E3 2011: Missing in Action
Have you seen us? Find out which games were conspicuously absent from this year's show.
As you could probably tell from our coverage, E3 2011 is a packed event, but because of politics, extra development time, or just plain bad timing, some high-profile games aren't in the mix at this year's show. And while there are plenty of other games to hold our attention during the course of the week, the GameSpot staff members couldn't help but feel a little disappointed--perhaps even downright depressed--that they couldn't get their hands on the games below.
The Last Guardian
Team Ico's third game would have assuredly drawn massive crowds and was undoubtedly one of the biggest offerings missing from this year's show. After all, many are wondering just how the young boy and his bird-dog-eagle interact with each other to traverse through environments that bear a strong resemblance to those featured in Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. But news of a delay set in motion its inevitable disappearance from the halls of the Los Angeles Convention Center, which made us collectively curl into the fetal position and begin crying.
Beyond Good & Evil 2
Is it happening or isn't it? Back in February, Ubisoft insisted that the follow-up to its critically acclaimed action adventure game was still in the works, but we have a feeling this game will be on every E3 Missing in Action list for years to come. Still, we're not giving up hope and that's why the teaser trailer from 2008 is playing on endless loop in a computer in the corner of the booth. Next year can we get maybe a screenshot or two, Ubisoft?
Final Fantasy Versus XIII
In all fairness to Square Enix, it probably would've been a bad idea to trot out the action-focused Final Fantasy game at this year's E3 because Final Fantasy XIII-2 is here at the show, and it's actually playable. Tetsuya Nomura (of Kingdom Hearts fame) has a huge following of people eager to see his contribution to the Final Fantasy universe, but he's been pretty quiet about the project for nearly a year.
Metal Gear Solid Rising
The Metal Gear side story featuring the hero of Metal Gear Solid 2 and the crazy cyber ninja of Metal Gear Solid 4 was nowhere to be found at this year's show. Of course, Hideo Kojima mentioned the game during Konami's pre-E3 press briefing and that work was progressing, but it's a little disconcerting that the game has been in the works for nearly two years and Konami still doesn't feel confident enough to show a proper playable demo. Thankfully, we had some enhanced Metal Gear games and a 3DS port of Snake Eater to tide us over in the meantime.
Respawn's Game
The development house built by the former heads of Infinity Ward had nothing to show off at this year's E3. Perhaps there's still some sensitivity surrounding the legal issues involved or it's just not quite ready for a public unveiling. But in either case, we're very curious to see what it has been working on even with the approximately 10 bajillion other shooters here at E3 2011.
Destiny
The house that built Halo didn't have anything to show of its game, which is rumored to be a first-person shooter massively multiplayer online game code-named Destiny. Admittedly, it's not too surprising because these MMO things are generally massive (see what we did there?) undertakings, but we're guessing next year's show will bring a proper teaser, if not a full reveal.
Devil's Third
The first game from Tomonobu Itagaki since his departure from Tecmo and Team Ninja is still lurking in the shadows, but the master ninja himself was at the show to answer some questions about his upcoming, over-the-top action game and his new studio. Be sure to keep an eye out for our full interview.
I Am Alive
Much like another Ubisoft game that starts with a "Beyond" and ends with "Good and Evil 2," I Am Alive seems to be stuck in some limbo where it's still on the development schedule but it never shows at E3. There's always next year for the natural disaster-themed game, we suppose.
Max Payne 3
Rockstar teased us with new screenshots of the once-thought canceled game just a few weeks before E3, yet there's no sign of Max and his new hobo persona anywhere. This isn't exactly inspiring confidence in the third game of the formally noir series, but we're willing to give the development team the benefit of the doubt.
DmC
So, here's the deal with the new Devil May Cry from Ninja Theory (developers of Enslaved and Heavenly Sword). Capcom released a new trailer, showing off Dante's updated look, as well as some of his new weapons and abilities. By the way, if you look closely enough at the trailer, you'll see that Dante sports white hair when it appears that he goes into a devil-trigger-like state. Is this a concession to fans of the series that demanded Dante be turned back into his old self? Perhaps; but at any rate, the game is nowhere to be found on the show floor.
Sorcery
One of the most impressive PlayStation Move games revealed at last year's E3 was Sorcery--an obvious Harry Potter-inspired, magic-infused action game. Sadly, this one isn't at the show either, but we still hope that it's coming in some form or another because it seemed like it might offer an ideal use of the Move's capabilities.
Agent
Rockstar confirmed weeks ago that its super-top-secret action game--revealed in 2007--was still in development exclusively for the PlayStation 3. At this point, we're not really disappointed that it wasn't here because the project has been shrouded in secrecy for the past few years, but we could've used a screenshot to help spark our interest.
Steel Battalion
It's true that Microsoft already has plenty of Kinect games on display, but funnily enough, the one we were most curious about belonged to a third-party publisher. Steel Battalion had an absolutely ridiculous control setup, and it completely boggles the mind how Capcom plans to adapt that system for a peripheral that uses no buttons. Maybe we'll see you at Gamescom, Steel Battalion.
Tekken X Street Fighter
This might be a little confusing but let us explain: Street Fighter X Tekken--the game in development at Capcom--is at E3 2011 and is, in fact, one of the several major games in Capcom's booth. Tekken X Street Fighter is the version of the fighting game in development at Namco, and we saw some early character models at last year's Gamescom, but next to nothing about the game was revealed this week. In fact, much of the emphasis was placed on the traditional Tekken games that are in development for multiple platforms, including the Nintendo 3DS.
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