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Auteurism and game localization — revisiting translational approaches: Film quotations in multimedia interactive entertainment
Abstract
In the fertile ground between cinema and video games, Hideo Kojima’s
Metal Gear Solid
saga stands out for its
auteur
’s clear tendency to use film language and aesthetics and for his evident inspiration from pop culture and the American cinematic tradition. Moreover, the series is rich in quotations meant to pay tribute to cinema and communicate with movie-cultured players intertextually. With regard to the process of localization,
auteurist
references to film culture represent a constraint for translators rendering Kojima’s game into different languages for a
Metal Gear Solid
-educated audience. This paper presents a comparative analysis of some film quotations in their English into Italian and Spanish localizations of Kojima’s
Metal Gear Solid
series in order to demonstrate the importance of loyalty to the game experience as a whole within a translational-cultural approach to localization.
... Discussions about video game localization problems circumnavigate around culture specifics and culturalization (Di Marco, 2007;Dietz, 2007;Carlson and Corliss, 2010;Edwards, 2011), auteurism (Pettini, 2015), ludology (O'Hagan, 2005;Chandler, 2005;Mangiron and O'Hagan, 2013;Purnomo, 2015;Purnomo and Untari, 2015;), narratology (Corliss, 2011), spatial problems (Mangiron and O'Hagan, 2006), and legal issues and norms (Thayer and Kolko, 2004;Mandiberg, 2015). This research focuses on ludological perspectives with the emphasis on the asset constructing structures, the gap left in the previous research from ludological perspectives. ...
This research attempts to reveal how video game localization might influence the structures that establish an in-game asset, which we call ludens. To accomplish this objective, the English and Indonesian versions of Buff Knight were analyzed. The data of this research, referring to Esselink's localization theory, comprise of linguistic, operational, and cosmetic data. The analyzed linguistic data, treated as the primary data, are of word units. Meanwhile operational data, treated as primary contextual data, refer to the words and images in possession of operational functions and cosmetic data, treated as secondary contextual data, are images and icons with visual regime functions. Applying Aarseth's textonomy theory, the research reveals that Buff Knight has three assets namely narrative driven, gameplay driven, and narrative gameplay-driven assets. Narrative driven assets are perceptible from comic balloon like dialogue box, story embedded instruction, and the game opening. Gameplay driven assets are noticeable from opening screen, in-game battle mechanics, interface, and particles. Narrative-gameplay assets are seen from story embedded tutorial. Applying the theory of ludic linguistics for video game analysis as proposed by Purnomo et. al., each ludens is revealed to have distinctive types. In the three assets, the types of ludens revealed in Buff Knight are explicit and definitive. When the title was localized into Jagoan Jones, the ludens types are shifted into explicit, definitive, and inferential. These findings imply that translation with localization orientation, due to its domesticating ideology, might rend the asset building structures, the ludens.
Web 2.0 has led to proliferation of crowdsourcing in many areas, not the least of which is translation and particularly localization. Another, simultaneous but unconnected phenomenon has been the proliferation of free/libre open source software (FLOSS). We use examples from a case of crowdsourced localization of FLOSS, the Finnish localization of KDE Plasma desktop environment. We discuss the role of the translator in FLOSS, the nature of crowdsourced localization as translation, and the ways in which crowdsourced localization may change the way we see some basic concepts of translation such as the source and target texts.
This book explores the impact of a video game’s degree of realism or fictionality on its linguistic dimensions, investigating the challenges and strategies for translating realia and irrealia, the interface of the real world and the game world where culture-specificity manifests itself.
The volume outlines the key elements in the translation of video games, such as textual non-linearity, multitextuality, and playability, and introduces the theoretical framework used to determine a game’s respective degree of realism or fictionality. Pettini applies an interdisciplinary approach drawing on video game research and Descriptive Translation Studies to the linguistic and translational analysis of in-game dialogues in English-Italian and English-Spanish language pairs from a corpus of three war video games. This approach allows for an in-depth look at the localization challenges posed by the varying degree of realism and fictionality across video games and the different strategies translators employ in response to these challenges. A final chapter offers a comparative analysis of the three games and subsequently avenues for further research on the role of culture-specificity in game localization.
This book is key reading for students and scholars interested in game localization, audiovisual translation studies, and video game research.
From its humble beginning in the 1970's, the video games industry has flourished and become a worldwide phenomenon. Although most games are developed in Japanese and English, the globalisation of popular culture and the desire to expand to new markets have led most producers to localise their games into many target language versions. This has brought about the emergence of a new field in translation, game localisation, which combines elements of audiovisual translation and software localisation. This paper looks at the specific features of game localisation which give it its unique nature. It examines the priorities and constraints associated with translation of this particular genre, which relies heavily on imagination and creativity to deliver a satisfactory game experience. Using as a case study the best-selling PlayStation series, Final Fantasy, examples are presented to illustrate the challenges game localisers face, focusing particularly on linguistic and cultural issues.
Video games are part of the growing digital entertainment industry for which game localization has become pivotal in serving international markets. As well as addressing the practical needs of the industry to facilitate translator and localizer training, this book seeks to conceptualize game localization in an attempt to locate it in Translation Studies in the context of the technologization of contemporary translation practices. Designed to provide a comprehensive introduction to the topic of game localization the book draws on the literature in Game Studies as well as Translation Studies. The book’s readership is intended to be translation scholars, game localization practitioners and those in Game Studies developing research interest in the international dimensions of the digital entertainment industry. The book aims to provide a road map for the dynamic professional practices of game localization and to help readers visualize the expanding role of translation in one of the 21st century's key global industries.
This paper addresses the issue of video game localisation focusing on the different strategies to be used from the point of view of Translation Studies. More precisely, the article explores the possible relation between the translation approaches used in the field and the different genres or textual typologies of video games. As the narrative techniques and the story lines of video games have become more complex and well-developed, the adaptation of games entails a serious challenge for translators. Video games have evolved into multimodal and multidimensional products and new approaches and insights are required when studying the adaptation of games into different cultures. Electronic entertainment provides an interesting and barely explored corpus of analysis for Translation Studies, not only from the point of view of localisation but also as long as audiovisual translation is concerned.
Dentro del variado sector de los videojuegos, existe un tipo de videojuegos, los de contenido histórico, que podría contribuir a perfilar la hipótesis de Mangiron y O’Hagan (2006) de que los videojuegos confieren al traductor un grado de libertad para desviarse del texto original especialmente amplio. En el presente artículo se trata de demostrar cómo este tipo de videojuegos puede requerir por lo general más documentación que creatividad, debido al realismo de los productos, que limita la libertad del traductor. Las conclusiones del artículo, derivadas principalmente de ejemplos extraídos de la versión española del videojuego estadounidense Age of Empires iii, sitúan a los videojuegos de contenido histórico junto con los basados en libros infantiles, en los que la libertad del traductor se ve limitada por el hecho de que la traducción esté condicionada por la traducción oficial de las obras literarias en las que los productos se basan (Bernal-Merino, 2009).
The study of authorship has not only elevated film and other media as means of personal expression; it has promoted a particular way of explaining authors' works. This chapter is how Bresson worked with the cine-matographer Leonce-Henri Burel to translate the author's restrained conception of cinema into concrete photographic solution. Their collaboration shows the author's intentions in flux: Bresson relied upon Burel's skills and expertise to discover new ways to strip his images of showy effects. Bresson's preliminary stance to achieve a pared-down look guided their practice, but the problems and solutions related to it shifted over the course of their collaboration. Through the intentional flux paradigm, students of film and media can continue to attribute films, television shows, and videogames to a single, governing agent who stipulates its broad aesthetic commitments; but they can also develop an appreciation for the hidden hands at work in an author's art.
Throughout the history of Digital Entertainment Systems, game designers have aspired to create more and more engaging and
immersive experiences, which grab the player’s attention and refuse to let go.
Aquest article presenta els diferents tipus de text que poden trobar els traductors quan treballen per a la indústria del software d'entreteniment multimèdia interactiu i explica que els videojocs exigeixen habilitats diferents als traductors, com ara conèixer les memòries de traducció, ser capaços de cercar informació i ser creatius.
Video Games and Children’s Books in Translation
- Bernal Merino
“A Brief History of Game Localisation. TRANS
- Bernal Merino
Game Localization Management: Balancing Linguistic Quality and Financial Efficiency
- Bartelt Krantz
Hideo Kojima: Video Game Drop-out
- Parkin
Hideo Kojima: Game Guru, Movie Maniac
- Kent
Hideo Kojima: L’enfant Terrible
- Bittanti
Sneaking Mission: Late Imperial America and Metal Gear Solid
- Noon