Everyone of you people is right here. Good products generate hype. The PS4 did not only profit from the massive fuck-ups by Nintendo and Microsoft but also from the PS3, which got a very good reputation towards the end of last gen. So people more than happily switched to PS4. With the Wii it's a whole different story. It sold a whole friggin lot, but a lot of people weren't happy with the system. So they doubted ifthe Wii U was any good - no hype. The 360 has its own problems, you have your hardware melting down regurlary in the first couple of years and the lack of big first party releases in the last years. 

The iPhone also continues to give the users unique features and it is able to crush the Galaxy S in benchmarks despite the lower specs on paper. Of course marketing is also important, but it all comes down to the quality of the product. If your product isn't any good, hype will die really fast. If your product is the second coming of christ, hype will build all alone, you don't even need marketing. It just makes things faster.

Hype is not always a bad thing. Whoever makes good products deserves it. The opposite would be fantastic marketing with a bad product behind it. Watch_Dogs would be such an example if you ask me. But only if you ask me. =P

People keep mistaking "hype" for "buzz". One is word of mouth, the other is a contrived, exaggerated or extravagant type of means to generate word-of-mouth.

I blame the media, honestly. Many "journalists" can't really seem to differentiate between the two and people just seem to have picked it up.

Isn't this the case every generation though?

PS3 fucked up last gen, Gamecube fucked up the gen before, Dreamcast fucked up before then, Saturn (I think it was Saturn fcked up for then), then a Atari fcked up.

Didn't the Wii sell off of hype, didn't the PS2 sell off of hype, the ps1, SNES, NES, etc...

It's been 9 months. Hype can't be entirely attributed to it. 

PS4 is selling because it's the best 8th gen console, with most power and speed, with a good price, and already the most top rated games (fo shizzle):

PS4: 5 games 90+, 35 games 80+ Metacritic
Wii U: 4 games 90+, 36 games 80+ Metacritic
XB1: 1 games 90+, 15 games 80+ Metacritic

Additionally because PS3 was awesome with GOTY hits and with PS+ giving access to a lot of AAA games on instant game collection.

People know Wii was a one night stand, compounded by Wii U delays in much needed 1st party titles, and subsequently losing most 3rd party.

People know X360 had RROD and bad DVD drives, but they loved it as a gaming machine.  However most recent memory is X360 didn't get the games support that PS3 had in it's later years.  That, compounded by f'ed up XB1 reveal, high price, and no compelling Kinect 2.0 software.

Not every gen; Genesis didn't fuck up in the 4th gen, and 360/PS3 recovered from their growing pains in the 7th. As a result, those gens had healthy competition.

The winning system always has hype, yes. But in my humble opinion, the hype has never been this unfounded.

I really don't mean this as bashing; but there's really no way I can say this without sounding like I'm "hating". It's just that the message that PS4's sales explosions sends the industry is a worrying one in my view. It says we as an audience are okay with game droughts and schedules padded out with last gen ports, and that all we want from our "next gen" system is the same games, just shinier.

But that didn't really help the Vita or the PS3 during 2006-2008!

did i say that?

i said a product get sold because hype and the people kepp it because its a good produc

but the inital reason to buy it not that people know / think its the best product. they only figure that out after they bought it because of the hype.

xD

Quick someone link that 'alien' gif.