01
November 2004
Halo 2, Half-Life 2, World of Warcraft and Metal Gear Solid 3 arrive in the same month.
A period-context note for the month, written cautiously where the evidence is broader than one exact day.
release calendar card
Gaming History, One Month at a Time
GTM-2004-11
November 2004
November 2004: Halo 2, Half-Life 2, World of Warcraft and Metal Gear Solid 3 arrive in the same month.
DSPSPHalo 2WoW
Timeline archive
Select a year
2004 month drawer
Installed months are active; empty drawers are held for future exhibits.
Gallery 01
News
Five researched month markers or context notes.
02
November 2004
Nintendo DS launches in North America on November 21.
A period-context note for the month, written cautiously where the evidence is broader than one exact day.
platform notice
03
November 2004
November 2004 feels almost absurd in hindsight.
A period-context note for the month, written cautiously where the evidence is broader than one exact day.
shop-window label
04
Across 2004
The existing console generation reaches one of its richest software peaks.
A year-level context marker included to frame the month without claiming a new event happened on a specific day.
community clipping
05
Across 2004
Nintendo DS and PSP make handheld gaming feel like a new battleground.
A year-level context marker included to frame the month without claiming a new event happened on a specific day.
context plaque
Gallery 02
Releases
Eight notable releases, led by month-specific anchors where evidence supports them.
November 2004Xbox
console FPS
Halo 2
Xbox Live, headsets and matchmaking become part of the console's identity.
November 2004Windows
first-person shooter
Half-Life 2
Valve makes physics, faces and Steam activation feel like the future and a nuisance at once.
November 2004Windows / Mac
MMORPG
World of Warcraft
Blizzard turns Azeroth into a subscription routine.
November 2004PlayStation 2
stealth action
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
Kojima takes stealth into the jungle and turns Cold War melodrama operatic.
March 2004Windows / Linux / Mac
arena FPS
Unreal Tournament 2004
Arena shooters reach one of their last grand PC retail forms.
March 2004Windows
first-person shooter
Far Cry
Crytek makes PC islands look impossibly bright and expensive.
March 2004Xbox
action
Ninja Gaiden
Team Ninja gives Xbox a hard, glossy action showcase.
August 2004Windows
first-person shooter
Doom 3
id's horror-lit corridor shooter becomes a graphics-card trial.
Gallery 03
Hardware
Platform, buying and industry context for the month and its wider year.
Nintendo DS launches in North America and Japan
Dual screens and a stylus offer an odd answer to Sony's coming PSP.
PSP launches in Japan
Sony's handheld arrives as a glossy media device and a serious challenge to Nintendo's portable monopoly.
PS2 Slim arrives
Sony makes the market leader smaller and cheaper-looking at the moment competitors need it to seem old.
Steam becomes unavoidable for Half-Life 2
Valve ties a major PC release to online activation, making the client impossible to ignore.
Gallery 04
Magazine Covers
Reconstructed shelf markers for print, demo discs and late high-street culture.
2004
Edge
A reconstructed marker for one of the most crowded years in modern game memory.
2004
PC Gamer UK
A PC marker for Far Cry, Doom 3, Rome, Half-Life 2 and the first steps toward WoW routine.
2004
Official Xbox Magazine UK
An Xbox marker for Halo 2, Live headset culture and the console's strongest identity.
2004
Official PlayStation 2 Magazine UK
A PS2 marker for San Andreas, Burnout 3 and Sony's continuing high-street dominance.
Gallery 05
Online Life
How the network felt around the edges of play.
Forums and files
Halo 2 makes console online play feel social, competitive and immediate through matchmaking and voice.
Services and servers
World of Warcraft starts turning guilds, subscriptions and online schedules into ordinary gaming language.
Voice and identity
Steam activation around Half-Life 2 makes PC ownership feel newly account-based.
Everyday connection
Forums and magazine cover discs still sit beside the network; the old and new delivery systems overlap.
Gallery 06
What It Felt Like
A curator's narrative sketch of the month as lived culture.
01
The room
It felt like too much arrived at once. San Andreas, Halo 2, Half-Life 2, WoW, Metal Gear, Burnout and handheld news all seemed to compete for the same oxygen.
02
The shelf
The old console generation did not feel old; it felt overpowered with possibility.
03
The conversation
The DS and PSP made the future portable before the living-room next generation had even begun.
04
The afterimage
By Christmas, online play had changed tone: not a novelty, not universal, but clearly part of where games were going.