Réflexions sur la traduction du jeu vidéo en tant que nouveau média de représentation littéraire

Abstract

Reflections on Video Games Translation as a Literary Representation in the New Media

Large-scale development of video games can be considered as a somewhat new phenomena, even though video games have been gaining more and more adepts during the last few decades. Since the very beginning, videogames have sought for inspiration in literature, with games such as “The Hobbit” released in 1986 on Amstrad CPC. Back then, it was a raw media that didn’t offer much possibilities to the players as well as to the developers. Today, millions of people – not to say billions – play videogames in the entire world. Technologies related to videogames development are more and more complex. Now, the player doesn’t only have to complete simple objectives like with arcade cabinets back in the 1970’s. He can control complex characters and have them evolve in rich environments. Videogame universes are often based on literature, and thus become a representation of literature that has to consider every aspect of the works it interprets: graphisms (sets and characters), music, gameplay, but also language, the main area of interest for translators. We look into the games ABC Murders and The Witcher III in order to examine different aspects of books transcribed in videogames and their inter-semiotic and interlingual translation.