 This could have been the biggest E3 for virtual reality ever. The Oculus Rift and HTC Vive just came out this spring, and PlayStation VR is just a few months away. So it's time for all these companies to really get serious about putting out a catalog that can get people excited about the platform. Did that happen? Well, it wasn't a bad year, but it's not one that should convince anybody that virtual reality is already here. Well, let's talk about the exciting stuff first. Oculus came to E3 with a slate of games for touch, promising we'll get more than 30 when it comes out later this year. Sony announced an official date for PlayStation VR, October 13th. And HTC? Well, HTC didn't really do anything, but they had a neat mixed reality booth. Oculus is hands down showing the most polished, interesting VR games at E3. Every game there had some kind of cool premise. You're rock climbing, you're in a wizard duel, you're playing tennis with Tron discs. The problem is, nobody's going to get to play these games for a long time. Oculus is still working through its Oculus Rift backorder, and it didn't say when touch is coming. It suggested it could be late this year. In any case, PC gaming is a pretty exclusive club already, and then you add virtual reality to that and it gets even smaller. Oculus is the company whose games I want everybody to be playing, but it's the most elusive platform in existence. Sony says we'll get 50 PlayStation VR games before the end of 2016, and it's been the best at bringing huge, exciting franchises to virtual reality. It's going to have games from Star Wars Battlefront, the Batman Arkham series, Final Fantasy, and Resident Evil, to name a few. But when you actually try them out, they weren't as much fun as they sound. The Batman and Final Fantasy games are basically short add-ons, and while Resident Evil is cool and totally playable, it's also pretty much the same inside VR and outside it. Also, PlayStation VR's technical limitations really start coming through. Everything looks a little bit muddy compared to the Rift and Vive. On the bright side, PSVR is definitely the most accessible platform, and the PlayStation Neo, while it wasn't announced in E3, could give it a graphical boost. It's the only tethered headset that stands a chance of being more than a niche product, and it has a few titles with real potential, including the robot basketball game Rigs and Robinson the Journey, a cool sci-fi dinosaur game from Crytek. HTC was at E3, but the only really notable announcement was that Fallout 4 is coming to Vive next year. That's a big deal, but the demo we saw just had one small area and not very many features. It's a proof of concept, just like almost everything else on the Vive. In the absolute best universe, Valve would have shown up and introduced a new Half-Life for virtual reality or something. But it hasn't made a big announcement at E3 for years, and 2016 was no exception. Yes, there are other VR headsets at E3, but they're mostly for special cases like theme parks, not things people will want to buy and take home. And nothing I saw offered a clearly better experience than the Rift, Vive, or PSVR. Microsoft is supposed to be getting into the virtual reality game next year with its Scorpio console, but it didn't actually say what headsets it's going to support. Maybe the best sign for VR at E3 was that we got a new and pretty cool game announced for all major VR platforms. That was Star Trek Bridge Crew, a cooperative game where you play four members of a Starfleet ship's crew. It's part of a big beloved series, it's developed by a major publisher, Ubisoft, and it's the kind of game that can appeal to all kinds of people, not just hyper-skilled players or fans of a specific genre. Most of the things we saw at E3 are in a pretty early stage, and we'll be hearing more soon at places like QuakeCon, Gamescom, and Oculus' big developer conference. The very start of a platform's life usually isn't the best part of it. Just remember games like Rise for the Xbox, and it can take years to develop a really good game inside or outside of VR. We've got at least a few more months until PlayStation VR and Touch come out, before the first generation of VR hardware has started. But this year's show definitely didn't give us enough to cement VR's future, and with headsets already going on sale, the clock is running down. We spent a lot of time this E3 covering VR and absolutely everything else games-related. If you want to see it, you can check us out at TheVerge.com or subscribe at YouTube.com That's The Verge.
 This could have been the biggest E3 for virtual reality ever.
 The Oculus Rift and HTC Vive just came out this spring, and PlayStation VR is just a
 few months away.
 So it's time for all these companies to really get serious about putting out a catalog that
 can get people excited about the platform.
 Did that happen?
 Well, it wasn't a bad year, but it's not one that should convince anybody that virtual
 reality is already here.
 Well, let's talk about the exciting stuff first.
 Oculus came to E3 with a slate of games for touch, promising we'll get more than 30 when
 it comes out later this year.
 Sony announced an official date for PlayStation VR, October 13th.
 And HTC?
 Well, HTC didn't really do anything, but they had a neat mixed reality booth.
 Oculus is hands down showing the most polished, interesting VR games at E3.
 Every game there had some kind of cool premise.
 You're rock climbing, you're in a wizard duel, you're playing tennis with Tron discs.
 The problem is, nobody's going to get to play these games for a long time.
 Oculus is still working through its Oculus Rift backorder, and it didn't say when touch
 is coming.
 It suggested it could be late this year.
 In any case, PC gaming is a pretty exclusive club already, and then you add virtual reality
 to that and it gets even smaller.
 Oculus is the company whose games I want everybody to be playing, but it's the most elusive platform
 in existence.
 Sony says we'll get 50 PlayStation VR games before the end of 2016, and it's been the
 best at bringing huge, exciting franchises to virtual reality.
 It's going to have games from Star Wars Battlefront, the Batman Arkham series, Final Fantasy, and
 Resident Evil, to name a few.
 But when you actually try them out, they weren't as much fun as they sound.
 The Batman and Final Fantasy games are basically short add-ons, and while Resident Evil is
 cool and totally playable, it's also pretty much the same inside VR and outside it.
 Also, PlayStation VR's technical limitations really start coming through.
 Everything looks a little bit muddy compared to the Rift and Vive.
 On the bright side, PSVR is definitely the most accessible platform, and the PlayStation
 Neo, while it wasn't announced in E3, could give it a graphical boost.
 It's the only tethered headset that stands a chance of being more than a niche product,
 and it has a few titles with real potential, including the robot basketball game Rigs and
 Robinson the Journey, a cool sci-fi dinosaur game from Crytek.
 HTC was at E3, but the only really notable announcement was that Fallout 4 is coming
 to Vive next year.
 That's a big deal, but the demo we saw just had one small area and not very many features.
 It's a proof of concept, just like almost everything else on the Vive.
 In the absolute best universe, Valve would have shown up and introduced a new Half-Life
 for virtual reality or something.
 But it hasn't made a big announcement at E3 for years, and 2016 was no exception.
 Yes, there are other VR headsets at E3, but they're mostly for special cases like theme
 parks, not things people will want to buy and take home.
 And nothing I saw offered a clearly better experience than the Rift, Vive, or PSVR.
 Microsoft is supposed to be getting into the virtual reality game next year with its Scorpio
 console, but it didn't actually say what headsets it's going to support.
 Maybe the best sign for VR at E3 was that we got a new and pretty cool game announced
 for all major VR platforms.
 That was Star Trek Bridge Crew, a cooperative game where you play four members of a Starfleet
 ship's crew.
 It's part of a big beloved series, it's developed by a major publisher, Ubisoft, and
 it's the kind of game that can appeal to all kinds of people, not just hyper-skilled
 players or fans of a specific genre.
 Most of the things we saw at E3 are in a pretty early stage, and we'll be hearing more soon
 at places like QuakeCon, Gamescom, and Oculus' big developer conference.
 The very start of a platform's life usually isn't the best part of it.
 Just remember games like Rise for the Xbox, and it can take years to develop a really
 good game inside or outside of VR.
 We've got at least a few more months until PlayStation VR and Touch come out, before
 the first generation of VR hardware has started.
 But this year's show definitely didn't give us enough to cement VR's future, and with
 headsets already going on sale, the clock is running down.
 We spent a lot of time this E3 covering VR and absolutely everything else games-related.
 If you want to see it, you can check us out at TheVerge.com or subscribe at YouTube.com
 That's The Verge.