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.

The Krystal Archive has been online seven years today! It's been a wild ride, and we're just getting started. Happy Anniversary!

A new year is upon us, Krystal fans. I don't know about you folks, but 2012 was not that great a year for me. We had a massive hack destroy the site in March, creating a huge mess for me to clean up. We DIDN'T get one mention of Star Fox developments of any kind in 2012. Other problems, personal and related to the site, hit me too. To top it all off, I've been more or less away from the site all holiday because I got a cold on Christmas Eve and was completely out of it for days.

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.

If you are planning on attending Further Confusion 2013, the furry convention in San Jose, let's meet up! We could talk Furry, Krystal, Star Fox, Video Games, Website Development, Ponies... WHATEVER! I should be there all day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I'm not giving a talk or anything, just a regular attendee. It would be really cool to meet some of you and put a face with your name.

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.

It's been way too long since the last podcast! In this episode (which was not done as a live video stream), I talk about the hacking incident, the restoration process, news since last time, and some upcoming developments. Enjoy!

Download
Show Notes

I asked my local GameStop for the Star Fox Command promotional standie when they were done with it. They said yes, and it's been sitting safely in my closet ever since, or more specifically, my closet back home at my parent's house. I've moved out since then and don't have room for it. This standie is absolutely free to anyone who wants it, so long as you can pick it up.

It would destroy it to disassemble it for shipping, that's why you must pick it up in person. It's located near Shreveport, Louisiana. Depending on how far away you are, I will consider driving half the distance to you.

If you are interested, just email me.

Some students at the Ringling College of Art and Design created a Star Fox inspired scene in the Unreal Development Kit, a game engine. It shows fly-through of the Great Fox and the launch of an Arwing showcasing their knowledge of UDK. Some on the internet have speculated that a Star Fox game on the Wii U might look like this. The platform is certainly capable of similar quality graphics. Unreal Engine 3 does in fact run on the Wii U.

In related news, there is a Star Fox Animated Short Film in the works by a mystery animator named Joe. Starfox-Online.net has all the details that are available.

I attempted to upgrade to the latest Wordpress, but something's wrong with it. I think I switched too early. The site's fine, all the data and pages are here. Something's wrong with the administration. I might have to downgrade or fix something tomorrow. Sorry for the outages earlier tonight.

Update: And everything fixed itself...? Everything seems fine now. Not sure why, the code's the same. Maybe it was an external issue. As you were!

Why is this not a real thing?!

Lego: Starfox by WesTalbott