Steven Poole's book on the aesthetics of video games now a free download

A Boing Boing reader says: "Back in the '90's, Steven Poole wrote an influential book called Trigger Happy, about the history and aesthetics of video games. You can now download it for free, or donate what you want."

Trigger Happy is a book about the aesthetics of videogames — what they share with cinema, the history of painting, or literature; and what makes them different, in terms of form, psychology and semiotics.

Link

[#1 posted by Ken Hansen , January 15, 2008 4:36 PM]

24,906 downloads and not one comment here - folks must have jumped right on the 428 pages, not taking time to leave a few mental crumbs for those who never read/heard of this book.

I realize that this may have been publicized elsewhere on the net, but surely some folks came from BoingBoing...

And really, how about adding a Post button on the preview page? It is sorta dumb to have to hit the back button to get a Post button to actually post your comment after previewing it.

[#2 posted by Teresa Nielsen Hayden / Moderator , January 15, 2008 4:45 PM]

Ken, that's a known bug. We're working on it.

[#3 posted by License Farm , January 15, 2008 5:44 PM]

I happened to pick this book up for only $1 unused sometime last year. I'm way behind the curve on video games, having lost most interest about 15 years ago until the introduction of the Wii, but I never discounted the medium's relevance. I may give my hardcopy to a friend studying video game design (if she hasn't already read it) and keep the PDF to read.

[#4 posted by richlach , January 15, 2008 5:57 PM]

Another great book on Video Games as Art is, well, "Video Game Art" by Nic Kelman. It uses the language of art and art-history to analyze the visual work that appears in some of the top video games.

[#5 posted by richlach , January 15, 2008 5:57 PM]

Another great book on Video Games as Art is, well, "Video Game Art" by Nic Kelman. It uses the language of art and art-history to analyze the visual work that appears in some of the top video games.

[#6 posted by Ken Hansen , January 16, 2008 2:42 PM]

RE: #2 - Great - I hadn't heard that before, thanks.