The Top Three E3 Disappointments

Another year of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) has come and gone. Just like Christmas, fans and industry media create a huge buzz of anticipation, and just like Christmas when it is over, it’s hard not to be a little sad. While this week has been stuffed with surprise announcements, trailers for upcoming games, and everything you could possibly want to know about The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, it is hard not to look back at the week and see just a few E3 disappointments.

EA Play

While this may be a sore point with a few gamers, it is hard not to walk away from Electronic Arts’ (EA) Play event and not feel a little disappointed. Technically, this was on Sunday night outside of the E3 conference, but it was for all intents and purposes, EA’s chance to show off what they had coming up. To say they missed the target is an understatement.

Electronic Arts attempted to run the event in two places this year, Los Angeles and London. It was destined to fail from the opening remarks when EA CEO Andrew Wilson all but apologized for his company not having anything new to show.

“We all know you have an insatiable appetite to dive deep into the games you love, but we could never give you everything you want in 60 minutes. Let’s be honest, even if we could, you would rather see it and hear it from the community anyway.”

It didn’t help that the Titanfall 2 trailer leaked early, but a lot of disappointment stemmed from the announcement of three new Star Wars games and nothing really substantial to show from them. Push Square said it best of the EA Play conference.

“We can’t remember the last time that an E3 got off to such an unimpressive start, and we hope that things pick up soon.”

No Mother 3 from Nintendo

According to IGN, Nintendo earned the honors for Game of the Show this E3 with the day they devoted to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. However, some fans still walked away disappointed because many expected Nintendo to announce Mother 3. The third installment of what in the west is known as Earthbound Beginnings and Earthbound.

Emily Rogers, a noted Nintendo tipster, hinted that Nintendo would be localizing Mother 3 for the 10th Anniversary of the game developed for the Nintendo 64. Two other people in the know, Liam Robertson and Tom Phillips, also claimed to be sitting on Mother 3 news.

E3 looked to be the time and the place for the big announcement. Nintendo had very few surprises in store for fans, and they have used E3 in the past to surprise everyone with Earthbound Beginnings. However, E3 came and went and still no Mother 3. This has left fans with more disappointment and some wandering if the final installment of the Earthbound series will ever make it to North America.

No New Systems From Anyone

Nintendo came out early and tried to set expectations for fans. Despite the fact everyone has known about the NX for over a year, Nintendo stated it would not be shown in any capacity, and true to their word, it was not. Outside of an offhand mention from a couple of people, it wasn’t really even discussed.

Sony has been long rumored to be developing a new version of the PlayStation 4, codenamed Neo. Numerous sources for the months that were building to E3 claimed that fans could expect to see the Neo and get a rundown of what the specs were going to be. Just days before E3, disappointed fans received word that this just was not going to happen. Sony confirmed it existed, but they were not going to show it.

Microsoft while technically did show a new system, it is just a slimmed down version of the XBox One. While the system looks wonderful, it is not the news that most fans were hoping for. Microsoft also confirmed a new XBox One on the way, but they were not ready to show it.

Overall, both fans and media outlets alike feel that E3 disappointments were many. One wonders with companies like EA opting to do their own thing and companies not being able to control leaks if E3 is something that has very much life left in it. What did you think of the show this year?

[Image via Electronic Arts]