Phil Harrison's home avatar reappeared then, dressed in the giant fuzzy ears, long tail, and robot buddy backpack of trademark character Ratchet. This kicked off a quick tour of Sony's upcoming lineup: color-saturated blastathon Ratchet & Clank Future: Weapons of Destruction, the lavish action RPG Folklore, gorgeous action slasher Heavenly Sword, bouncy basketballer NBA 08, darling build-it-yourself platformer LittleBigPlanet, and Uncharted, which looks to blend Tomb Raider-style spelunking with barrel-blazing shooter action.

Infamous, a gritty take on the hero-in-a-sandbox game from the creators of the Sly Cooper franchise, casts you as a young superhuman who must choose between being good or evil. And Gran Turismo 5 Prologue is going to give players a multiplayer preview of the upcoming hardcore driving simulation.

The last game shown enabled Sony fans to finally dodge a sword that's been hanging over their heads since the infamous "was it real or fake" E3 presentation of two years ago. It was Killzone 2, shown running live, no fakery or CGI involved.

The trailer opened with a scene of troops riding airborne carriers just like the original trailer from 2005 - but in real time - and continued into a heated firefight on the ground. Visually, we'd estimate it's at least on par with current Xbox 360 beauty queen Gears of War, but possibly with larger environments. So the ultimate verdict: it's pretty damn close to the target trailer, though not quite as smooth, at least not yet. It was a satisfying way to cue the end of the press event and the opening of a cavernous side chamber filled with kiosks and playable demos.

For more E3 insanity, view our comprehensive round-up.