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Video Games as Modern Multimodal Products

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Enhancing Video Game Localization Through Dubbing

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Translating and Interpreting ((PTTI))

Abstract

After offering a definition of video games that highlights their most important characteristics for translators, this chapter describes the semiotic configuration of interactive products according to the different codes transmitted through three different communication channels. As interaction comes into play, the four game situations into which video games can be divided are presented and defined together with the key concepts of gameplay and playability. Translatable assets are also reviewed and their relationship to game situations is discussed. This chapter concludes with a proposal for game classification based on the single criterion of the interactive genre, that is, the type of activities and skills that the user encounters and puts into practice, making this taxonomy unique to video games compared to other media classifications.

Rather than providing a linear narrative, [video games] offer virtual worlds, or landscapes, inviting players to explore and navigate using diverse audio-visual and haptic resources.

—Ensslin (2012. The Language of Gaming, 5. New York: Palgrave Macmillan)

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The concept of audiovisual translation “mode” is used here as described by authors such as Chaume (2018), Deckert (2020) and Díaz Cintas and Remael (2021) to refer to the various “translation practices that differ from each other in the nature of their linguistic output and the translation strategies on which they rely” (Díaz Cintas and Remael 2021: 7). It will always be used in the framework of audiovisual translation (AVT), which serves as an umbrella term encompassing different AVT modes. These “various ways in which audiovisual productions can be translated into other languages” (ibid.) are listed briefly in Chap. 4 (Sect. 4.1). The term “AVT mode” should not be confused with mode in the context of semiotics, that is, the study of signs and symbols. In this context, mode refers to the traditional semiotic concept of verbal, nonverbal, aural and visual content and is also used throughout this chapter (for further discussion, see Kress and Van Leeuwen 2001). A third meaning for the term mode is included in the glossary and refers to a particular criterion to classify video games (see Sect. 1.3).

  2. 2.

    The concept of medium as an electronic or technical form of communication (Snell-Hornby 2006: 5) should not be confused with medium as a criterion to classify video games (see Sect. 1.3). In this second case, and as defined in the glossary, medium or milieu refers to the particular setting in which a video game takes place (Wolf 2005: 114). In this sense, it is similar to cinematographic or literary genres.

  3. 3.

    Some of these minor exceptions are the smell-o-vision movies from the 50s, in which the sense of smell was used (Delabastita 1989), or productions such as Earthquake (1974), in which an earthquake was simulated with moving seats, and XMILE (2016) by M. Á. Font, in which the sense of smell was stimulated too.

  4. 4.

    The adjective kinesic is used here when referring to the ‘semiotic codes’ in the particular field of science studying body movement and nonverbal behavior (kinesics); kinetic, in turn, is the adjective referring to the movement in general. This is not to be confused with kinesthesia or kinesthesis, the perception of our own body’s position in reference to external stimuli and space (Poyatos 2002b: 34).

  5. 5.

    Whenever a video game is mentioned, unless otherwise stated, its original (untranslated) title will be indicated along with the name of its developers or creators and the year of first release (later releases in different locales might have followed). These developers will not be included in the reference list at the end of the chapter.

  6. 6.

    Cultural adaptations in video games may range from changing colors or icons that have particular meanings in a given locale to eliminating or creating new characters that fit better the expectations of the target players. Dubbing implies a linguistic transfer and it is known that language and culture cannot be considered separately. However, when describing cultural adaptations in video games, modifications beyond linguistic-cultural references are considered, but they will not be the focus of these pages. For further discussion on game culturization and cultural modifications in video games, see Consalvo (2006), Di Marco (2007), O’Hagan and Mangiron (2013) and Bernal-Merino (2016), to name but a few.

  7. 7.

    Available at <https://store.ubi.com/us/games/?lang=en_US> [accessed: May 30, 2020].

  8. 8.

    Available at <https://www.nintendo.es/Buscar/Buscar-299117.html?f=147394-86> and <https://www.nintendo.com/games/game-guide/> [accessed: June 1, 2020].

  9. 9.

    Available at <https://store.steampowered.com/> and <https://www.origin.com/esp/en-us/store/deals> [accessed: May 30, 2020].

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  1. Translation and Communication, Jaume I University, Castelló, Spain

    Laura Mejías-Climent

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Mejías-Climent, L. (2021). Video Games as Modern Multimodal Products. In: Enhancing Video Game Localization Through Dubbing. Palgrave Studies in Translating and Interpreting. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-88292-1_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-88292-1_1

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