Rating: 
Summary: Computer game aesthetics
Review: Trigger Happy is indeed a noteworthy book. Here we find a look upon computer games from an aesthetic perspective with out trying to find ridiculous narratives. There is a well-described peircian computer semiotics, however it would have been better if the athor had indeed known the computer semiotic origins like Peter Bøgh Andersen and Jens F. Jensen. And there is to much focus on Lara Croft - like as if the athor was possessed. In the end the book becomes boringly moralizing.However the analysis of the computer games are indeed clever, so please buy the book if you are a computer game researcher.
Rating: 
Summary: How everyday leisure activity is continuing to evolve
Review: Trigger Happy: Video Games And The Entertainment Revolution is a fascinating, informative and timely study of video games as a widespread and transformational force in modern popular culture. Electronic home video games are on the brink of overtaking movie ticket sales and becomes a larger part of our leisure time activities with every passing day. Individual chapters address the history of interactive video games, their effects on players, their widespread perception and much more. An involving and seminal work, Trigger Happy is very highly recommended for everyone with an interest in how everyday leisure activity is continuing to evolve and expand through the phenomenon of interactive electronic video games!
Rating:
Summary: The best book about videogames since "Game Over."
Review: When I read "Game Over" by David Sheff a few years ago, I really enjoyed it but it was a bit too focussed on the one company. (Nintendo by the way). With "Trigger Happy", you get far more varied views on the subject and a far more approachable writing style. The ideas which Mr Poole explores are well thought out. Among these are trips down nostalgia lane, thoughts about why we accept the ludicrously unrealistic(The 'laser' passage just has to be read - it's fantastic!), and the future of videogames as an art form. The book is worth every penny of it's lofty price tag - buy it!(Oh, by the way, read "Game Over" by David Sheff too because, until this came out, that book held the position of 'Best book written about videogames. Ever.')
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant aesthetic History of video games
Review: With Trigger Happy, Steven Poole offers a critical look at the aesthetic history of games. To the informed reader of gaming literature, this subject matter may sound vaguely familiar: Another journalist - game aficionado writes a personal history of games based on personal reflections, email interviews with industry insiders, and the obligatory field trip to E3. Great. , I already read JC Herz's Joystick Nation four years ago; why should I read this? I'll have to admit that after reading Jon Katz' latest "up up down down", piece which discusses Trigger Happy, I was prepared to be disappointed. If all that Katz took away from the book was that games are an important part of contemporary culture, the electronic entertainment industry is as big as the movie industry, and Lara Croft has a hot body, then reading Trigger Happy would be a waste of time. Thankfully, Trigger Happy is more than an update of Joystick Nation; in fact, Trigger Happy is the most thorough deconstruction of the games themselves written to date while retaining the same witty, irreverent style that made Joystick Nation so engaging. Poole offers a fresh, entertaining, and insightful look at games that is accessible to novices and seasoned gamers alike. At its heartTrigger Happy is an aesthetic history of games, tracing their development from primitive black and white 2 player games into complex popular-art accomplishments. Poole, a journalist, writer, and composer brings a keen eye (and ear), to his subject matter, interweaving semiotics, personal history, critical analysis, and a love for games into a creative, cleverly written aesthetic discussion of games. In doing so, he raises the ante for game designers, critics and aficionados looking to examine games as an art-form. Trigger Happy succeeds because Poole examines games in much greater depth than any of his contemporaries. He looks at how games are made. He examines game players -- from a cross cultural perspective, and then he looks at the games themselves, applying literary, philosophical, and semiotic analysis to games. The book is thorough and well thought out -- enough that it could be used in an academic context. Fortunately, Poole doesn't lose the reader in technical jargon or philosophical babble; he keeps the focus squarely on the games, and what makes games fun. More than any other published book to date, Trigger Happy lays the foundation for a field of electronic gaming criticism. Steven Poole gives great insight into what makes a great game, and offers the reader a useful set of conceptual tools to understand games. Although, Poole's goal is not really to provide an academic treatise, Trigger Happy is so articulate, so original, that it succeeds as an academic work as well as entertainment. Of course, there are minor details that the reader may quibble with - but engaging in a dialogue with Poole about games is half the fun of reading this book. If you're looking for thoughtful look at the games that entertain us...that make us Trigger Happy, you can't miss this book.
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