Microsoft did a great job with the Xbox 360 (I was quite fond of it) but as you say it very quickly became clear that the diverse exclusives (the no. 1 reason why I prefer PS today) would be fewer and fewer.

The diverse exclusives like Kameo, Dead or Alive, Project Gotham Racing, Dead Rising, Saints Row, Gears of War, Viva Piñata, Crackdown, Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey, Ninja Gaiden, Fable 2 and The Last Remnant all stopped in 2008. From there on the only exclusives were sequels of Halo, Gears and Forza. Very odd :/ Ironically PS3 really started to shine in 2008 and 2009 with exclusives like Gran Turismo 5: Prologue, Metal Gear Solid 4, LittleBigPlanet, MotorStorm: Pacific Rift, Valkyria Chronicles, Killzone 2, inFamous, Demon's Souls, Uncharted 2 and Ratchet & Clank: ACiT.

I hope Microsoft don't repeat this procedure with the Xbox One. Great exclusives early on and then nothing but sequels in the same 3 franchises later on.

Yeah, it's pretty sad. The first few years of the 360 were just insane, but then it seemed they just decided they could coast from there on out. Which wasn't a bad idea commercially since they were already established as the "core" console to have, but it was still very disappointing. I kind of suspected they slowed down because they were saving up bombshells for the Xbox One's early life, but that really doesn't seem to have been the case.

They were especially great fun to watch when they were going all out to try and gain share in Japan. I can't blame them for eventually writing it off as a lost cause, but again, it was pretty disappointing when they stopped trying.

From the moment MS revealed all those restrictive policies, and in particular once they said Kinect is mandatory, there was no doubt in my mind that PS4 will be the winner.
As soon as MS E3 conference finished, I preordered a PS4 and started dismantling my X360 collection.

Thought Wii U would win, until we found out it was drastically underpowered (again). After locking up casuals, I assumed Ninty would go after the core gamers with the one yr headstart, by having a true next gen console (XB1 level specs). But after the bad press MS got for their XB1 reveal, it became obvious PS4 would win.

1: I was also certain they'd have some big diverse 1st party exclusives ready for XB1 but I guess it was just due to focus on developing cheap Kinect games and safe million selling sequels. Ironically Halo, Gears, Fable and Forza are the only 1st party exclusives announced for XB1. x{

They're doing a great job securing 3rd party console exclusives though.

2: HA! Agreed! Funding all those great Japanese exclusives despite 0 interest was admirably. Can't blame them for quitting.

PS4 without a doubt

I knew for sure that it wasn't the Wii U. It just didn't have the magic that made me beg my parents to get me the Wii for when I was a kid. For the XBONE and PS4 those were completely unknown to me for a while to be honest. But I really thought Xbox was going to take this one due to how much of a powerhouse the 360 was.