Game
Websites in 2004 2004

Archived homepages · 2004

What websites looked like in 2004

55 famous homepages as the Internet Archive captured them in 2004: adobe.com, altavista.com, aol.com, apple.com, bbc.co.uk, bestbuy.com, blizzard.com, gamefaqs.com, gamespot.com, imdb.com, lego.com, lycos.com, microsoft.com, msn.com, nintendo.com, nokia.com, nytimes.com, spacejam.com, theguardian.com, walmart.com, yahoo.com, ea.com, ebay.com, nick.com, amazon.com, ask.com, cartoonnetwork.com, craigslist.org, espn.com, google.com, icq.com, ign.com, ikea.com, newgrounds.com, nike.com, playstation.com, winamp.com, blogger.com, napster.com, netflix.com, paypal.com, cnn.com, deviantart.com, runescape.com, miniclip.com, xbox.com, addictinggames.com, friendster.com, steampowered.com, last.fm, skype.com, tesla.com, digg.com, facebook.com and orkut.com. The oldest site here is adobe.com, archived since 1996. digg.com, facebook.com and orkut.com appear for the first time.

2004

The homepages

Click a page to read its story.

  1. adobe.com – 2004Jun 15, 2004
    adobe.com homepage in 2004

    adobe.com in June 2004: “Adobe extends Intelligent Document Platform” over a glass tower and a dense product grid.

  2. altavista.com – 2004Jun 15, 2004
    altavista.com homepage in 2004

    AltaVista in June 2004: a compact centered blue search form with a red FIND button and “© 2004 Overture Services, Inc.” in the footer.

  3. aol.com – 2004Jun 16, 2004
    aol.com homepage in 2004

    AOL in June 2004: a sales page for dial-up and AOL for Broadband.

  4. apple.com – 2004Jun 9, 2004
    apple.com homepage in 2004

    AirPort Express; the tab is now “iPod+iTunes”.

  5. bbc.co.uk – 2004Jun 16, 2004
    bbc.co.uk homepage in 2004

    bbc.co.uk in June 2004: the light-blue “home” logo, “More than 2 million amazing BBC pages” and Where I Live set to London.

  6. bestbuy.com – 2004Jun 15, 2004
    bestbuy.com homepage in 2004

    Best Buy in June 2004: a blue and white page, a bigger yellow tag, “Thousands of Possibilities”, “GET YOURS” and “Why pay shipping?”

  7. blizzard.com – 2004Nov 30, 2004
    blizzard.com homepage in 2004

    World of Warcraft launch news on Blizzard's homepage: an estimated 250,000 copies sold through in one day; the big picture is blank.

  8. gamefaqs.com – 2004Jun 16, 2004
    gamefaqs.com homepage in 2004

    GameFAQs homepage: a centered page places a blue gradient masthead above recent updates, compact rankings and GameSpot news.

  9. gamespot.com – 2004Oct 15, 2004
    gamespot.com homepage in 2004

    GameSpot's 2004 homepage: Gold navigation, a Rome: Total War banner and EverQuest coverage fill the dark portal.

  10. imdb.com – 2004Apr 4, 2004
    imdb.com homepage in 2004

    A separate Search the Web control sits below the database search in the left sidebar.

  11. lego.com – 2004Jun 15, 2004
    lego.com homepage in 2004

    LEGO.com in June 2004: the knights scene above Shop and Products tabs and three Quick Links lists.

  12. lycos.com – 2004Apr 13, 2004
    lycos.com homepage in 2004

    Lycos in April 2004: “Introducing the new Lycos. Building relationships ... every kind, every day.” This capture renders largely unstyled.

  13. microsoft.com – 2004Jun 16, 2004
    microsoft.com homepage in 2004

    Spyware help, Harry Potter, and the “Longhorn” user experience.

  14. msn.com – 2004Jun 16, 2004
    msn.com homepage in 2004

    MSN.com in June 2004: white columns on a dark blue background, the butterfly in a blue header and “US Open: Who Can (& Can’t) Win”.

  15. nintendo.com – 2004Jun 14, 2004
    nintendo.com homepage in 2004

    Nintendo’s homepage in June 2004: white columns with news and game lists; the Flash feature shows “Couldn’t load plugin.” in this replay.

  16. nokia.com – 2004Jun 5, 2004
    nokia.com homepage in 2004

    Nokia's homepage in June 2004: “Totally Board”, the Nokia 3220, Xpress-on Fun Shells and a link to N-Gage.

  17. nytimes.com – 2004Mar 6, 2004
    nytimes.com homepage in 2004

    NYTimes.com in March 2004: “Stewart Found Guilty on All Counts” and a new Campaign 2004 section.

  18. spacejam.com – 2004Jun 9, 2004
    spacejam.com homepage in 2004

    spacejam.com redirects to Warner Home Video's purple “OWN IT NOW ON DVD!” page for the 2-disc special edition.

  19. theguardian.com – 2004Jun 16, 2004
    theguardian.com homepage in 2004

    Guardian Unlimited in June 2004: a colorful Euro 2004 block beside the news columns.

  20. walmart.com – 2004Jun 16, 2004
    walmart.com homepage in 2004

    Walmart.com in June 2004: “It’s Almost Dad’s Day”, DVD rentals from $15.54 and music downloads at 88¢ a song.

  21. yahoo.com – 2004Jun 15, 2004
    yahoo.com homepage in 2004

    Yahoo in June 2004: Yahoo! Search with popular terms (Ronald Reagan, Lindsay Lohan) and U.S. Open coverage.

  22. ea.com – 2004Aug 15, 2004
    ea.com homepage in 2004

    EA's four-brand storefront with Madden NFL 2005, The Sims 2 on pre-order and a row of game boxes.

  23. ebay.com – 2004Jun 16, 2004
    ebay.com homepage in 2004

    eBay in June 2004: a blue “Welcome to eBay” banner, a numbered “1 Find” box and “You must register to bid or buy”.

  24. nick.com – 2004Nov 16, 2004
    nick.com homepage in 2004

    Nick.com in November 2004: a gray frame of white boxes, most of them games, starting with “Attack of the Twonkies!”

  25. amazon.com – 2004Jun 17, 2004
    amazon.com homepage in 2004

    “Amazon.com: Welcome”, Beta stores, Presidential Candidates.

  26. ask.com – 2004Jun 16, 2004
    ask.com homepage in 2004

    Ask Jeeves in June 2004: “Please enter your search below”, and the button beside the box says Search, not Ask.

  27. cartoonnetwork.com – 2004Jun 12, 2004
    cartoonnetwork.com homepage in 2004

    Cartoon Network’s June 2004 homepage: a Bayou Scooby-Doo game in the WELCOME! card and Teen Titans “NEW EPISODES! NEW SITE!”.

  28. craigslist.org – 2004Feb 8, 2004
    craigslist.org homepage in 2004

    Craigslist’s San Francisco page in February 2004: “post to classifieds” at the top of the left column, no pictures.

  29. espn.com – 2004Jun 16, 2004
    espn.com homepage in 2004

    ESPN.com in June 2004: “Pistons Roll To NBA Title”, the Flash notice in the header and a dark “MyESPN is here!” panel.

  30. google.com – 2004Jan 5, 2004
    google.com homepage in 2004

    Google in January 2004: five tabs and “©2003 Google - Searching 3,307,998,701 web pages” in the footer.

  31. icq.com – 2004Jun 14, 2004
    icq.com homepage in 2004

    ICQ.com in June 2004: a Download Now! button for ICQ 4 Lite edition and a couple who “met on ICQ & just got married in May” (photo blurred).

  32. ign.com – 2004Jun 16, 2004
    ign.com homepage in 2004

    IGN.com in June 2004, titled “Games, Cheats, Movies and More”: a grey three-column portal with lead stories and a news rail.

  33. ikea.com – 2004Jun 2, 2004
    ikea.com homepage in 2004

    ikea-usa.com in June 2004: five photo tiles, the first introducing Anna from the IKEA Help Center.

  34. newgrounds.com – 2004Jun 16, 2004
    newgrounds.com homepage in 2004

    Newgrounds in June 2004: grey framed panels, a poll to wean the site off pop-up ads and Tom Fulp’s “Copycat Rant”.

  35. nike.com – 2004Jun 16, 2004
    nike.com homepage in 2004

    Nike's gray gateway shows two runners on a beach in its central photo.

  36. playstation.com – 2004Jun 16, 2004
    playstation.com homepage in 2004

    PlayStation’s global splash page in June 2004: China joins the region list, with the PlayStation.com wordmark moved and a Global Home button at its right.

  37. winamp.com – 2004Jun 15, 2004
    winamp.com homepage in 2004

    Winamp homepage in 2004: a grey-and-orange redesign places Winamp 5 and its llama download graphic above music, skins and community columns.

  38. blogger.com – 2004Jun 15, 2004
    blogger.com homepage in 2004

    Blogger replaces the news page with a cream panel and three steps to create a blog.

  39. napster.com – 2004Jan 1, 2004
    napster.com homepage in 2004

    Napster’s light-gray homepage keeps the free-install button and portable-player promotion from late 2003.

  40. netflix.com – 2004Jun 15, 2004
    netflix.com homepage in 2004

    Free trial, $22 a month.

  41. paypal.com – 2004Oct 16, 2004
    paypal.com homepage in 2004

    PayPal in October 2004: a yellow-framed login box, a photo banner around “The Way to Pay” and columns for Buyers, eBay Sellers and Merchants.

  42. cnn.com – 2004Nov 3, 2004
    cnn.com homepage in 2004

    AMERICA HAS SPOKEN spans the page above a map and an electoral-vote box.

  43. deviantart.com – 2004Jun 15, 2004
    deviantart.com homepage in 2004

    deviantART’s homepage in June 2004: a thin, spaced wordmark and a sidebar count of 6,113,280 deviations

  44. runescape.com – 2004Jun 16, 2004
    runescape.com homepage in 2004

    RuneScape after the RS2 launch: 12,844 people playing, Latest News and Updates, Play Game and Create Account tiles.

  45. miniclip.com – 2004Jun 15, 2004
    miniclip.com homepage in 2004

    Miniclip’s 2004 homepage: “Free Games and Shows” and a “PSST!” notice asking for Flash Player version 5 or later.

  46. xbox.com – 2004Nov 30, 2004
    xbox.com homepage in 2004

    Xbox.com in November 2004: the silver frame with Halo 2 in the game list and a plug-in panel that no longer loads.

  47. addictinggames.com – 2004Jun 16, 2004
    addictinggames.com homepage in 2004

    AddictingGames.com in June 2004: the white catalogue with its category columns and an advertising banner above the game list.

  48. friendster.com – 2004Jun 15, 2004
    friendster.com homepage in 2004

    Friendster keeps the face diagram, dating introduction and separate signup and login buttons.

  49. steampowered.com – 2004Jun 15, 2004
    steampowered.com homepage in 2004

    Steam’s homepage in June 2004: “BECOME PART OF THE STEAM COMMUNITY”, a Counter-Strike: Condition Zero banner and the Half-Life 2 Hardware Survey.

  50. last.fm – 2004Jun 12, 2004
    last.fm homepage in 2004

    Last.fm explains recommendations beside a yellow signup panel; its header logo and other images are missing, and private network names are blurred.

  51. skype.com – 2004Jun 15, 2004
    skype.com homepage in 2004

    Skype homepage with a red cloud logo, “Free Internet Telephony that Just Works” and 13,941,770 downloads.

  52. tesla.com – 2004Jun 8, 2004
    tesla.com homepage in 2004

    The same Tesla Motors contact text, now with a webmaster address; the header image does not render.

  53. digg.com – 2004Dec 9, 2004
    digg.com homepage in 2004

    First captureDigg in December 2004: a text list of links, each with a bracketed score like “[+ 19 digs]” and a submitter byline.

  54. facebook.com – 2004Feb 12, 2004
    facebook.com homepage in 2004

    First captureThefacebook in February 2004: “[ Welcome to Thefacebook ]”, an online directory “at Harvard University”, signed “a Mark Zuckerberg production”.

  55. orkut.com – 2004Jun 16, 2004
    orkut.com homepage in 2004

    First captureOrkut's 2004 landing page: a face collage, a trusted-friends introduction and a username/password box.

One capture per site from the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, checked by eye. What a capture shows is what the archive kept that day: some images and scripts are missing.

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