Resistance 1 & 2 were awesome games. (3 kinda had a lackluster ending to the trilogy), Killzone 2, Journey, infamous, Ratchet and Clank, God of War.

There were plenty of exclusives that easily competed with xbox exclusives.

My theory: If Halo was originally on the PS2, it would have been just another game in an otherwise well fleshed out catalogue. Because it was one of the only good games on the Xbox, its otherwise pretty milquetoast story-line has been held to a much higher regard than the game deserved.

The hype that Halo 1 did not deserve carried over into the next iterations as the flagship game. And unlike Sony, Microsoft doesn't know how to retire a franchise, so now Halo games are just another shooter. Halo 2 did provide some good splitscreen multiplayer from what I remember, however.