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Zelda was the mother mild, Sackboy, the little child: gamestation recreates the traditional nativity scene  for the gaming generation

Almost 800 years after the first Christmas nativity scene was created by Saint Francis of Assisi in Greccio, Italy in 1223, gamestation has reinterpreted its traditional format for the 21 ^st century with the help of its customers. Polling over 30,000 gamestation customers, gamestation asked gamers who they would like to see ‘play’ the nativity figures this year.

From the results of the poll, gamestation has created a nativity scene for the gaming generation depicting the nation’s most popular gaming characters as the baby Jesus , his mother Mary , Joseph , the three wise men (or three kings),the donkey that carried Mary to Bethlehem and the animals of the cattle shed. Starting the line up in the nativity’s lead role is LittleBigPlanet’s Sackboy, best described as ‘a little hessian sack, all stuffed with fluff… and ice cream’. This doll-like stuffed character was chosen as the best gaming character to mirror the depiction of the baby Jesus in many a British school nativity play.

Joining Sackboy in gamestation’s nativity scene is the heroine of the hugely successful Zelda series, Princess Zelda as the Virgin Mary. Her status as female icon of video games world made her the perfect choice to portray the Madonna in the nativity.

The modern day Joseph is none other than the hero of the Gears of War series Marcus Fenix, a war-hardened soldier and major figurehead in the world of gaming.

The three wise men have been replaced in the gamestation nativity by three ’kings of gaming’; Mario (Super Mario Bros.), Solid Snake (Metal Gear) and Obi-Wan Kenobi (Star Wars).

No nativity scene would be complete without the addition of animals and the donkey of nativities past is replaced by classic gaming characters Sonic the Hedgehog and Yoshi of the Yoshi species from the Super Mario Bros. series. 

Neil Ashurst, Head of UK PR at gamestation comments: “For gamers, Christmas is a time of great excitement and anticipation as they rush to the tree to find out what games they will be playing while everyone else watches re-runs of boring old films and shows on the TV. The gamestation nativity scene celebrates Christmas in a way that is relevant to the gaming generation."