Games Released in December 2004

260 new games released in December 2004, with PC (Microsoft Windows) being the most active platform. December 3 was the busiest day, with 29 new releases.

Which days had the most releases?

December 3 saw the most activity with 29 releases.

How did each week compare?

The first week of December was the busiest with 92 releases.

Week 2 (December 8–14)

66 releases
Lumines

Most popular release in Week 2

Lumines

Lumines is a block-dropping game, that may seem at first to be similar to Columns and Tetris. A 2 x 2 square (an O tetromino) made of four smaller block pieces is dropped into the playing field, which may appear different as the player advances through levels or skins. The small blocks that comprise the larger blocks will be one of two different colors. The objective is to rotate and align the blocks in such a way as to create 2x2 squares of the same color, which may span multiple blocks and, indeed, share blocks. For example, if one should get a 2x3 area of matching blocks, the middle portion will "share" itself with both the left and right halves and create two 2x2 squares. After the "timeline", which is synchronized to the music, sweeps over the matching blocks, they disappear. When too many unmatched blocks pile up to the point where no more blocks may be dropped in the playing field, the game ends. When part of a falling block hits an obstruction, the unobstructed portion of the block will split off and continue to fall. More points are scored by creating the largest number of squares during one "timeline" sweep. Increasing score multipliers are earned by repeatedly clearing squares on consecutive timeline sweeps. Bonuses are also awarded by reducing all remaining tiles to one single color or for removing all non-active tiles from the screen altogether. Occasionally, a block falls with a special square of one of the two colors with a "jewel" in the center. This square, when cleared as part of a matched 2x2 square, will cause all individual blocks of the same color that are horizontally or vertically adjacent to the matched 2x2 square, or to an adjacent square, to be cleared without score. These can be used for both generating large bonuses, since generally several blocks of the other color will be formed once these are removed, as well as to help the player recover if the field becomes too cluttered.

Which platforms saw the most releases?

PC (Microsoft Windows) received 72 new titles in December 2004. The runner up was PlayStation 2 with 59 new titles.

PC (Microsoft Windows)72 releases
PlayStation 259 releases
Game Boy Advance49 releases
Xbox19 releases
Nintendo DS18 releases
PlayStation Portable17 releases
Nintendo GameCube16 releases
Legacy Mobile Device14 releases
Mac9 releases
Web browser7 releases

What genres were most popular?

Adventure was the dominant genre in December 2004 with 50 titles. Shooter followed closely with 32.

Adventure50
Shooter32
Puzzle31
Strategy30
Simulator29
Role-playing28
Platform27
Sport25
Arcade23
Fighting22