For many, videogames are still viewed as a minor form of entertainment, shallow at best, harmful at worst. In this groundbreaking book, Steven Poole draws on movies, painting, history, and literature to analyze what he calls the "inner life" of videogames. Traveling to Tokyo, Los Angeles, and Cannes, he interviews leading figures in the industry, including Jeremy Smith, head of Core Design (home of Lara Croft) and Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari. Tracing their history in order to predict where they are headed, he argues that videogames are a revolutionary force in popular culture. At the dawn of the twenty-first century, videogames are where movies were at the dawn of the twentieth. With increasing investments of talent, capital, and technological creativity, they will become an art form in their own right. Hailed as "eloquent," "essential reading," and "a seminal work" Trigger Happy provides every reader with a thoughtful, witty, and insightful analysis of what makes videogames work. For the uninitiated, it offers an eye-opening and highly instructive look at an entertainment phenomenon that will become more and more a part of our everyday world.