Sony was on a mission this year to not only win over unbelievers, but to reaffirms to the faithful as well as the greater gaming community that they are still a driving force in the industry with the potential to dominate in the year to come. Everything slowly seemed to come together over the course of their press conference in such a way that would have made doubtless done the A-Team proud. Bouncing back from a relatively lukewarm reception last year in which Sony barely scraped by Nintendo to achieve second place behind Microsoft, a new agenda was set and the message was perfectly clear – this is the Sony that released the PlayStation and we are not screwing around. Lacking any singular element that tied the well-received presentation together, it was a series of initiatives operating in perfect concert that surged Sony back to the forefront in the minds of gamers and making a several future PlayStation 3 and PSP owners in the process.

Sony is slowly coming to grips, admitting that the PSP Go may not have been the best move they’ve decided to ever make. Opening acknowledging that not just gamers but consumers still have a decidedly strong preference for physical media as opposed to digital, they have seeming stepped up efforts to create a resurgence for the perennial handheld better know simply as the PSP. Giving the laudable Kevin Butler a wise-cracking, younger sidekick to serve as the “VP of PlayStation Portable” will no doubt to remind many in and outside of the gaming community why exactly they thought the portable system was viable and fun (which it still is on a wickedly significant level) in the first place. Regardless of the battle against piracy that has embroiled Sony in a proverbial arms race, the PSP is still the best hope to continue mobile utilization of the PlayStation Network along with the relatively impressive back catalog of PSP titles that can be obtained on the cheap. As one of the few people who feel the PlayStation Portable is the ‘Swiss Army Knife’ in comparison to the Nintendo DS, DSi, DSi XL and even the upcoming 3DS playing the part of the ‘Shiny Red Ball’. While both are exceedingly good at what they do, the PSP can do just a bit more than play games and it’s nice to finally see Sony invest in reminding everyone of that.

4. Gran Turismo 5

Not having gotten a hands-on preview yet, it would be completely asinine to say that this is the killer app racing game for the Sony PlayStation 3. Unsurprisingly, it looks pretty damn amazing, which it should when the development cycle of this singular title has been enough to supersede the time it took to create Forza 2 and Forza 3. The expectation for the game is pretty high as it is and it is quite laudable that Sony has gone balls out when it comes to their perennial racing series. It’s slick, sexy and it appears to be in a position to really give Forza 3 a run for its money.

3. Kevin Butler

Kevin Butler seems like the kind of man of which legends are written. Strutting on to the stage, he immediately seized center stage like a man who had done it countless times before. No hesitation was detectable as his confidence surged from the stage into the audience before letting uttering a jib or two at the expense of Microsoft. More showman than anything, he is Sony’s “VP of Everything” and that is exactly what makes him the figurehead that gamers, regardless of console affiliation, can relate to. Nintendo has Reggie, Microsoft doesn’t really have anyone that could be called a figurehead, but Sony has Kevin Butler and at that moment during the E3 Press Conference, that is all that mattered. Not inclined to ask gamers who they are, he told us what being a gamer was with such tirades as, “Owning a giant television in a one-room apartment” before going on to remind us of the “trophies we’ve stayed up all night earning that aren’t real, but they are”. Without a doubt, Kevin Butler took his larger than life persona that we’ve all only been privy to in commercials and injected his over-the-top attitude into that Sony press event. What seemed like just another occasion in that moment became something that struck gamers as an event that seemed like Sony, for the first time in a long while, was getting what it was to be a gamer again. In no uncertain terms, when Sony could have peaked halfway through their presentation, Kevin came to the rescue and pushed it into the stratosphere just to remind us what it is to be a gamer.

2. Move

Both Kinect and Move have me extremely excited for what motion control isn’t necessarily accomplishing right now, but what it has the potential to achieve. While many will continue to tout motion control as merely a bandwagon, jumped on by both Microsoft and Sony, it goes without saying that sales numbers surrounding the Wii have proven that there is a decided to demand for people to flair their arms and see things happen on the screen in front of them. A regular controller is all well and good, but seeing the potential of wielding a sword and shield, playing a round of golf or even causing a ridiculous amount of havoc as Ratchet & Clank is enough to have me interested in what Move could be in six months, a year or even five years down the line. Complete immersion has always been the major obstacle standing between game developers and the ability to draw players into the worlds they’ve created. Sure, a few sore muscles, cramps or spasms might be the price to pay for discovering muscles we didn’t know we have, but if Nintendo has proven anything, it’s that there is a demand for this technology and it’s about time that we got to see Sony’s take on it.

1. Portal 2

This was perhaps the biggest surprise of the show and definitely the cliché show-stopping moment of the day as the ever-memorable voice of GlaDOS cut in over the sound system announcing that a surprise was forthcoming. A countdown quickly hailed the arrival of Gabe Newell, head of Valve, to the stage to announce that not only was Portal 2 arriving on the PlayStation 3, but a form of Steam, read Steamworks, would be as well. While there has been some speculation and suspicion surrounding the announcement as Newell has traditionally been extremely outspoken when it comes to Sony’s latest console, there is no doubt a technological impression being made by moving the Steam software into the realm of the video game console. This was welcome news though as the grueling reminder of Portal 2 being pushed back to 2011 was thrown into the face of the collective audience. Nevertheless, the prospect of Sony garnering the “most complete and best version” of Portal 2 certainly struck a blow to both Microsoft and PC owners, giving every PlayStation 3 owner something to smile about before the end of the event.

What did you think of Sony’s E3 press conference? What were the games announced that you’ve been most or least excited for? Do you think the Portal 2 release is a huge deal in addition to Steam coming to the PlayStation 3? Go ahead and let us know in the comments how you believe Sony has faired this E3 and if you think they’ll definitely be bringing a whole bunch more to the table next year.