E3 2011: Top 10 missing games

Some of the following games are already known about, some were begging to be announced. Now that the dust has settled on what we did get, just what happened to these high-profile absentees?

1. Metal Gear Solid Rising

The game based on cutting was, perhaps unsurprisingly, cut from the show. At Konami's pre-E3 showing, Kojima broke the hearts of Raiden fans the world over (all three of them) by announcing that Rising wouldn't appear in Los Angeles. Still on schedule for a 2012 release, we'll just have to wait and see how the man plans on cramming more story into Metal Gear's bloated canon.

2. Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown

It was the first great fighting game on the Xbox 360, and it's still the most technically accomplished title the genre has to offer. VF5 has seen two huge arcade updates since the 2007 Xbox game (2008s VF5 R and last years VF5 Final Showdown), adding two new characters, new items and a massive system overhaul. It's never going to outsell Street Fighter, but seriously Sega, you couldn't dust off some code and give us a DLC pack?

3. Grand Theft Auto V

Earlier this year the rumour mill cranked into overdrive with a "Rush" to uncover casting details on Rockstar's cash cow. Has Grand Theft Auto grown too big for E3? Is the game even in development for the current crop of consoles? Has Rockstar run out of racial stereotypes to criminalise? Microsoft's presser didn't have the answers.

4. Milo and Kate

With Duke Nukem Forever rocking disc trays as we speak, will Milo become the new butt of all vapourware-related jokes? Lionhead has stated that Milo was "never announced as a game", though its legacy as a tech demo can be seen in the Kinect-enabled Fable: The Journey. Will we ever see that cherubic little face again or was the AI so frighteningly true-to-life that he was torn from Molyneux's clutches and re-homed by social services?

5. New Syndicate

All of the ingredients are there - the back-room comments from spurned developers, the filing of trademarks - yet no contingent of persuadertrons has managed to get EA talking. Rumours abound that Bullfrog's cyberpunk RTS is to be re-imagined as an FPS. Whatever the genre, the potential for an online-focused Syndicate remains massive.

6. New Soul Reaver

Both the jaw-deprived Raziel and vampiric mentor Kain reared their heads in last years' Guardians of Light, indicating that Crystal Dynamics hasn't forgotten about the Soul Reaver series, even if they don't quite know what to do with it. The topic came up more than once in our recent chat with a Tomb Raider producer. Watch this space?

7. Beyond Good and Evil 2

Three years on from Ubisoft's announcement, things have never been more uncertain for Jade and Pey'j. Michael Ancel has revealed that he's taking time away from BG&E 2 to focus on Rayman Origins, which is akin to Michelangelo taking time away from the Sistine Chapel to scrawl phallic doodles on the back of his sketchbook. Now development has slipped into the non-committal status of "next generation", how many E3s will pass before we see the game again?

8. Bungie MMO

Was it a joke or wasn't it? Bungie's lead network engineer David Aldridge doesn't have a shining career in stand-up ahead of him following his so-called "gag" at GDC. 343 Industries' Halo projects are all very well, but we want to know what the real lords of the ring have been up to. 9. Creative Assembly's new Alien game

Best known for PC strategy series Total War, Sega's British developer is reportedly hard at work on a new Alien title. Never Xenomorphs to crash a party (except that one time at lunch), the team let Gearbox's Colonial Marines take the limelight this E3. We're keeping a few pulse rifles pointed in their direction.

10. Duke Nukem Forever 2

Assuming the just-released Forever is a hit, how long will it be before we see Duke Nukem Forever 2? Will Gearbox take cues from the Mega Man series, following up that decade-plus absence with two games in two years, or will the developer rest on its laurels?