Trent Reznor’s cold call led to an awesome game-filled Nine Inch Nails video

Enlarge / If you want dark NIN lyrics in your Polybius, you'll have to beg game creator Jeff Minter for the customized build he sent to Trent Reznor. (credit: Llamasoft/Nine Inch Nails)

Industrial and synth-rock music fans got good news on Thursday when Nine Inch Nails announced its next EP, titled ADD VIOLENCE, coming in only eight days. What's more, fans got a hint of the EP with a catchy single-and to boot, its video includes an out-of-nowhere starring appearance from a video game. NIN went pretty indie here, choosing one of the weirdest video games of 2017.

The entire video for the song "LESS THAN" revolves around a woman playing a customized version of Polybius. No, it's not the urban-legend arcade game that stole souls in Oregon in the '80s; instead, it's the 2017 arcade-action game released by Jeff "Llamasoft" Minter (of Tempest 2000, TxK, and Space Giraffe fame). Minter confirmed to Ars Technica that the project began with a cold call from NIN's Trent Reznor via Twitter direct message.

LESS THAN, the latest Nine Inch Nails single, starring the indie video game Polybius.

"[Trent] mentioned that he'd enjoyed Llamasoft's stuff and he had an idea to discuss," Minter says. "Of course I was super chuffed to hear he'd liked our work, as I've enjoyed his a lot over the years too!"

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