Shut up, Trent Reznor

First, let me say that I am a fan of Nine Inch Nails. I respect what Trent Reznor has done within the music industry. I agree with much of his views. But still, Trent Reznor should shut up about the game industry.
If you're unaware, Trent Reznor and NIN creative director Rob Sheridan gave an interview with Joystiq discussing the game industry and their own personal relation to gaming. If you haven't read the interview, its recommended that you do. Trent does say some insightful things regarding the industry, and you may find that you share some of his opinions as I do, but ultimately you may also see that his views on music and gaming contradict themselves. I'll be pulling quotes from the interview to show just how he does this.

First off, there is the infamous quote that has been circulating the internet and causing flame wars on some message boards and comment sections.

 "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." 

Now that's his opinion and that's fine. The problem is he's a celebrity. So, for some reason, in our society, his opinion carries more weight. More legitimacy. If this exact quote was said by any other anonymous unknown on the internet, it would be torn to shreds and labeled as pure fanboy sentiment. But coming from Trent Reznor, its taken as gospel. And it shouldn't be. It is a fanboy sentiment. For whatever reason he is biased against Sony. Earlier in the interview he says this:

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. 

I'm not exactly sure what to make of this statement its so backwards. What franchises is he referring to? Is he saying The ps1 franchises were copying Super Mario Bros.? Is he saying that the ps1 franchises all looked and sounded alike? In either case the statement is false. First, Nintendo does not own the rights to platform games. Other companies can make them, Trent, its not a ripoff. I can't think of any franchise on the ps1 that looked or sounded like Super Mario Bros. I can think of games that are in the same genre, sure, but none that looked or sounded similar. Second, Nintendo is notorious for regurgitating the same franchise characters over and over. Perhaps I shouldn't use the word regurgitating. Mario, Luigi, Link and Samus are iconic characters and I don't fault Nintendo for putting them in every first party game they produce. But it doesn't make sense to praise Nintendo for it and bash Sony for doing the same. That's why I'm still confused by this statement. 

These next set of quotes is where Trent and Rob's views on music and gaming begin to clash. Earlier in the interview when asked about a game the two of them pitched, Trent responds:

"A few years ago we took that idea to a few of the main publishers, Midway, Activision, etc. And as first time people in a pitch meeting, it was kind of depressing. Depressing to see that the people in control of those studios and publishers are much the same as the people sitting at record companies.
In a record company, they aren't musicians or people who love music, they're people who want to sell plastic discs. They think they have a formula where if they can eliminate the artist from that equation, even better. You see that in the case of the Pussycat Dolls and some of the other fabricated crap that's out there."

That's all well and good, right? There is truth to that, but later he says this:

"The fact that the Wii came out and has been wildly successful is because they picked up on the thing I've been saying all along. They made something simple and fun. It's something that doesn't compete with"Halo: Whatever-The-Fuck," but is actually fun and can resonate with a bunch of people in a low brow way where they didn't focus on how many buttons they could pop into the controller." 

I don't like the Pussycat Dolls. Well, not their music anyway. They are a manufactured group probably designed just to make quick cash off insecure teenage girls and horny teenage boys. Their music is simple and catchy and fun. Do you see it? Trent loves Nintendo for the same reason he hates the music industry. He may not like the Pussycat Dolls or what they represent but there is a market for them. Some people just want to dance and have fun with their music, and not be weighed down with an artists political views. Just as some gamers, like Trent, don't want their games to be complicated. They want them simple and fun. It confuses me how he can praise Nintendo for its simplistic mass market appeal, but still deride the music industry for the same. His contradicting views do become a little more clear later in the interview when he says:

"Music isn't a game, it's supposed to be an emotional kind of experience."

Trent says this in response to being asked whether or not he'll support the Rock Band Network. These words reveal Trent's views on gaming. For him, video games are just that, games. Not meant to be anything more. Its on this point that I disagree the strongest. For myself, and I'm sure for many other gamers like me, video games are a very emotional experience. I like being engrossed in a game. Being pulled into the story and connecting with the protagonist (or antagonist). Being able to control these elements and interact with the story in games is very emotional. Games can evoke strong feelings. I have no problem with Trent Reznor preferring a more casual gaming experience. I enjoy that at times as well. I do have a problem with him dismissing or condemning an area of the industry that I'm very passionate about. I love how gaming has evolved into more that just hop and bop, point and shoot gameplay. I'm sure game developers are happy as well, which is why they make games that are deep and engrossing. There's one more set of contradicting statements by Trent that should close the book on the point I'm trying to make. At the very beginning of the interview, Trent says what type of gamer he is.

"We tried to get all the classics like Metroid, Space Invaders, Robotron and others from that era. I've stayed with gaming throughout the years and have all the current systems and, yes, I still get excited about release day. That said, I've become disillusioned in the last few years with the types of games the big studios put out. They're the same game over and over again just skinned differently. I'm not a believer that everyone wants to necessary play a movie, where game play is overlooked for flashy graphics. That's a disturbing trend." 

Okay, he's retro. That's cool. I can dig that. I don't think cinematic games are a "disturbing trend" but I get what he's saying. But a few questions later he says this:

"Video games are a fairly new form of maturing entertainment that really are art forms. The success of the industry as an art form and a form of entertainment will be if it can rediscover itself and to allow for the redefining of what a video game is. Not necessarily targeting it towards just kids or grandparents or whatever. The goal is always to keep a level of entertainment, excitement and innovation."

Rediscover and redefine what a video game is. Not necessarily targeting kids, or grandparents. Hey Trent, that happened already. It happened when Sony and subsequently Microsoft started appealing  to an older audience with  mature, cinematic games that were more engrossing and required greater emotional investment. It was about ten to fifteen years ago. Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo have already made great innovative strides within the industry. I know some games do focus too heavily on graphics while the actual gameplay suffers, but I don't believe that to be the norm. Especially when developers and publishers are spending so much on games. I know developers want their games to be enjoyable to gamers in all aspects. I think a more disturbing trend is Nintendo's lack of quality control when it comes to its shovelware Wiiware. 

At the end of the day, all these statements are just the opinions of two people. But Trent should realize that his opinion may influence others because of his fame. And he should be more judicious with his statements, only because he does not seemed all that informed about the subject. He implies that lack of knowledge a few times throughout the interview. Trent likes old school games. Trent likes Nintendo. That's great. But Trent shouldn't  falsely accuse Sony, or criticize Halo or Natal, simply because he doesn't like or prefer these things, because other gamers do, and the industry is big enough for us all.