Gears and Darkness is a bogus comparison.
Being exclusive doesn't automatically make a game more hyped, and if it does, than hype is cheap. DMC4 and Assassin's Creed will absolutely sell more copies thanks to being multi-platform.
Makingmusic's claim that "Quite often, developers are willing to sacrifice added profits to make a higher quality game. That is what a true artist does. Things aren't always about money. Artistic expression is far more important to many people" is sadly far too naive. The real reason most of the best non-first party games are exclusive is because one console is always incredibly dominant. When one console has a massive install base advantage, it may make more sense financially to make six exclusive games for the dominant platform than it does to make four or five games for two or more platforms. Practically all the major third-party exclusives were on PS2 last gen, right? It's the publishers calling the shots, not the developers, after all.
"[Our former customers] are unable to find software which they WANT to play."
"The way to solve this problem lies in how to communicate what kind of games [they CAN play]."
Satoru Iwata, Nintendo President. Only slightly paraphrased.
