E3 07: The alternative press conf awards

The general consensus prior to GamesRadar entering the Culver City studio lot was that this was a make or break press conference for Sony. After the highs of E3 2005 (the one with the PS3), the lows of 2006 (the one with the crab) and more recently, widespread concern that the PS3 isn't selling as well as Sony had hoped, it needed to be a whiz-bang of a show.

It wasn't. But... it was slick, focused and largely free of technical hitches, empty promises and the dreaded target footage. The big reveals? PSP Slim; which, at least aesthetically, looked incredibly similar to the original PSP, its marginally reduced dimensions (19% slimmer, 33% lighter) indiscernible on the big screens, and a "told you so" real-time playthrough of Killzone 2.

Some other games were debuted - notably a sexy Gran Turismo 5 Prologue trailer, a new Crackdown/Fable "homage" (we're being polite) from Sly Raccoon dev Sucker Punch called inFamous and a PlayStation Network oddity from Japan called Echochrome, which blended puzzling with the optical illusion art of MC Escher.

For the full rundown of the Sony press event click here. In the meantime catch ouralternative awards of the ever-eventful and frequently farcical E3 press conferences.