I didn't think that it was a prank for three reasons.
1)  It looked like a box, but the PS2 was shaped like a rectangular box.  The PS3 is a 12% bigger curvy box.  So what?
2)  I got over the 'PlayStation' name so 'box' didn't really phase me.  Of course, I'm preferential towards boxes anyway.
3)  The controller wasn't that bad, and PS2 controllers left a lot to be desired too.  The Xbox surely didn't compete with the craptasticness of the CD-I or Jaguar controllers.
The Xbox wasn't too bad for a first stab at a game console, and the online support easily surpassed any other offerings.
Halo would have been a better third person game than a FPS.
Absolutely stunning comment.  You're right, Halo was shit, and the millions of sales were all due to dumb US NASCAR fans who didn't know any better.