Alternate history: Sony don't join the console race

[Otter]

I do think people are attributing too much to playstation...

A lot of that "cool" was just games evolving into something which isn't just 2D Sprites. Playstation was a fresh new comer and as the more consumer friendly/dev friendly device definitely were at the forefront of making that cool a reality... But IMO a lot of it would of happened on N64 & subsequently the Dreamcast.