Academic literature on the topic 'Video games localisation'

Over the course of the last three decades the entertainment software industry has become a multibillion dollar industry and a worldwide phenomenon. The United States and Japan have traditionally been the main players in this industry, which owes part of its global success to internationalisation and the associated localisation processes. Due to the cultural distance between Japan and Western countries, Japanese games often undergo extensive cultural adaptation in order to market them successfully in those territories. This paper analyses the localisation of Japanese console games. After presenting a brief overview of the history of the localisation of Japanese games it describes the main internationalisation strategies adopted by Japanese developers and publishers. It also explores the main localisation strategies applied to Japanese games, i.e. domesticating or exoticising, exploring the cultural adaptation processes to which some Japanese games have been subject, and examines how critics and players reacted to the localised versions. Finally, it concludes with a reflection on the extent to which Japanese games should be culturally adapted for their international release in order to strike the right balance between domesticating and exoticising strategies taking into account different factors, such as the genre of the game, the gaming preferences of the target players, and the intended audience.

Abstract With the emergence of video game localisation studies in the last decade, scholarly interest in translation studies in this young discipline has increased. Although globalisation has encouraged video game companies to offer their products in as many languages and markets as feasible, this academic discipline is still an under-researched area, especially in the Arab context. This article presents an overview to engender a better understanding of the nature of video games and their localisation in the Arab market. This market is distinct due to its culture, politics and language. In addition to the translational challenges related to the Arabic language, this study deals with the specificities of video game localisation from political, cultural and linguistic perspectives. This research offers a historical overview of the localisation of video games into Arabic since the inception of the practice, including an outline of the main localisation milestones in this field.

Abstract Through quantitative data analysis, this study explores the attitudes of gamers from different French-speaking locales (Belgium, France, Canada, and Switzerland) in relation to their language preference and opinions of translated material while playing video games. The intended goal is to develop a replicable methodology for data collection about the linguistic preferences of video game players. The research strategy is based on online questionnaires distributed to gamers through social media. The results highlight players’ level of satisfaction regarding the localisation of games and suggest that industry strategies put forward till recently may be rather inadequate. Linguistic preferences seem to vary within locales based on factors such as English language proficiency and personal background. The results of this research may serve the implementation of new localisation strategies for video game products in French-speaking countries of emerging markets or other multinational languages.

Abstract This paper addresses the localization of video games into minority languages by presenting a qualitative study which reports on interviews with professional game localizers and translation scholars from bilingual territories in Spain: the Balearic Islands, the Basque Country, Catalonia, Galicia, and the Valencian Community. The article argues that sociolinguistics has been largely ignored within the emerging field of video game translation, and the implications of and the need to adapt video games into minority languages deserves further investigation. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were held with 5 experts aiming to recall their perceptions and views of the current situation of game localisation in Spain. The analysis of the interviews suggests there is a mismatch between the current reality of video game localisation, which is clearly market-driven, and the scenario for language diversity developed in the European Union and in Spain in the last few decades.

The aim of this paper is to show the particularities of the so-called “romhacking”, a methodology developed by amateurs to localise mainly classic video games. In the first section, the concept and origin of the term “romhacking” is presented. The second section offers an overview of the workflow followed by romhackers to localise video games. In the third section, an analysis of the differences between professional and amateur translations is given. The fourth section includes a discussion of the legal aspects of this practice. The paper concludes with a reflection on the impact of amateur translations on the video game localisation industry.

Abstract Creativity is one of the most highly debated topics in translation not only because of how it relates to authorship but also because of the unavoidable cultural ramifications and the business implications for all the parties involved. Identifying the parameters within which creative translation operates in entertainment media requires a complex process that comprises a large amount of variables beyond the linguistic ones. Semiotics is suggested as a robust analytical tool to study the layering of meaning-making in entertainment products, in other words, their polysemioticity. Multimedia interactive entertainment software (MIES), a. k. a. video games, adds levels of complexity never seen before in translation due to their functional requirements. In order to identify the features that separate other entertainment products from MIES, this article analyses also the translation of novels, comics and films. The concept of playability is utilised as a way of isolating the pragmatic challenges of video game localisation.

Game localisation is a type of audiovisual translation that has gradually been gathering scholarly attention since the mid-2000s, mainly due to the increasing and ubiquitous presence of video games in the digital society and the gaming industry's need to localise content in order to access global markets. This paper will focus on burning issues in this field, that is, issues that require specific attention, from an industry and/or an academic perspective. These include the position of game localisation within the wider translation studies framework, the relationship between game localisation and audiovisual translation, game accessibility, reception studies, translation quality, collaborative translation, technology, and translator training.

The present thesis is a study of the translation of video games with a particular emphasis on the Spanish-English language pair, although other languages are brought into play when they offer a clearer illustration of a particular point in the discussion. On the one hand, it offers a descriptive analysis of the video game industry understood as a global phenomenon in entertainment, with the aim of understanding the norms governing present game development and publishing practices. On the other hand, it discusses particular translation issues that seem to be unique to these entertainment products due to their multichannel and polysemiotic nature, in which verbal and nonverbal signs are intimately interconnected in search of maximum game interactivity. Although this research positions itself within the theoretical framework of Descriptive Translation Studies, it actually goes beyond the mere accounting of current processes to propose changes whenever professional practice seems to be unable to rid itself of old unsatisfactory habits. Of a multidisciplinary nature, the present thesis is greatly informed by various areas of knowledge such as audiovisual translation, software localisation, computer assisted translation and translation memory tools, comparative literature, and video game production and marketing, amongst others. The conclusions are an initial breakthrough in terms of research into this new area, challenging some of the basic tenets current in translation studies thanks to its multidisciplinary approach, and its solid grounding on current game localisation industry practice. The results can be useful in order to boost professional quality and to promote the training of translators in video game localisation in higher education centres.

Localisation is the process of taking a product and adapting it to fit the culture in question. This usually involves making it both linguistically and culturally appropriate for the target audience. While there are many areas in video game translations where localisation holds a factor, this study will focus on localisation changes in the personalities of fictional characters between the original Japanese version and the English localised version of the video game Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn and its expansion Heavensward for PC, PS3 and PS4. With this in mind, specific examples are examined using Satoshi Kinsui's work on yakuwarigo, role language as the main framework for this study. Five non-playable characters were profiled and had each of their dialogues transcribed for a comparative analysis. This included the original Japanese text, the officially localised English text and a translation of the original Japanese text done by myself. Each character were also given a short summary and a reasoned speculation on why these localisation changes might have occurred. The result shows that there were instances where some translations had been deliberately adjusted to ensure that the content did not cause any problematic issues to players overseas. This could be reasoned out that some of the Japanese role languages displayed by characters in this game could potentially cause dispute among the western audience. In conclusion, the study shows that localisation can be a difficult process that not only requires a translator's knowledge of the source and target language, but also display some creativity in writing ability to ensure that players will have a comparable experience without causing a rift in the fanbase.

This thesis seeks to introduce the concept of role language in translation in the context of video game localisation. There is very little written on the subject of role language in translation from Japanese to English, and none which pertains to role language in video games. There is also a seeming deficiency of reliable literature regarding the product of translation in video game localisation, analysing what was done and what effects it may have had on the finished product. By analysing the particular role language profiles of selected characters from Bokujō Monogatari: Hajimari no Daichi for the Nintendo 3DS, this thesis hopes to serve as a stepping stone towards a new area of video game localisation. Eight non-playable characters, four male and four female, were analysed to create their respective role language profiles. Four scenarios were chosen for each character: the first and last heart event, the love confession and the married life sequence. The translations of each of these scenarios were analysed, along with how the respective characters were linguistically portrayed. The study found that although many characters were found to retain most of their original linguistic profiling in translation, there were instances where misconception of the source text could have been a factor. The translations where this rather than a different linguistic profile altered the character’s perception, the translations were often ST-oriented. In translations where the characterisation had been unaltered, predominantly it seemed the result of a critical distance from the ST and willingness on the translator’s part to take creative liberties. Role language is an integral feature of Japanese popular fiction, and it would seem that the fictional realms of video games are no exception. Although this thesis has studied only a limited sample, it would not be entirely out of line to draw the initial conclusion that to take a step back from the source material and instead focus on conveying a perception of a character rather than follow the written script, seems to result in a character portrayal in the target text similar to that in the source text.<br>Denna uppsats ämnar introducera översättning av rollspråk som en del av spellokalisering. Det finns inte mycket skrivet om rollspråk i översättning från japanska till engelska, och inget som åsyftar rollspråk i spel. Det finns även en märkbar brist på studier som behandlar översättning som slutprodukt inom sammanhanget spellokalisering. Genom att analysera utvalda karaktärer från Bokujō Monogatari: Hajimari no Daichi till Nintendo 3DS och hur deras respektive rollspråksprofiler ter sig i översättning, är förhoppningen att denna uppsats ska tjäna som ett första steg mot ett nytt område inom spellokalisering. Åtta karaktärer, fyra manliga och fyra kvinnliga, valdes ut och analyserades för att bygga deras respektive rollspråksprofiler. Fyra videoklipp valdes ut per karaktär, första och sista hjärte-händelsen, kärleksbekännelsen, och livet som gifta. Översättningarna av dessa analyserades, tillsammans med hur de respektive karaktärerna framställdes språkligt. Studien fann att trots att flera av karaktärerna i stort behöll sina ursprungliga språkprofiler i översättning, fanns det tillfällen då källtexten kan ha missuppfattats. Översättningar där detta snarare än en annorlunda framställning av karaktären var skillnaden, visade sig ofta vara mer källtextsorienterade. I översättningar där karaktäriseringen tedde sig likartad, verkar det vara resultatet av ett kritiskt omdöme och avstånd från källtexten tillsammans med översättarens villighet att ta sig friheter med källan. Rollspråk är en väsentlig del i japansk populärlitteratur och populärkultur, och det verkar inte som att spel i sammanhanget skulle vara något undantag. Trots att denna uppsats endast har analyserat ett begränsat urval verkar det inte helt omöjligt att kunna dra en första slutsats där att ta ett steg tillbaka från källtexten och istället lägga fokus på att förmedla en uppfattning av en karaktär, snarare än det skrivna manuset, mycket väl kan leda till en karaktärisering i måltexten som är mer lik samma i källtexten.

This paper looks at the practice and history of video game translation, with the goal of expanding the definition of translation. Video game translation is a complex process that incorporates a number of aspects from other types of translation, such as literary, audiovisual, and software translation, to form a dynamic whole. As a new medium, video games also present their own challenges to translation in the form of interactivity, technology, non-textual and extra-textual elements, audience involvement, and new business practices. Even though video games are a relatively new medium, the practice of translating them has undergone drastic transformations over the years. A case study of the various official translations of Final Fantasy IV provides a brief overview of this development to help the reader get a complete understanding of the video game translation process. The paper concludes by arguing that the different sign systems present in video games are integral to the player’s understanding of the game, and should be considered as aspects that can be translated. Parallels are also drawn between the translation process and the medium of the video game, to show that different approaches to translation can provide the audience with a more holistic view of a work.