E3 2012 has come and gone. The convention brought with it some hugely surprisingly announcements, like EA nabbing the UFC license, the announcement of Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs, and the reveal of David Cage’s next game, Beyond.

But for every jaw-dropping moment, there were some confusing omissions: several large-profile games that we expected to see simply never materialized. Major titles that we’d seen before – or expected to see – simply didn’t make the show.

Which games are we talking about? Without further ado, here’s our list of E3 2012’s biggest no-shows…

It's been a while since we've heard anything new about Grand Theft Auto V. In fact, there hasn't been a single detail since the trailer and logo were revealed. Rockstar sent those out, dropped the microphone, and called it a day.

Call us dreamers if you will, but we actually expected to see something from GTA V at E3 2012. Microsoft could have shown off a trailer to promote some sort of exclusivity, Sony could have revealed a weird Vita tie-in application, or Nintendo could have shown it off on the Wii U, further proving its commitment to mature titles. Instead, we didn't get a single murmur.

Insomniac has always been connected to Sony at the hip, releasing Spyro, Ratchet & Clank, and Resistance exclusively for PlayStation platforms. This air of exclusivity changed when the developer revealed Overstrike, a multiplatform shooter under Electronic Arts, which received an official unveiling and a trailer at last year's E3. The trailer was undoubtedly awesome.

But that was last year. Now, more than twelve months later, we've not heard a peep from EA, Insomniac, or anyone else about Overstrike. We assumed we'd hear more, or even get hands-on with the four-player cooperative shooter at this year's show, since it was revealed at EA's press conference last year, but... nothing. Perhaps Insomniac should have saved the trailer for this year instead.

This wasn’t really on our radar until a few days before E3. Sam Lake, lead writer of Alan Wake (and face model for the constipated Max Payne from the original game), tweeted a mysterious note two days before the show began: “It's all true. It will happen again, in another town, a town called Ordinary. It's happening now.” He also included a link, which sent readers to a blog filled with Wake references. This, when coupled with the release of Alan Wake’s American Nightmare, seemed to be leading to an imminent Wake 2 announcement at E3, likely at Microsoft’s press conference, which is always starving for new game announcements.

And then it simply… didn’t happen. Despite being teased and promoted, the reveal didn’t come at Microsoft’s press conference or elsewhere. Maybe they pulled the viral marketing trigger too early and pissed off Microsoft, maybe it was never supposed to be announced during E3, or maybe it’s actually not in the works. Maybe it’s all part of the story, and Mr. Scratch is using Twitter and our excitement to break out of the games and into the real world oh no it’s happ—

The 3DS's unique features could make for the best Animal Crossing yet. By blending together Street Pass (which allows players to exchange information through proximity) and Spot Pass (which lets the 3DS send and receive information while in sleep mode), Nintendo could essentially turn the game into a faux-MMO. Last year we got a glimpse of the game at Nintendo's press conference, as well as the assurance of a 2012 release date.

We expected to get a new trailer, details on how the mechanics would work, and a solid release date at E3 2012, but... yeah. We didn't get any of that. We didn't get any of anything. Here we are, in 2012 - the year it's supposed to be coming out - without a drop of new information. Nintendo didn't forget about Animal Crossing, did it?

The Brothers in Arms series has consistently brought some of the strongest World War II shooting action to gaming, with rock-solid tactical gameplay and a brutal, realistic presentation. Last year at E3 2011, developer Gearbox announced that it would be taking a break from the glum, depressing world of realism in favor of a game that looked like the love child of Brothers in Arms, Borderlands, and Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds. With a focus on four-player co-op and hyper-stylized visuals, the game impressed us when we saw it last year, and we anxious anticipated new information at E3.

Sadly, when we got that new information, it wasn't good. A few months back, we began hearing rumors that the game had been flat-out cancelled. Further credibility was added when Ubisoft let the game's trademark lapse, and even though Gearbox explained the reasoning for this, it still didn't look good. We hoped that our paranoia would be invalidated, but with the game not showing up at E3 in any form, we're back to sobbing ourselves to sleep nightly.

It’s been over a year since we’ve seen anything new from Team Ico’s The Last Guardian. The mysterious title missed every proposed launch window thus far, slipping out of its 2011 release date into… well, we have no idea. Sony continues to assure gamers that it’s still in the works, and there were even rumors of a demo being included in last year’s ICO/Shadow of the Colossus HD Collection. But the demo, like any fresh information on Fumito Ueda’s highly anticipated title, never materialized.

Ueda blames the delays on design decisions, but that doesn’t sound like a big enough issue to prevent Team ICO from slapping some footage over dramatic music to show off at Sony’s press conference. More disconcerting is the departure of Ueda, the lead designer on the title, who left Sony late last year. We’ve been told he's continuing to work on the title as a freelancer, but we’re not optimistic. We’re starting to wonder if The Last Guardian is a prank on the industry – an incredibly meta “game” in which Ueda breaks gamers’ hearts by creating trailers and prototypes of a game that doesn’t exist. Yeah, it sounds crazy, but at this point, we’re open to believing anything.

Last year, Nintendo did what Nintendo often does: promote a game it hasn't actually started working on yet. At the company's press conference in 2011, Shigeru Miyamoto talked up a Wii U/3DS Smash Bros and was met with uproarious applause. Soon after, however, lead designer Masahiro Sakurai said that the title was still in the conceptual stages, and that he hadn't actually started working on it. He had to finish the 3DS Kid Icarus: Uprising first, he said, before he could start thinking about smashing brothers.

We sort of hoped this was typical trickery, and expected to see the game on display at E3 2012. The 3DS was in desperate need of new titles, and the Wii U could definitely use a big game like Smash Bros. in the early months to help sell units. It would also be a great showpiece for the hardware, both by including crisp graphics and and utilizing the second pad to show a close-up view of the fighter. Alas, it wasn't at E3 whatsoever, and Nintendo opted to remain tight-lipped about the project. We might be a few years out from a new Smash Bros. after all.

Yeah, we know, you disagree with us. We're wrong about one of the entries, or we forgot something, or we're stupid for not including your favorite thing. It's fine, we get it.

Don't just sit there shouting at the screen, though - comment below and let us know what you think of this Top 7.

And if you want to hear about more E3 2012 shenanigans, check out GamesRadar's Most Valuable Games of E3 2012 and our picks for who had the best E3 2012 press conference.