post content? Ever want to make games? Ever wonder what goes into the design process of making your favorite games? Well, Nintendo has put out an epic series of videos talking about the design and building process with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. I highly recommend these videos. Check them out!
- The Beginning (embedded above)
- Open-Air Concept
- Story and Characters
A lot of the content shown in these videos is summarized from Nintendo's presentation at this year's Game Developer's Conference, which has been posted in full!
Dinosaur Planet & Star Fox Adventures: A Rare Retrospective
[Gore Warning] - Relatively mild (and low poly) gore in a couple of places towards the end of the video.
Today, The Nostalgic Gamer posted his 10th episode in his continuing chronicling of Rareware's history. This episode, he covers the development of Dinosaur Planet, and the game's transition to become Star Fox Adventures. This is a really great summary of what happened, showing lots of footage from the original Dinosaur Planet. He even concludes what I do about Star Fox Adventures: It's a pretty good game, but not utterly fantastic the way some of Rareware and Star Fox's other previous hits were. The purchase by Microsoft was touched on, but those details will be saved for the next episode.
My Further Confusion 2013 Photos on Flickr
Continuing to add original cosplay photos to the Krystal Cosplay Group, I have finally uploaded my (admittedly small quantity of) photos from Further Confusion 2013, which was both FJ McCloud and my first meeting with Ayano. You can view that gallery here.
I've also got some video footage that I don't think was ever uploaded, so I'm going to work on that.
Star Fox Adventures Speedrun in 4 Hours 32 Minutes
[Language Warning] - Some of the speedrun has strong language.
Speedrunner JubJub62 has been working on speed runs for Star Fox Adventures for quite a while. As of two weeks ago, he posted this world record for Star Fox Adventures, completing the game in only 4 hours 32 minutes and 47 seconds. This run uses glitches. He also did a glitchless run in only 5:11:06. He continues to try and improve the time, working on a 4 hour, 31 minute run. You can follow his streams on Twitch.