Christmas Greetings From Nintendo Europe President Satoru Shibata

Nintendo Europe president Satoru Shibata has taken time out from his busy role overseeing the European division to wish Nintendo fans throughout the globe a very Merry Christmas.

Hello everyone! This is Satoru Shibata of Nintendo of Europe.
First of all, I would really like to thank you all for supporting Nintendo throughout 2013.

I also really appreciate that you continue to watch our Nintendo Direct broadcasts. This year, I tried a few new things in the Nintendo Directs, such as singing “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” and doing a little cosplay of Phoenix Wright and Professor Layton… It was quite embarrassing sometimes, and I don’t think I’ll win any Oscars, but I hope I was able to add to your interest in the titles I introduced in the Nintendo Directs. We certainly had fun filming those sections!

By the way, have you already decided which game you’re going to play over the winter holiday?

To tell you the truth, at the moment, the Wii U at the Shibata family home is experiencing its most activity ever. You might wonder why that is. Well, what my wife and I enjoy doing almost every weekend is singing with Wii Karaoke U. We can easily spend three to four hours singing – my home has pretty much become a Japanese karaoke box! Even when I am on a business trip, my wife continues singing karaoke alone. We always have a big laugh when we see how terrible our singing is by looking at the online rankings. I hope that you will try Wii Karaoke U in your home with your family or friends! It’s really fun!

Another game we love is Wii Fit U. Every day, we wear our Fit Meters to record the number of steps we take and the calories we burn. I may be an extreme example, because on weekends I always play tennis for two hours followed by one hour of exercise at the gym, which results in around 20,000 steps and 800 calories burnt. On the other hand, during the week, I never manage to complete 2,000 steps, and burn only 200 calories, because I am sitting in meetings almost all day. So, on workdays, I play Core Luge when I get home to burn more calories. It looks so easy, but if you try to play it seriously, it’s really quite hard! However, my wife easily achieves 20,000 steps every day by walking our dog twice a day, going grocery shopping and doing housework. So I’m never going to catch up with her efforts – we’re doing the Tour of Italy Walking Challenge and she is way ahead of me already…

I’ve actually been telling my friends, family and business partners who visit us at home so enthusiastically about how much fun we have with Wii Karaoke U and Wii Fit U, that many of them have started to play these games themselves now!

Over the winter holiday, I‘m planning to play SUPER MARIO 3D WORLD. In the past, I have never managed to fully complete this kind of platform game, but I’m really determined to try until I reach the last stage with this title.

I hope you will also enjoy videogames with your family and friends during the festive period and that Nintendo products keep you smiling this Christmas – and next year too!

See you next year in more Nintendo Directs!

I wish you a Merry Christmas & a very Happy New Year!!