E3 is the Super Bowl. The World Cup. Wrestlemania with more reserved clapping. Yet every year a string of high-profile no-showers decide the world's biggest games show isn't the best forum for dishing out details on their hottest new game. This year, sadly, is no different.
There'll be plenty at E3, don't you worry, including epic-scale reveals for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 - as well as some important questions to be answered - but the five games below won't be gracing Los Angeles - or, at least, the signs don't look good.
Take solace, though: just because they're not at E3 doesn't mean you have to wait another year - GTA V's out September, and the rest we'll hear more of as 2013 goes on. (Looks at Half-Life 3 and The Last Guardian, throws salt over shoulder.)
Zoom1. GTA V
Even if there is a fresh shot or two of GTA V at E3, the certified World's Biggest Deal won't be there. Why? Because Rockstar is one of the few developers on the planet that justifiably claim to be bigger than E3, not attending in any formal capacity for years. It doesn't need to. For some, E3 is a pedestal; to Rockstar, it's open mic night at the local. And anyway, a steady barrage of trailers and screenshots have given us a healthy idea of what to expect. Look, we even pieced together our own unofficial Los Santos map from table scraps. It's not just Rockstar either - no one from publishing daddy 2K will be attending.
Zoom2. CYBERPUNK 2077
From impending puddings to buns needing more time in the oven, sci-fi actioner Cyberpunk 2077 will also skip this year's E3. CD Projekt RED's game isn't scheduled to release for another two years, so it's understandable, especially considering the devs will likely use all available muscle to promote The Witcher 3. It's coming soon, unlike Cyberpunk 2077, from which all we've seen is a CGI trailer. We know that the game takes place in Night City, has a mature and non-linear story and, as director Mateusz Kanik puts it, aims to "put the punk into cyberpunk. We are not doing Blade Runner. It is full of rock and roll."
Zoom3. HALF-LIFE 3
Valve is made from five letters. Five minus two is three. Half-Life 3 confirmed! Okay, perhaps not, but such is the overwhelming desire to see something - anything - of its flagship franchise, we've taken to looking for signs just about everywhere. We'll have to look a little longer, as Valve's director of marketing, Doug Lombardi, confirmed in an email to Valvetime.net that it won't exhibit at E3 2013. Rumour is it's waiting to release the long-awaited shooter (six years and counting) alongside the next Source engine. Though, with no recognition a sequel is even in development, despite a desperate petition last year from fans hungry for updates, all we can hope is that the next Valve game isn't a sequel to Alien Storm.
Zoom4. BAYONETTA 2
Technically, Platinum could talk Bayonetta 2 at E3. Any new info regarding its witch-starring Wii U exclusive, however, will need to be tickled out of the devs, because we've been told Shinji Mikami and co are only there to show off The Wonderful 101. This is unlikely to be some kind of elaborate double bluff on the part of developer and publisher either: the Bayonetta sequel is still in the primordial soup of development - since a reveal in September 2012, we've seen little besides a logo and a behind-the-scenes trailer in January.
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