Maybe it just didn’t look great at all. But as always, E3 has its share of disappointments. The years ahead will be enough to prove us wrong as to whether these games truly are disappointing, but until then, here are our top 5 most disappointing games of E3 2013.

5. The Crew

How could a game be disappointing when we didn’t know anything about it beforehand? Simple: By taking up too much time in a presser, that too the prime slot, and simply not delivering anything we hadn’t seen before. Even worse, The Crew just couldn’t put an interesting spin on any of the aspects it was advocating, even though the thought of three-man car gangs stealing from civilians in a persistent universe that combines single-player, co-op and multiplayer sounds exciting on paper.

Next to other open world games like Watch_Dogs, Saints Row IV, Grand Theft Auto V and even Ubisoft’s own Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, The Crew just didn’t quite measure up.

4. Super Smash Bros.

It was great hearing that the new Super Smash Bros. will be coming out in 2014 for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U. It was great seeing the difference in styles and the return of all the characters we know and love. However, we knew that Nintendo was going to be showing us its newest sequel in the crossover fighting genre for months now. The company itself announced the same a good few weeks before E3.

And what did they showcase besides the same old fighting – which honestly didn’t look at all that different from Brawl – and one new character, that too Animal Crossing’s Villager? Not much. The announcement of Mega Man helped things slightly, but it couldn’t take away from the underwhelming nature of the reveal.

3. Call of Duty: Ghosts

Where do we begin? First off, did we have any expectations from this game at all? We’d be hard-pressed to, what with the first trailer at Microsoft’s Xbox Reveal event in May boasting an AI dog companion and fish that swim away from you as new features. Infinity Ward was adamant that the engine, despite just being a heavily modified version of the previous generation’s, would allow for new experiences.

So what did we get? Underwater shooting that still felt completely on rails with its set pieces, and the ability to control the dog, viewing things from a camera on its back. That’s it. Given how bad Black Ops 2 was, we didn’t think Ghosts could be any worse. And it isn’t, by the looks of it, but it sure as hell isn’t any better.

2. Dragon Age III: Inquisition

So Bioware is neither afraid of The Elder Scrolls or Dark Souls, and promises that Dragon Age III: Inquisition will be great. At E3 2013, it was revealed that Morrigan has returned and is seeking to bring darkness to the world. A great way to continue the storyline from the first game – something Dragon Age 2 was notorious for not doing. How could this possibly go wrong?

First, by showcasing mostly CG footage and no actual gameplay. Some sequences looked to be rendered in real time – and if they were, they don’t live up to the pedigree of Frostbite 3 by a long shot. Then again, the game is still 1.5 years off. It’s been delayed till fall 2014, since Bioware wants to take the time to “craft a great experience”. It’s understandable that EA needed to quell doubts and build excitement for one of its premier franchises. But as with Super Smash Bros., we just expected so much more.

1. Dead Rising 3

Dead Rising 3 is the perfect example of a great announcement that is quickly dashed into the ground by incompetence and an idiotic creative direction. The game is open world now, and will emphasize a more action based approach. It will also be exclusive to the Xbox One, which means you can utilize features such as Kinect and even SmartGlass for such interesting features as summoning air-strikes.

So how did it go wrong? Firstly, Capcom decided to strip away all the elements that made the franchise notable, opting for a darker, grimmer style. There’s no timer or different ways to end the mission – but the open world aspect should make up for that, right? Well, like Resident Evil 6, Capcom is trying to appeal to the Call of Duty gamer with Dead Rising 3, hence the action oriented approach. Remember the last time that worked out for any game? We don’t either.

What was the most disappointing game of E3 2013 for you? Let us know in the comments below.

According GM Aaron Flynn, “Your choices will not only affect the story, but change the world around you.” Sadly, he also announced that the game would be releasing in Fall 2014, which almost makes it a shoe-in for the next generation of consoles. Plus, Dark Souls 2 now has an edge over it, as it releases in March 2014. Hopefully Bioware will swarm us with details for Dragon Age III before enthusiasm fades.

As of now, the only things we know about Dragon Age III is that Bioware will be looking to combine elements of the previous two games in a more open world setting in keeping with games like The Elder Scrolls.

Another important thing to consider is that Dragon Age III will pretty much be the first Bioware game to release since founders Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka left the company last year. Stay tuned for more details.

This caused representative (if that’s what he really is) Blair Brown to come out and state that “Dragon Age III will sold as ‘Dragon Age III’ not ‘hey look at us over here, we’re kinda like those other games’. The game is strong enough to stand out.”

As for when we’ll be seeing the game and why EA is afraid to reveal any details, Brown stated that, “We decide when we are ready to reveal information (not EA), which is not yet, we are waiting for the perfect moment to blow everyone away. We are not afraid”.

One could be skeptical as to whether Brown speaks for Bioware, due to the number of typos in his post. Nonetheless, we’ll wait to play all three games before pronouncing which is better – which is subjective enough as it is.

(Thanks to NeoGAF for the image)

Of course, this also means that Dragon Age III: Inquisition and the next Mass Effect won’t be arriving on the Wii U as a result. This is concerning, but since both games will be using Frostbite 3, this effectively disqualifies the Wii U from supporting both major Bioware franchises.

The Wii U has been on a big downturn since its release with the reduced sales. Then again, its next generation status has been in doubt considering that the console has played host to many of the previous iterations of those franchises.

So we can consider that the next generation of Dragon Age and Mass Effect won’t arrive on the Wii U due to the limitations of Frostbite 3. This could mean a limited version of the engine arrives later, but it seems like a long shot at this point.

Speaking to Rock Paper Shogun, he stated that, “The thing about accepted industry wisdom is that you can’t question it. Everyone just agrees. It’s weird. The things that the industry decides are treated as incontrovertibly true until someone else comes along and proves them definitively wrong in a way that we cannot ignore. Then, of course, everyone jumps on it.

“To say that about female protagonists – that they just don’t sell [is myopic]. Over the last ten years, how many titles have had female protagonists? And we’re supposed to accept, from those particular titles, that a) that constitutes a pattern, and b) the only reason those games were unsuccessful is because they had female protagonists? That is a real leap of logic… There is lots of that in the industry.”

As always, the real change comes when money is involved. “If you were to ask me what would make the industry change its mind about female protagonists, it would take some game coming out and being completely financially successful such that people in the industry couldn’t say, ‘Well, it was just because of this. Not because female protagonists are suddenly marketable.’

“It has to be something they can’t ignore. The only way the industry can’t ignore something is when money is involved.”

BioWare’s new general manager Aaron Flynn, however, wants to reassure fans that the devs have taken all criticism into account and that DA3 will tackle all the problem of DA2, and that it will be more like Origins than its direct predecessor in terms of story.

“We definitely take the criticisms of Dragon Age 2 very seriously and into great consideration,” Flynn told Game Informer (via RantGaming). “We spent weeks and weeks poring over it and and figuring out not only the mistakes we made but also what we had to do to really show fans that we’d heard it and were going to do better with Dragon Age 3.

Dragon Age 2- Destiny Trailer 

“In [DA2], we tried to tell a very intimate story. We did some good things, but we made some mistakes, as well. With three, we’re going back to a very grand and world-beating kind of story that has broad scope and epic things in it.”

When asked if the 2011 smash-hit open-world RPG Skyrim serves as any sort of inspiration to similar games such as DA3 itself, Flynn said: “You can’t look at a game like Skyrim and not think about how impressive what they’ve accomplished is – or [think] that’s an interesting new direction or that there was something that didn’t work well for them that we could take in a new direction.”

“I think we have to get back to more exploration in our games,” Flynn continued. “I think that’s not just because of some of our shortcomings in Dragon Age 2, but because there’s a heritage there, something we used to do in a lot of games like Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights, where exploration was one of the key themes.”

According to a recent report, Dragon Age 3 might be releasing on next gen consoles in 2014 or near the end of next year itself. Read the report here.

After its recent announcement and the reveal of several details on the game, we have received little information on Dragon Age 3: Inquisition. Or Dragon Age III: Inquisition, if you’re anal that way. We know that it runs on DICE’s Frostbite engine, and that it comes out next year, though.

However, last night at the Bradford Animation Festival, BioWare revealed a screenshot of the game, which was on the screen for like 3 seconds (thanks, Eurogamer!).

“That is Dragon Age: Inquisition,” said BioWare art and animation director Neil Thompson. “It’s the first time anyone has seen a frame of it outside BioWare studios.”

When asked by someone in the crowd how development at BioWare had changed thanks to the Frostbite engine- which Mass Effect 4 will also be running on, as BioWare has confirmed– Thompson said: “Mass Effect was done on Unreal of course.

Dragon Age was done on the proprietary engine Eclipse. I think anyone who played Dragon Age 2 would agree that engine was starting to creak a little bit by the time that was released.

“Obviously Frostbite is the Battlefield engine built by DICE. It’s a beautiful, beautiful engine. And what we’ve found is an improvement with DA3, is the artists who were really battling with the Eclipse engine have just embraced Frostbite. The work they’re doing now is stunning.

“I think the screenshot I showed earlier is pretty stunning. That’s unusual for pre-production. Usually you don’t get to that kind of quality until a week before gold master.

“It makes my job easier because then it’s all about discussing the aesthetic and what you want to achieve. When you’re a character artist or an environment artist you’re focusing on a small aspect of the greater whole of the game. As an art director you’re concerned about the whole, the frame and everything it contains and how everything sits and the consistency. An engine like Frostbite allows you to focus more on that rather than the technological challenges of just getting the damn thing to run.”

Get more info on Dragon Age 3 here.

UPDATE:

IGN has some story details related to a questionnaire leaked last month.

“The empire of Orlais is riven by civil war; the Chantry is divided; the Templar order has broken away; the Mage circles have rebelled. Some unseen force is manipulating events, bringing about disorder and destruction. Out of this confusion emerges The Inquisition.”

The leak says you will be playing as the leader of this Inquisition and will be able to play as a mage, a warrior, or a rogue, in typical Dragon Age (and RPG) fashion.

Here are some more details:

“Set up your crew from up to ten complex companions to lead them against those who attack you by systematically spying on, revealing and destroying them.”

Sounds really good.

ORIGINAL STORY FOLLOWS:

We’ve all been expecting this for some time now, with more than a year having gone by since Dragon Age 2’s release, but it’s still always good to hear good news.

BioWare has announced on its Dragon Age website that they’re officially working on a new Dragon Age title. The third game in the series will be called Dragon Age: Inquisition.

“Inquisition” means an investigation related to political or religious matters, so it’s pretty obvious that the game will be picking up where Dragon Age 2 left off. The story will likely be centered around the conflict between the Chantry and the Templars and how things ended at the end of the second game. This also means that Hawke will probably be a major part of the story.

Also, good news for haters of Dragon Age 2- Mike Laidlaw, the executive producer of the previous, very controversial entry in the series, is not a part of this project. Mark Darrah, the lead programmer of the previous games, has taken over.

“I am pleased to confirm that we are, in fact, working on the next Dragon Age game,” he wrote on the webpage linked above. “Not a big surprise to most of you, I know. We have been working on it in some way for about two years now with the bulk of our efforts ramping up about 18 months ago.”

He says the team has been listening to fan feedback so they shouldn’t have a reason to worry that the game won’t be up to scratch. “We’ve visited message boards, read reviews, and we’ve gone to events to have direct face to face conversations with some of our most passionate fans,” he said. “We’ve been listening, and we will continue to listen.”

He didn’t elaborate much though, and gave very little information, especially about the story. However, he did say that the game might hint towards what it means. It does indeed.

Darrah confirmed the game is being made by much of the same team that’s been working on the series to date, and will also include new talent.

BioWare has also developed a new engine specially for the game, so that they can provide for “a more expansive world, better visuals, more reactivity to player choices, and more customization.” Darrah also revealed that the team started working with DICE’s Frostbite 2 engine to lay the foundations.

No other information was given out. No release date, no systems, nothing. But we’ll keep you updated.

What would you like to see in Dragon Age 3? Tell us in your comments below.