Introduction
E3 2016 has come and gone, and with it came the usual bevy of surprises, reveals, and confirmations of long-running rumors.
But this year, as with every year, some games (and hardware) that we hoped to see at the show simply didn't materialize.
Maybe they're not quite ready yet, maybe the marketing plans call for a reveal at a later time – or maybe they just plain don't exist and are just the subject of wild speculation.
Whatever the reason, here are 10 games we were sad we didn't see at E3 this year.
Bloodborne 2
Yes, it does seem a little early for this to be announced, given that Dark Souls III was released merely two months ago – but, then again, the original Bloodborne was developed at From Software alongside DSIII, so it doesn't seem too unlikely that this might already be in the works.
In any case, Bloodborne is still one of the defining exclusive titles for the PS4, and announcing a follow-up at Sony's keynote would've been a great triple whammy to top off the reveals of the new God of War and Days Gone.
New Sonic project
Did you know 2016 is the 25th anniversary of this gaming icon's debut? With such an important date comes huge expectations from fans, and the various Sega and Sonic social media accounts have been teasing something BIG since the start of the year.
Considering that the fan-favorite Sonic Generations released during the 'hog's 20th birthday bash, there are high hopes that this game will be a return to form after the disastrous Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric.
However, the only Sonic we saw at E3 was his debut in Lego Dimensions and a demo of the 3DS Sonic Boom: Fire and Ice. I guess we'll have to wait until the Sonic party at San Diego Comic-Con before we learn just what's up.
Devil May Cry 5
There were a lot of rumors surrounding the return of beloved Capcom franchises this year, and while two of them came true (Dead Rising 4 and Resident Evil 7), one heavily rumored series is still MiA: Devil May Cry. It's been a few years since Ninja Theory's controversial re-imagining of the series, and fans have been left wondering where Capcom plans to take the series from here: Will they return to classic Dante with a Devil May Cry 5, or keep the restyled Dante with a DmC2?
Unfortunately, we'll still have to wait to find out.
Final Fantasy VII remake
A lot of Square-Enix games we were looking forward to, like NieR Automata and Kingdom Hearts III, weren't actually playable at this year's E3. But one game was conspicuous in its absence: the CyberConnect2-helmed remake of one of gaming's most revered titles.
After last year's massive teaser and a few brief snippets of gameplay shown at other events, it seems that Square-Enix wanted to focus most of its E3 hype machine on this year's Final Fantasy XV and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided rather than something that may still be a while off. Makes sense, even if it is a bit disappointing.
High-profile Vita games
Sony was all about its PlayStation VR add-on for the PS4 this E3, but there's another piece of Sony hardware that's getting no affection from its mother now that the new baby has arrived: the PlayStation Vita. Sony's little portable-that-couldn't got zero lip-service during the company's press conference, even in passing – no mention of cross-buy, remote play, or any of the buzzwords that were once used to promote the Vita as the perfect portable companion to a PlayStation console.
There were just a handful of Vita games shown at E3 – mostly offerings by niche publishers, anime-based games, or one of many versions of multiplatform titles. Don't worry, little Vita, your huge OLED screen and dual-sticks will forever be beautiful to those of us that loved you.
Crackdown 3
A lot of folks expected to see Crackdown at Microsoft's press conference but, alas, the open-world super cop simulator was nowhere to be seen. It wasn't on the show floor, either, which wasn't terribly reassuring. But Microsoft had an explanation for this title's absence: The game's been delayed into 2017 and requires a fair bit more work to "give gamers an experience they have never seen before at a scale never thought possible," as Creative Director Dave Jones put it.
Crash Bandicoot
Well, Crash was technically at E3, and he even got a bit of a spotlight at the Sony press conference. But the new game that fans of this long-dormant franchise have been craving for quite some time still doesn't look like it's happening.
The announcement was that the original PS1 Crash trilogy would be remastered for PS4, along with Crash appearing in the PlayStation versions of Skylanders Imaginators. But that was it.While a shiny new HD Crash model for Skylanders was showcased, there was zero indication that anything totally new was being planned.
If you were dreaming of a new Crash game – perhaps even one helmed by original creators Naughty Dog rather than his farmed-out-all-over post-PS1 adventures – it looks like you're still going to have to keep hoping hard.
The next Red Dead game
There were some rather dubious rumors circulating around the announcement of a new Red Dead title leading up to E3. As sketchy as they were, they managed to get a lot of folks' hopes up that a new open-world Western adventure would be revealed at this year's show.
But there's one thing to remember about Rockstar Games (and 2K Games) owner Take-Two Interactive: they don't typically like to reveal new games at E3, instead waiting for when there's a lull in gaming news to generate maximum excitement and buzz without getting drowned out by anyone else.
If there is another Red Dead game happening, the announcement will likely happen sometime when you don't expect it – which makes it that much more exciting.
Beyond Good and Evil 2
Poor Jade just can't catch a break. After being teased at an Ubisoft event back in 2008, we've seen very little of the sequel to this critically acclaimed title. All manner of rumors have flown around as to why this title's been delayed for so long, and one of the latest is that it's being retooled as a major exclusive game for the Nintendo NX.
In any case, development staff at Ubisoft are insisting that the game is still being worked on, but it would be nice if we got some signs of life beyond "it's being made, we swear!" And speaking of the NX...
Nintendo NX anything
We know, we know – Nintendo will showcase the NX when they're darn well ready to. But there was barely a hint of this elusive console's existence at E3: the only third party game that's 100% confirmed for the NX is Just Dance 2017, as shown at Ubisoft's press conference. The dearth of NX information persists, even though the much-lauded Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will be coming to both Wii U and NX.
Given how hungry Nintendo fans are for any manner of info, could it hurt to at least throw us a bone here?