Need for Speed: Most Wanted release date, open world gameplay revealed

EA is showcasing nearly a dozen new titles at their press conference today, but we were looking forward to few of them as much as Criterion's latest racer, Need for Speed: Most Wanted.

The biggest announcement of the full reveal was that this will in fact be an open world experience. They'll also be bringing back Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit's Autolog system (now called Autolog 2) which will allow you to track your friend's progress.

That's important this time around because the major theme is becoming "Most Wanted." Not most wanted among a group of NPCs, but among all your friends on your leaderboard.

“Criterion is shaking up the franchise with Need for Speed Most Wanted,” said Matt Webster of Criterion Games. “This is Most Wanted for a new generation of players. We've brought everything we know about racing, chasing and exploration and smashed them together in a highly connected open world automotive experience. Whether driving solo or racing with friends in our amazing new multiplayer experience, Autolog fires up competition out of everything as players compete to be most wanted amongst their friends.”

EA has even announced the full release date for the title as well. We'll be seeing Need for Speed: Most Wanted land on store shelves on October 30, 2011. They also announced that it's coming to Xbox 360, PS3, iOS, Android, Vita, and PC. With Criterion's insane history of quality in the racing genre, October 30th can't come soon enough.

EA showed off two different trailers (one gameplay, one pre-rendered) and we'll post those as soon as we get our hands on them.