I love it

it means they rather invest in projects that would otherwise never see the light of the day (Heavy Rain,TLG,MAG,EoJ,etc..) than spend it on established franchises that would appear on their console anyway (GTA4 DLC,NGS2,SO4,TOV,etc..).

They MIGHT break that rule once in a while, but definitely don't rely on it as heavily as the other console maker.

It's not the same at all.  Sony had a critical role in the development of titles like LBP.  They paid for development and had their own producers and developers working on the game.  Sony Cambridge and other studios assisted Media Molecule significantly with engine technology and Phil Harrison himself pushed the studio in the direction of user generated content.  Similarly, Sony Japan had a helping hand in the creation of Demon's Souls, from improving From Software's engine to SCEJ producers directly molding the shape of the game.  Without SCE's money and people, these games would not be what they are.

This method of pursuing exclusive titles fosters creativity and development, unlike merely buying exlcusivity with a check, which does nothing more than make a formerly multiplat game exclusive for a few months.  One method puts new and better titles in the hands of gamers, while the other takes them away.  Or keeps them away for a few months.

If you're going to call them hypocrites, do it for something like Ghostbusters or the Joker challenge maps in Batman.  It's a dick move tossing around a few bucks just to keep people from having access to those.

Even though sony is being hypocritical, since they entered the industry buying everything and producing nothing, I agree with them now.

Especially in tied consoles like Xbox 360 and Ps3, there's no such thing as exclusivity outside second and first party. So it's better to invest in games you actually own.

Just a way of sugar coating it, The game's Microsoft shell out for don't need help, they're capable of making the game without Microsoft's team.

So basically

Sony helps dev's that can't make a brilliant game by putting money and people into it, and Microsoft help those that can make a decent game by putting ... just money into it.

When late down the road they all end up on PS3 anyway, The PS3 exclusives however don't. So they're the ones denieing them access.

Mass Effect coming to PS3 confirmed!

But seriously. Sony assists a lot of companies with development on its exclusive games. They don't just pay them to make it exclusive, I believe if they only did that, my favorite game of 2009 which is Demon's Souls, definitely wouldn't be as good...

Sony does the same, it's just a different aproach. Like has been said here, Sony just prefers to fund in it's entirety projects like Heavy Rain or LBP, but you have to understand those companies could never afford to develop something like that. It's a risk, but it will still be exclusive even after years.

Microsoft, on the other hand, plays it safer by paying top developers who don't necessarily rely on that cash. The flipside is that since they don't exactly rely on that, most of those games will come out on PS3 anyway, just later, or much later.

In a way, you could say the Sony aproach is actually more limiting to everyone, since those titles will never, ever, release outside the PlayStation brand.

Either way, the thought that only MS pays for exclusivity is idiotic, Sony does the same, the difference is they publish most of it, while MS just secures X amount of time from whoever publishes it.

Without Sony, LBP and Demon's Souls would be nothing like they currently are.

Without Microsoft, Bioshock and others would probably be the exact same as what they currently are, but available to more people from day one.

See the difference?

To focus on LBP specifically, without Sony the game probably would've never progressed much further past this stage:

I doubt any other publisher would've taken such an unusual idea and turned it into a high budget AAA project.

Phil Harrison specifically had a significant impact on the game's creation:

@ MM - Yes I'm already aware of your argument, and I'm saying it's pants. Sony are still paying for exclusives and limiting people playing them.

Sony owns the IP though? Do you want them to publish games on other consoles?