01
January 2013
The year opens under next-generation rumours.
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-2013-01
January 2013
January 2013: The year opens under next-generation rumours.
PS4Xbox OneGTA VThe Last of Us
Timeline archive
Select a year
2013 month drawer
Installed months are active; empty drawers are held for future exhibits.
Gallery 01
News
Five researched month markers or context notes.
02
January 2013
DmC and Ni no Kuni give the old machines a strong start.
A period-context note for the month, written cautiously where the evidence is broader than one exact day.
platform notice
03
January 2013
Players can feel PS3 and Xbox 360 nearing the end of their central role.
A period-context note for the month, written cautiously where the evidence is broader than one exact day.
shop-window label
04
Across 2013
PS4 and Xbox One turn console policy, price and messaging into mainstream arguments.
A year-level context marker included to frame the month without claiming a new event happened on a specific day.
community clipping
05
Across 2013
GTA V and The Last of Us make the old generation feel anything but finished.
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.
March 2013PC / PS3 / Xbox 360
action adventure
Tomb Raider
Lara Croft is rebooted as survival spectacle.
March 2013PC / PS3 / Xbox 360
first-person shooter
BioShock Infinite
Irrational trades Rapture for Columbia and fills the year with argument.
June 2013PlayStation 3
action adventure
The Last of Us
Naughty Dog makes late-generation prestige feel bleak, intimate and technical.
August 2013PC
simulation
Papers, Please
A border booth becomes one of indie gaming's sharpest moral machines.
September 2013PS3 / Xbox 360
open-world action
Grand Theft Auto V
Rockstar makes Los Santos into a late-generation cultural event.
October 2013Nintendo 3DS
RPG
Pokemon X and Y
Pokemon moves into full 3D worldwide and all at once.
November 2013PC / PS3 / PS4 / Xbox 360 / Xbox One
first-person shooter
Call of Duty: Ghosts
The annual shooter straddles old and new hardware.
November 2013Nintendo 3DS
adventure
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
Nintendo revisits a classic map with unusual lightness.
Gallery 03
Hardware
Platform, buying and industry context for the month and its wider year.
PlayStation 4 launches in Europe
Sony's console reaches Europe and the UK on November 29 with a strong price-and-power message.
Xbox One launches in the UK
Microsoft's console reaches the UK on November 22 after a difficult messaging year.
Wii U struggles for attention
Nintendo's home console receives excellent games but remains commercially awkward.
Sharing becomes platform design
PS4's share button and Xbox recording features make broadcasting part of the console pitch.
Gallery 04
Magazine Covers
Reconstructed shelf markers for print, digital covers and late magazine culture.
2013
Edge
A reconstructed marker for 2013's changing console and digital culture.
2013
PC Gamer UK
A UK PC marker for 2013's downloads, mods, strategy and online habits.
2013
Official PlayStation Magazine UK
A PlayStation shelf marker for 2013's Sony hardware, exclusives and PSN context.
2013
Official Xbox Magazine UK
An Xbox shelf marker for 2013's Live, shooters, services and hardware arguments.
Gallery 05
Online Life
How the network felt around the edges of play.
Services and servers
GTA Online turns a boxed blockbuster into a service that stumbles, recovers and persists.
Downloads and stores
Console reveals are watched, clipped and argued about instantly across Twitter, forums and YouTube.
Forums and feeds
PS4 and Xbox One build sharing and recording into their identity.
Everyday connection
Indie PC games such as Papers, Please prove small games can carry huge cultural weight online.
Gallery 06
What It Felt Like
A curator's narrative sketch of the month as lived culture.
01
The room
It felt like the end of one generation and the messy birth of another, with both happening in public.
02
The shelf
The Last of Us and GTA V made PS3 and Xbox 360 seem almost defiant, as if they refused to leave quietly.
03
The conversation
PS4 and Xbox One arrived as arguments first and machines second: price, DRM, Kinect, sharing, used games, power.
04
The afterimage
In the UK, November had proper launch-night electricity again, even if many players spent it refreshing stock pages.