Skip to content
1981
1-2: Playing with Voice: Listening for Audio-Visual Expressions and Representations of Voice, Vocality and Speech Acts in Games
  • ISSN: 2057-0341
  • E-ISSN: 2057-035X

Abstract

Whilst Welsh voices are used consistently within western film and television to denote Wales, across diverse multimedia spaces like (2017) and (2015), Welshness appears othered and fixed in the ‘magical’ in video games. English localizations of Japanese video games use Welsh voices and accents to encourage a connection with these magical spaces, and Celtic fetishized histories, for players who can identify this accent – which is primarily British audiences. This article highlights the impact of Welsh voices in signifying the mythological and magical game world across a combination of accent, language and music. I identify how Welsh voices are used in these spaces where other ludomusicology scholarship often does not acknowledge language and accent when discussing aural and sonic elements of video games, specifically focusing on localizations of Japanese role-playing games so consistently by analysing games such as , and .

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/jivs_00091_1
2025-05-27
2026-04-13

Metrics

Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Aaron, Jane (2013), ‘Witches, druids and the hounds of Annwn’, in Welsh Gothic, Cardiff: University of Wales Press, pp. 13969.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Ari Aster (2018), Hereditary, USA: A24.
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Bandai Namco Studios (2015), Tales of Zestiria, Tokyo: Bandai Namco Entertainment.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Barthes, Roland (ed.) (1977), ‘The grain of the voice’, Image, Music, Text, London: Fontana Press, pp. 17989.
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Bernal-Merino, Miguel Á. (2014), Translation and Localisation in Video Games, New York: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Campos Calvo-Sotelo, Javier (2017), ‘I Celti, la prima Europa: The role of Celtic myth and Celtic music in the construction of European identity’, Popular Music and Society, 40:4, pp. 36989, https://doi.org/10.1080/03007766.2015.1121642.
    [Google Scholar]
  7. CD Projekt Red (2011), The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, Warsaw: CD Projekt Red.
    [Google Scholar]
  8. CD Projekt Red (2015), The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Warsaw: CD Projekt Red.
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Collyer, Rachel (2023), ‘Attitudes to representations of medieval music in role-playing computer games’, Journal of Sound and Music in Games, 4:2, pp. 123, https://doi.org/10.1525/jsmg.2023.4.2.1.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Cook, James (2020), ‘Sonic medievalism, world building, and cultural identity in fantasy video games’, in K. Fugelso (ed.), Studies in Medievalism XXIX, Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer Limited, pp. 21738.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Davies, Janet (2014), The Welsh Language: A History, Cardiff: University of Wales Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Donnelly, Kevin J. (2014), Occult Aesthetics, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Fimi, Dimitra (2011), ‘Filming folklore: Adapting fantasy for the big screen through Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings’, in J. M. Bogstad and P. E. Kaveny (eds), Picturing Tolkien: Essays on Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings Film Trilogy, New York: McFarland & Company, pp. 84115.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Fountain, Daniela (2018), ‘“Frame not my lute”: The musical Tudor Court on the big screen’, in J. Cook, A. Kolassa and A. Whittaker (eds), Recomposing the Past: Representations of Early Music on Stage and Screen, New York: Routledge, pp. 6071.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. FromSoftware (2022), Elden Ring, Tokyo: FromSoftware.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Game of Thrones (2011–19, USA: HBO).
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Gibbons, William (2021), ‘Open worlds: Globalization, localization and video game music’, in M. Fritsch and T. Summers (eds), The Cambridge Companion to Video Game Music, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 35975.
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Hajkowski, Thomas (2010), The BBC and National Identity in Britain, 1922–53, Manchester: Manchester University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  19. The Haunting of Hill House (2018, USA: Netflix).
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Jackson, Peter (2001), The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, New Zealand, UK and USA: New Line Cinema.
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Jackson, Peter (2001–03), The Lord of the Rings, film series, New Zealand, UK and USA: New Line Cinema.
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Jones, Darryl (2009), ‘Borderlands: Spiritualism and the occult in fin de siècle and Edwardian Welsh and Irish horror’, Irish Studies Review, 17:1, pp. 3144, https://doi.org/10.1080/09670880802658125.
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Leppälahti, Merja (2018), ‘From folklore to fantasy: The living dead, metamorphoses, and other strange things’ (trans. C. Tolley), Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts, 29:2, pp. 179200, https://www.jstor.org/stable/26627620. Accessed 4 April 2025.
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Level-5 (2013), Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, Fukuoka: Level-5.
    [Google Scholar]
  25. Lovecraft, Howard P. (1924), ‘The Rats in the Walls’, Weird Tales, 3:3, pp. 2531.
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Miyazaki, Hayao (2001), Spirited Away, Japan: Toho Co., Ltd.
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Monolith Soft (2010), Xenoblade Chronicles, Kyoto: Nintendo.
  28. Monolith Soft (2017), Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Kyoto: Nintendo.
    [Google Scholar]
  29. Monolith Soft (2022), Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Kyoto: Nintendo.
  30. Noclip – Video Game Documentaries (2017), ‘Translating & adapting The Witcher 3’, YouTube, 11 October, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gxg5INjNopo. Accessed 4 April 2025.
  31. Nugent, Simon (2018), ‘Celtic music and Hollywood cinema: Representation, stereotype, and affect’, in J. Cook, A. Kolassa and A. Whittaker (eds), Recomposing the Past: Representations of Early Music on Stage and Screen, New York: Taylor & Francis Group, pp. 11226.
    [Google Scholar]
  32. Sapkowski, Andrzej (1986), ‘Wiedźmin’ (‘The Witcher’), Fantastyka, 12:51, pp. 1849.
    [Google Scholar]
  33. Shimizu, Takashi (2002), Ju-On: The Grudge, Japan: Xanadeux.
  34. Smith, Jennifer (2020), ‘Worldbuilding voices in the soundscapes of role playing video games’, unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Huddersfield: University of Huddersfield.
    [Google Scholar]
  35. Stang, Sarah (2018), ‘Shrieking, biting, and licking: The monstrous-feminine in video games’, Press Start, 4:2, pp. 1934.
    [Google Scholar]
  36. Stranger Things (2016–25, USA: Netflix).
  37. Waggner, George (1941), The Wolf Man, USA: Universal Pictures.
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1386/jivs_00091_1
Loading
  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): accent; Celticisms; fantasy; Japan; role playing video games; vocality
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error
Please enter a valid_number test