Ye Olde Fire Hydrant: Where has the innovation gone Sony?

Let me start out by saying I'm not an Xbox fanboy. I like games for games' sake. I've long been a supporter of Sony because they made a solid console and supported it with a constant stream of quality software. I want to see Sony succeed with the Playstation 3 because competition is healthy in the industry. I've also owned just about every console and have no qualms purchasing each new console generation if there's good reason to do so.

This latest generation of consoles has seen some surprising moves from Sony's PR department as well as a somewhat overall lack of innovation. With the exception of pushing Blu-Ray hard, Sony feels more like a flock of sheep than a shepherd in this round of the great console war. Let's take a look at some of the warning signs.

Just before the release of the console (and not too long after Nintendo announced its plans for a motion-sensitive controller) Sony decided to drop the "shock" from their award winning "dual shocK" controller in favor of a motion-sensitive controller of their own. Yay for innovation.
The recent decision to drop the emotion engine chip in favor of a software solution which is a less supportive method of backwards compatibility. To mask this obvious downgrade in machinery, they added 20 gb to the HD and added $100 to the price tag. Am I missing something here?
Xbox 360 game achievements have given new life to the replayability of titles. It's been rumored that beginning in 2008 PS3 games will also employ an achievements system. Once again it's Sony ingenuity to the rescue!
Most recently, Sony is rumored to be working on a "Gamercard" system similar to Microsoft's Live Gamertag. Why they didn't think it was important to setup a online multiplayer structure from the beginning like Microsoft has done, I have no idea. I'm seeing a theme here, are you?
Finally, there's the Sony PR department. From the whole non-price drop $100-off fiasco from this year's E3, to the often brainless rantings of Kutagari regarding how the PS3 would be received by the gaming public, it just seems like Sony's not listening to the pulse of what gamers want this generation.

I've been on the fence for some time now as to whether or not I should get a PS3. Alot of my concerns are detailed in this thread at GameDays. I want to like the Playstation 3. I really, really do.

My buddy Mike brought his Playstation 3 over to my house today so I could get a feel for the system. I gotta say, I wasn't terribly impressed. In fact, I'm thinking more and more of waiting to purchase one when prices comes down. Sony has dried up the exclusivity of all but a few titles (they aren't focused on obtaining exclusive content) and if a multi-platform game comes out, I'm going to want to play it on a system that all my friends own - an Xbox 360.

Sony, you're not giving me many reasons to *WANT* the Playstation 3.