After watching Microsoft steal one of its hallowed exclusives, Final Fantasy XIII, the day before, Sony tried to regroup for its E3 media briefing on Tuesday.

Unfortunately, Sony's titles didn't have the same pop and excitement as Microsoft's announcements. And because Microsoft beat it to the punch by trotting out multiplatform blockbusters liked Resident Evil 5 (another former Sony exclusive) and Fallout 3, Sony was left shorthanded for its press conference. But the company did offer up some exclusive titles and announced some surprise titles during the event.

First up was Insomniac Games' sequel Resistance 2. Insomniac CEO Ted Price came on stage and introduced the game, demonstrating a single player level that took place in a U.S. city under attack by the Chimera. The level involved the playable character Hale running around a skyscrapers battling an enormous "Leviathan." The boss battle looked like something out of "King Kong" or, more appropriately, "Cloverfield," and featured plenty of wide-scale action. The Leviathan creature itself looked a little too much like a Brumak from Gears of War, which only underscore the fact that Resistance 2 didn't look nearly as beautiful graphics-wise as Gears of War 2.

Still, the trump card for Resistance 2 isn't its visuals - it's the game's impressive 60-player online multiplayer mode (check out Tom's Games' hands-on impressions of Resistance 2's multiplayer). There will also be an eight-player cooperative online mode for Resistance 2, which ships this fall. Price finished up the demo with a short video clip of a Resistance 2 level based in Twins Falls, Idaho. Sony later showed a new PlayStation Portable title Resistance: Retribution as well.

Next up was LittleBigPlanet from Media Molecule. Jack Tretton, president of Sony Computer Entertainment America, talked about the growing important of user-generated content in today's digital world, and he highlighted LittleBigPlanet as a prime example. The game combines colorful platform action with puzzles, social networking, and customizable content that gamers can show off to each other.

Jack Tretton, president of SCEA, joins Media Molecule co-founder Alex Evans for a demonstration of LittleBigPlanet.

To demonstrate the game's user-generated content, Tretton invited Alex Evans, co-founder of Media Molecule, to help create some graphs and charts that showed Sony's growth numbers for its console hardware. Tretton, who is a Boston sports fan, asked Evans to create a "Sackboy" sprite wearing a Boston Celtics uniform with NBA Finals MVP Paul Pierce's number and trademark headband. The demo was a crowd-pleaser (except for Lakers' fans, of course).

Tretton later spoke about PlayStation Network titles and unveiled a new PSN title, Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty, from Insomniac. Quest for Booty picks up right where Tools of Destruction left off and follows Ratchet as he searches for his missing buddy Clank. As a PSN title, Quest for Booty won't be a full game but will sport the same look as Tools of Destruction. In addition, the game will feature new abilities and gadgets for Ratchet, as well as new worlds to explore. Other PSN titles Tretton highlighted were PixelJunk Eden and Siren: Blood Curse, which looks pretty gory and creepy.

One of the more anticipated - and ultimately disappointing - parts of Sony's media briefing involved the Sony Online Entertainment title DC Universe Online. Tretton introduced a surprise guest in legendary comic book artist Jim Lee, whose recent works include "Batman: Hush" and "All-Star Batman and Robin." Lee served as executive creative director for DC Universe Online and helped design the look of the game, which features dozens of characters from DC Comics and allows gamers to create their own characters. But a video of the game in action showed some bland graphics and certainly didn't have the kind of visuals that a comic book title from Jim Lee that you'd expect.

Perhaps even more disappointing was God of War III's showing at the press event, which was reduced to a blink-and-you'll-miss-it teaser video that featured Kratos and little else. Killzone 2 was also noticeably absent during the media briefing (check out our hands-on impressions of Killzone 2). While Sony showed some brief glimpses of some exclusives, such as SOCOM: Confrontation and MotorStorm: Pacific Rift, it felt like the company was showing more of Grant Theft Auto IV and Metal Gear Solid 4, which are old news. Sony did, however, introduced two new titles for beyond 2008 before wrapping up. The first, called Infamous, is PS3 exclusive action-sandbox title from Sucker Punch Studios. The game deals with a cataclysmic event that destroys a city and leaves one survivor, Dylan, who awakens with amazing electrical powers. The gameplay video looked a bit like Star Wars: The Force Unleashed without lightsabers, but the action was still intriguing.

The last title shown arguably has the most promise for Sony and the PS3. Tretton had spent quite a bit of time during his presentation talking about the unprecedented power of the PS3, go so far as saying that games like Metal Gear Solid 4 are "only possible on the PS3." At the end of the presentation, Tretton introduced a title that might actually prove that claim: MAG (Massive Action Game) from Zipper Interactive of SOCOM fame. The third-person military shooter with an online multiplayer that supports up to 256 players (no, that's not a typo) divided into 8-player squads. No gameplay was shown - just a brief trailer video with pre-rendered cut scenes. But if Sony and Zipper can pull this off, it will be a gem of an exclusive for the PS3.

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