In a sense, hype, but it's not meant as a 'Oh, the PS4's just got all this undeserved buzz, etc' the good hype IS deserved, and it is helping to drive sales forward when one considers that, as this is the first year, it will likely be the most content-dry, most expensive, and least feature-rich period of the platform's lifespan. Deciding to leap on board so early DOES have an element of hype to it. But, again, it's well-deserved, as Sony's done a really good job marketing their platform and giving reasons to WANT to be hyped.

It should be noted that the Xbox 360 did become fairly dry in terms of varied exclusives during the last three or four years; anyone in that camp who wasn't completely satisfied with Halo, Forza, Gears and Fable might be wary of investing in an Xbox One that early, just in case the same thing happens again. As some have mentioned, a console is a long-term investment, and Microsoft has something to prove in terms of showing gamers that they won't just go back to churning out the same handful of franchises.

By contrast, the last few years of the PS3 have been quite strong in terms of exclusives, both in quality and variety, and as such gamers considering it may be more likely to hop aboard early, because they have every reason to believe the variety of the exclusives line-up will remain strong throughout the generation.

I don't think that the big sales boost will translate into a crash down the road, however, (barring, of course, a crash hitting both Microsoft and Sony at some point,) as getting an early-generation lead can be quite helpful. The more gamers buy, and enjoy, your console, the more positive buzz they spread to their friends and relatives. This, in turn, makes it more likely that said friends and relatives will make their eventual 8th gen upgrade a PS4. Now, obviously, not a guarantee, (though the Xbox 360's lead let them maintain a stranglehold on NPD victories, it didn't help them keep Sony from taking back Europe,) but bottom line, the more of a lead they get, the more of an uphill battle Microsoft faces in shrinking it.

yoshida know it!

better first party, more exclusive games, better console hardware, more cheaper.