<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>The present article analyses the manner in which AAA action-adventure games adapt, quote, and reference Shakespeare’s plays in order to borrow the bard’s cultural capital and assert themselves as forms of art. My analysis focuses on three major releases: <italic>Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots</italic>, <italic>BioShock: Infinite</italic>, and <italic>God of War</italic>. The article shows that these games employ narrative content from Shakespeare’s plays in order to adopt traits traditionally associated with the established arts, such as narrative depth and complex characters. In addition to this, explicit intertextual links between the games’ respective storyworlds and the plays are offered as ludic rewards for the more involved players who thoroughly explore game space.<sup>1</sup></p></abstract>

The present article analyses the manner in which AAA action-adventure games adapt, quote, and reference Shakespeare’s plays in order to borrow the bard’s cultural capital and assert themselves as forms of art. My analysis focuses on three major releases: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, BioShock: Infinite, and God of War. The article shows that these games employ narrative content from Shakespeare’s plays in order to adopt traits traditionally associated with the established arts, such as narrative depth and complex characters. In addition to this, explicit intertextual links between the games’ respective storyworlds and the plays are offered as ludic rewards for the more involved players who thoroughly explore game space.1

Shakespeare and the Accumulation of Cultural Prestige in Video Games

Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Film and Media Studies

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"Shakespeare and the Accumulation of Cultural Prestige in Video Games"}

The present article analyses the manner in which AAA action-adventure games adapt, quote, and reference Shakespeare’s plays in order to borrow the bard’s...

Shakespeare and the Accumulation of Cultural Prestige in Video Games

Published Online: Oct 30, 2019

Page range: 115 - 128

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ausfm-2019-0018

Keywords
Shakespeare, remediation, video games, action-adventure, cultural capital, cultural prestige

© 2019 Andrei Nae, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Shakespeare and the Accumulation of Cultural Prestige in Video Games

Published Online: Oct 30, 2019

Page range: 115 - 128

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ausfm-2019-0018

KeywordsShakespeare, remediation, video games, action-adventure, cultural capital, cultural prestige

© 2019 Andrei Nae, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
Shakespeare, remediation, video games, action-adventure, cultural capital, cultural prestige