You might not know it, but the charismatic front man of Nine Inch Nails just happens to be a huge video game fan. Not only that, he's also a huge fan of Nintendo.
Joystiq recently caught up with Trent and conducted an interview in which he shared many of his thoughts and stories on the gaming industry and Nintendo in particular. Here's a snippet of the Joystiq interview and you can click below to check out the full interview.
Joystiq: What's your take on Microsoft and Sony entering the motion-controlled market?
Trent: Me and Rob are both big Nintendo fans for a number of reasons. Nintendo approaches gaming from a prospective where Super Mario Bros. is still a classic and doesn't look dated. Look at any game on the PlayStation 1 that tries to exceed past the terrible 3D graphics, with their look alike, sound alike franchise attempts.
With Nintendo, there's this kind of aesthetic that they bring to their in-house games that makes them feel like art. Where they aren't trying to be something else, where they have their own place and are just what they are. I've talked with Rob about this, about why that kind of game is cool, has a timelessness to it and isn't trying to be more than what it is. If I were going to make a video game today I would not put in rendered, 3D characters that try to look human. You know, where when they talk their lips are out of sync and have this weird aliased thing going on. There's that Shadow Complex game, which does looks cool. Every cut scene has the eyes rendered pretty well, but there's that terrible voice acting and the characters look like Fembots.
Rob: The characters usually look better stylized in a way where it lends itself to the media as opposed to trying to look like the latest 3D-animated movie, which can create things super-realistically. When it's done only half way ... well, it's just kind of weird.
Trent: How that applies to Nintendo, and I'm not saying they haven't f*cked up a few times too, but they have this sense of here's this game, we're aware of the limitations, but we're going to make the game great with taste and integrity. Being honest, I'm not a huge fan of Sony. Their entire strategy behind the PlayStation is to focus on gaming as an experience last and getting a Blu-ray player in your living room comes first. Now, three years later they're trying to release a motion controller that's a little bit better than the Wii's.
Click here to check out the full Joystiq interview with Trent Reznor.
[source joystiq.com]
Comments (26)
You guys should check out this interview. It's a great read.
the interview is really good. give it a try! but that Reznor is a hughe N-Fan isn't really news. check out some of the newer album booklets and look under "Special Thanks"
Trent's a smart guy and I think it's cool that he isn't afraid to say he prefers the so-called "kiddie" system.
With the graphics, I think he's talking about the brain filling the gaps. For example if there's a picture of a guy with a spoon full of porridge, and a next picture with the same guy with an empty spoon and bulging cheeks, there's no mistaking of what's happened. And if these pictures are well done, they're probably better and more effective than most attempts to describe the whole system of the spoon travelling in and out of the mouth.
"If I were going to make a video game today I would not put in rendered, 3D characters that try to look human. You know, where when they talk their lips are out of sync and have this weird aliased thing going on."
I think he just explained the "Uncanny Valley". Basically, the more things look like Tin Toy and less like Toy Story the more messed up it looks..... until you get to photo-realistic
"With Nintendo, there's this kind of aesthetic that they bring to their in-house games that makes them feel like art."
Nicely done
Thanks Trent! Awesome interview from someone who has a real reason to dislike certain companies.
Trent Reznor > Shea LeBouf
whoa now Trent is the kind of guy who knows what hes talking about
Yeah this guy understood what makes Nintendo the best even when Sony was on the top with PS1 and PS2.
He just loves the N because he's a boss in SMW.

I like this guy
Whenever I'm penning music-for-teens-to-self-harm-by, I too find there's nothing quite like a good game of SMW to get the creative juices flowing.
wow. one famous guy disses the wii (shia labeof) and one who likes it. it's all tied up! next celebrity will break the tie.
He probably wants a Rock Band Nine Inch Nails.
After reading the article, i am reminded yet again why Trent is awesome.
I particularly like his comparing what Ninty is doing with the "casual" games and audience as analogous to how gaming was in the arcade days, an excellent comparison that i'm always surprised hasn't come up more in the whole core/casual debate.
I love Trent, it's cool to hear his take on the console wars. I'm actually listening to NIN now, it was surprising to see this article.
Yay for Trent! I've been a fan since the first time I heard NIN in -94. Good article also, lot's of stuff to relate to.
Thanks for the heads up.
As if this guy could possibly get any cooler.
You see that, Mr. Lebeouf? Cool people with actual talent like the Wii!
Trent Reznor Big Fan of Nintendo
Machu Big Fan of Trent Reznor!
Seems like I've been listening to NIN, for as long as I've been listening to music. And to read that interview just compounds his awesomeness, gr8 read thanks.
When you hear artists talk about videogames (yoko onno, steven spielberg, guillermo del toro) they just show that don't know a thing about gaming at all (in the case of Del Toro he is a hardkore gamer)...
...this dude (sorry dunno who is he ) see videogames as a real gamer. I enjoyed that interview.
This guy speaks words of truth.
I don't want a freaking Blu-Ray player! I want to play some games. Why do Microsoft and Sony thing everything has to be real?
Hah, at the very end when it asks if he's going to do a video game soundtrack. He already HAS! A certain game named Quake!
NIN is one of my favourite band ever! Robert and Trent are really talentous people. I've seen them in the, i hope not but it seems so, last performance in Milan, Italy, and i can say that it was one of the best live performance ever. Great band, really great band, one of the best band of the last 20 years.
I think that this article is good. Trent should make some soundtrack music for Nintendo games, he did awesome on Quake and he's got a good catalogue of music, considering for some reason I like his song Only mostly because of the awesome music.
I'm not a fan, but he's obviously a smart guy and he's got the same attitude as the rest of us N-junkies do. It's just well designed stuff and always has been.
N makes games to be VIDEO GAMES, through and through. It is it's own type of media and it's totally legitimate, and it IS art, big sales or not.
I believe the game market has recently surpased the film market for the first time in terms of sales so theres no reason to try to simulate certain film standards of CGI as long as the basics of story can keep us into the interactive parts of a game (for adventures; puzzles, shooters, simulations, sports don't even need that). Nintendo seems to be the company that understands that most clearly and is currently dominating because of that attitude/approach, plain and simple. He says that well here, it's a really great point to be made (if you give a rats ass).
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