User:Spicee/Prerelease:Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2005)

This article is a work in progress. ...Well, all the articles here are, in a way. But this one moreso, and the article may contain incomplete information and editor's notes.

To do: Get most prerelease materials from: Need for Speed Theories Prerelease & Beta Info Videos Playlist Large Mega Folder

Late 2004/Early 2005

Core X Trailer

This is the currently earliest trailer what the game would look like. Found on Black Edition's bonus disc.

Dec 2004 screenshot

Possibly the earliest screenshot to be found. The screenshot location is unknown, although the resolution might have been used as an application icon.

• Most of the leaves in the background are autumn-themed (orange intensity color).

Feb 15 map

To do: Add more differences in this map.

This early map has some changes.

• There was supposedly an another bridge near the Museum shortcut in Downtown Rockport that leads to nowhere.
  • This bridge appears in this cutscene (timestamp from 0:29 to 0:31) right of the screen before buying your first car.
• In Gray Point, a cut route from Cannery leads to fishing village easily.
• A bridge that connects from Rosewood Highway to Downtown Rockport was originally a tunnel.
• The curved road from Rosewood to Downtown Rockport is mirrored.
• The Rosewood Trail Park had roads less than in the Final.
• Highlander Stadium is somewhat different.
• The highway interchange uses diamond-like design.
• Most of the mountains near the Coastal & City are closer than being extended further in the final.
• No old bridge used for final game.

Screenshots from Magazines (February-April 2005)

• An early license plate than the ones in Mid 2015 promotions can be found on those BMW screenshots.
• M3 GTR headlights were yellow tint not white.

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  Edited artwork

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  Edited artwork

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  Edited artwork

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Unknown

What appears to be an early version of Point Camden industrial buildings.

Mid 2005

E3 2005

Demo

To do: List more differences if anything missed in this demo.

This gameplay demo was shown in E3 2005.

• The beginning shows a BMW exiting out of the garage. If the player looks at the east (faced on the car's front bumper) of career interior in-game, it resembles the garage exterior outside meaning it was originally as another safehouse for the player before it was cut during late development.
  • The garage place was also used for splash screens, etc...
• Drag Race HUD, Nitrous & Speedbreaker icon (made into OPM PS2 Demo) is different.
• M3 GTR uses early engine sound.
• The traffic vehicles are in white color.
• There was a tanker truck on the video timestamp from 0:52 to 0:54 left of the screen.

Justin Wiebe's E3 Walkthrough

• The beginning of Justin's walkthrough shows a splash screen taking place somewhere in the warehouse (probably on the Docks) instead of E3 garage. This can be found in the final game files.

IGN's Another E3 Gameplay

This gameplay video was meant to show game's mechanics, etc...

• "Blown engine" popup is different.
• The "You lost!" screen would supposedly be in photoscreen FNG.
• The in-game font uses normal Eurostile instead of bold in final.

Booth

The booth features a 360° resolution of the intro and claimed it uses extra sound effects.

The full version can be found here.

Screenshots

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Early blacklist

The early blacklist lists can be found in few promotion artworks featuring Simone Bailly. Some characters here like Eddie (only mentioned by Mia) were not included in final game.

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Prerelease

Final

1. Razor Callahan - Hastings 2. Wes Allen - The Projects 3. Mia Townsend - Asylum 4. Toro Sato - East Stapleton 5. Hector Domingo - Grant Brook 6. Ronnie McCrea - Boundry Road 7. Eddie Lew - Smugglers Wharf 8. Joe Vega - Ironhorse Bridge 9. Jordan Kay - Chase Road 10. Lou Park - Omega Power Station 11. Jade Barrett - Bristol Road 12. Nick Black - Bay Bridge 13. Marty Jones 14. Vince Kilic 15. Tony Ho

1. Clarence "Razor" Callahan - BMW M3 GTR 2. Toru "Bull" Sato - Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren 3. Ronald "Ronnie" McCrea - Aston Martin DB9 4. Joe "JV" Vega - Dodge Viper SRT10 5. Wes "Webster" Allen - Chevrolet Corvette C6 6. Hector "Ming" Domingo - Lamborghini Gallardo 7. Kira "Kaze" Nakazato - Mercedes-Benz CLK 500 8. Jade "Jewels" Barrett - Ford Mustang GT 9. Eugene "Earl" James - Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII 10. Karl "Baron" Smit - Porsche Cayman S 11. Lou "Big Lou" Park - Mitsubishi Eclipse GT 12. Isabel "Izzy" Diaz - Mazda RX-8 13. Victor "Vic" Vasquez - Toyota Supra 14. Vince "Taz" Kilic - Lexus IS 300 15. Ho "Sonny" Seun - Volkswagen Golf GTI

EA Imagine 05 EPK (USA)

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Xbox.com

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Early Map

This map has few changes from Feb 15 map.

• Unknown building near Highlander Stadium. Skatepark?
• A curved route that leads from Docks to Rosewood has been moved.

IGN's Original Xbox Gameplays

Fun fact: These videos were actually show an early versions for Xbox/PS2 OPM demo.

• The visuals look different than in final PS2 version.
• The videos still use early M3 GTR sound.
• The player face is pixelated instead of being blurred on camera.
• Different physics.
• There was supposedly another tollbooth which was cut during very late development of the game on the Boardwalk Park gate near the Camden water tower.

Unknown

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  Vinyls could be layered/reflected at the bottom of the spoiler due to UV mapping.

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  Originally, Rog drove a Mustang GT (also in Xbox/PS2 OPM demo) instead of GTO.

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  Rear bumper for Earl's lancer bodykit was slightly different.

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  Early pursuit video cam or InroNisDD. The camera might taken on a news van instead of chopper.

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  Vinyls could be layered at the top of the spoiler due to UV mapping.

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  An early Clubhouse Road near Highway 99. Like in Dec 2004 screenshot, most of the leaves in the background are in autumn-themed too.

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  Underground 2 style paint customization screen. This was also used in Xbox/PS2 OPM demo menu (by modding/hacking).

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  Different color for Earl's lancer preset.

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Late 2005 (Pre-Retail Release)

Blacklist Tournament

Screenshots

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  You can see the early finish line flares as well as the 3D car bottom due to parallax mapping.

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Tokyo Game Show 2005

• Split time only shows up numbers without SPLIT TIME msg.

Screenshots

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Microsoft X05 Event Gameplays

• The minimap had yellow pursuit breakers instead of red.

• The race intro has different sound.
  • The sound was also used for Xbox/PS2 OPM demo.

Giga Presentation

• The headlights flares had blue light streaks not white.
• Challenge automatically ends when your pursuit meter is in EVADE instead in cooldown mode.
• No stats in main menu.
• HUD doesn't hide when the camera zooms in to police vehicle.
• In-game graphics are identical to Xbox 360.

Other

Logo Development

Earliest Logo (Late 2004-Early 2005)

Black	White

Early Logo (Mid-Late 2005)

Black	White

Final/Retail Logo (Late 2005-Present)

Black	White

Early Hero Vinyl

Red	Blue

One of the earliest vinyl for famous BMW M3 GTR. Made into Carbon as paintable body vinyl.

Early Cover Arts