Meet Shigeru Miyamoto
February 21st, 1-3pm, Oxford Street
Shigeru Miyamoto is coming to the UK, and he isn't here to wander around private functions with slobbering journalists eyeing his every move, and embarrassing everyone with their feeble attempts to converse in Japanese. Instead, he's making a public appearance at Virgin Megastore on Oxford Street on February 21st between 1 and 3pm, and fans can buy or bring along any title the great designer has put his name to - numbering over 70 - and get it signed. He's here to see you!
As Nintendo UK points out with great buckets of hyperbole, Miyamoto-san has never made a public appearance in Europe before, having previously only attended trade shows and functions. The legendary game designer is over here to celebrate the forthcoming release of The Legend of Zelda on both GBA (Link To The Past, March 28th) and Cube (The Wind Waker, May 3rd), and the first ten in the queue will receive free, signed copies of the former. But sadly not the latter!
As you might expect, both Nintendo and Virgin Megastore were beyond the usual "very pleased to be involved" stage, with VM's marketing manager Stephen Lynn calling it "a once in a lifetime opportunity for gaming fans to meet one of the most revered figures in the videogame world." And yes, he's "extremely thrilled". But no amount of PR babble can obscure the fact that many of us will get to meet Shigeru Miyamoto in just over a fortnight.