Prerelease:Sid Meier's Pirates! (Windows)

This page details prerelease information and/or media for Sid Meier's Pirates! (Windows).

Sid Meier's Pirates! was announced at E3 2003. The game was released in November 2004.

E3 2004 Footage

This is footage of the game from E3 2004 that was found on a Japanese gaming website, dated 6 months before release. It has many surprising differences.

• The main menu screen at 0:02 is completely different.
• The navigation UI on the bottom of the screen is very different and on the right side as opposed to the left side in the final game at 0:04.
• The ship steering, ship battle and duelling controls UI aren't present.
• The status text above other ships is different and a different colour.
• The ship and enemy statistics texts are different and lack their corresponding symbols from 0:35 to 1:17.
• The ship collision text and textbox is different at 1:17.
• The duelling health bar has "Energy" as opposed to "Advantage" at 1:20.
• The camera position for going into the second half of a ship takeover duel is different from 1:33 to 1:37.
• The plunder screen is completely different from 2:08 to 2:21.
• The Port Royal Governor's dialogue is in a different position from 2:32 to 2:57.
• The treasure map screen is drastically different from 2:52 to 2:55.
• The top 10 pirates menu is very different at 3:02.
• Irish pirate Anne Bonny and America's Rhode Island pirate Thomas Tew are mentioned on the top 10 pirates menu. They would be replaced by pirates Roc Brasilano and Henry Morgan for the final game.
• The ship upgrade screen is completely different from 3:46 to 4:01.

(Source: Tekkenlord05)

E3 2004 Footage 2

This is more footage of the game from E3 2004 that was found on a German gaming website and also on the GameTrailers archive. This has some strange differences when compared to the first footage.

• The duelling controls UI is on the top right corner of the screen as opposed to the bottom right corner in the final game.
• The duelling health bar is absent throughout the video.
• There is an direction arrow HUD present at 0:07.
• The governor's daughter's outfit is a different colour at 0:14.
• The status text above ships has been changed at 0:25. Sections of the ocean have proper named text too.
• The ship and enemy statistics texts is now on the bottom of the screen at 0:48.

(Source: Tekkenlord05)

E3 2004 Footage 3

This is more footage of the game from E3 2004 that was found on a German PC E3 2004 Coverage DVD. It showcases most of the same differences as the first E3 2004 Footage.

• The attires that everyone wears in the dancing mini-game are all different.

(Source: Tekkenlord05)

August 2004 Footage

This is footage of the game from GameSpot dated 24th August 2004, 3 months before release. This shows off a ship battle. It looks close to the final game but has some differences, some still from the E3 2004 Demo and others which are new.

• The ship steering and ship battle controls UI has now been updated and is different.
• You could press a button to battle an enemy ship as opposed to sailing into them in the final game.
• Attacking ship textbox is different and a different colour.
• Compass and guns loaded UI is in a different position.
• Ship battle music is different.

(Source: Tekkenlord05)

August 2004 Footage 2

This is more footage of the game from GameSpot also dated 24th August 2004. This shows off a pirate duel and some suiter duels. This also looks close to the final game but has some odd differences.

• Advantage text above the health bar isn't present.
• Bad Guy is used as a placeholder name for the enemy pirates.
• The attack controls UI is absent.

(Source: Tekkenlord05)