2015 | 22 | Themenheft

Browsing 2015 | 22 | Themenheft by Subject "Games Studies"

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  • Article
    The Game of GAME OF THRONES. George R.R. Martin’s A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE and Its Video Game Adaptations
    Schröter, Felix (2015) , S. 65-82
    Video games have not only become an integral part of most transmedial entertainment franchises but also influenced the narrative and aesthetic conventions of other media, especially film. One consequence of this is the growing prominence of ›game-like‹ narratives (and storyworlds) that subordinate characters and storytelling to more abstract principles of narrative organization. In this article, it is argued that this ›game logic‹ leads to some transmedial storyworlds being especially well-suited for an adaptation as a video game, and that the novel-based transmedial world of George R.R. Martin’s A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE is such a world. Drawing on transmedial narratology, film studies, and game studies, the relationship between transmedial worlds and games will be discussed with reference to three different Game of Thrones video games: the action role-playing game GAME OF THRONES (2012), the browser game GAME OF THRONES ASCENT (2013), and the real-time strategy game A GAME OF THRONES. GENESIS (2011). As will be shown, all three games follow very different strategies in identifying and implementing the core elements of the respective storyworld, mainly informed by generic conventions and (assumed) player preferences. Thus, the comparison also casts a light on medium-specific strengths and weaknesses regarding video games’ contribution to a broader transmedia storytelling context.
  • Article
    »In the Grim Darkness of the Far Future there is only War«. WARHAMMER 40,000, Transmedial Ludology, and the Issues of Change and Stasis in Transmedial Storyworlds
    Baumgartner, Robert (2015) , S. 36-53
    WARHAMMER 40,000 (or WARHAMMER 40k) is a science fantasy tabletop war game set in a dystopian vision of the 41st millennium, with a xenophobic and fascist galaxy-spanning ›Imperium of Man‹ fighting in numerous neverending wars against various inhuman opponents, among them transdimensional demons, ancient robots and swarms of planet-eating bugs. Since its release in 1987, the game has become one of the most successful tabletop brands and has given birth to numerous spinoffs in the form of (more than 120) novels, pen-and-paper role-playing games, comics, and video games. This article acts as an introduction to the complex structure of this particular transmedial franchise, but also explores the consequences of a ludic ›mother ship‹ for further transmedial extensions: as players experience the world by simulative means, they gain a unique ›empirical‹ approach to the facts of the world, which will influence their further dealings with other elements of the storyworld, be it a game, a novel, or a comic. Using a ludological approach, the article then attempts to find the common structural elements shared between the games of the Warhammer 40,000 brand, thus opening the way for further explorations from the perspective of a transmedial ludology. Further more, it sheds light on the franchise’s attempts to advance its storyline with the collective help of fans and players of the original tabletop war game ›mother ship‹, in the process revealing a conflict between the conception of the transmedial storyworld as (mostly) static setting, on the one hand, and as dynamic storyline, on the other.
  • Article
    The Map Is Not the Territory. Bible and Canon in the Transmedial World of HALO
    Rosendo, Nieves (2015) , S. 54-64
    Building on Henry Jenkins’ definition of transmedia storytelling as »the art of worldmaking« (JENKINS 2006: 114), which puts the world at the center of storytelling, this article focuses on two tools for the apprehension of a transmedial world from a perspective which takes into account the specificity of media and production: the transmedial ›bible‹ and the ›canon‹. For this purpose, I use as an example the entertainment franchise HALO (343i), which originated in the videogame HALO. COMBAT EVOLVED (2001).