Let's face it - When it comes to digital downloads on consoles, PlayStation Network often gets sadly overlooked. Nintendo has gained most of its attention with retro re-releases, in that it basically owned the 8-, 16- (alongside Sega) and 64-bit eras of gaming. And Microsoft was really first to the market with its innovative digital platform, Xbox Live Arcade, offering publishers and developers small and large the opportunity to take games directly to consumers, no discs required.

This new design has yielded many top-notch titles that just a few years ago would have been lost among the big-budget blockbusters. And though Xbox Live Arcade's indie titles seem to earn all the attention, PlayStation Network has offered a sweet line-up of its own exclusives. This article pays tribute to the best PlayStation Network exclusives to date.

But before we get to the games themselves, some ground rules need to be laid to help navigate the complexity of today's game market. First, the list is limited to PlayStation Network exclusives, so if a title also appeared on iPhone, Xbox Live Arcade or any other platform, it won't appear on this list.

Second, it is limited to titles not previously released on any other platform. For instance, LocoRoco and Final Fantasy VII are both PlayStation exclusive titles, but despite being on the PlayStation Network, they were previously released on the PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 3, respectively, so they won't appear here. So without further adieu, here are the best exclusive games (to date) on the PlayStation Network:

Everyday Shooter (Queasy Games)

Fantastically designed by one man in a garage, Queasy Games' (Jonathan Mak's) Everyday Shooter is one part Geometry Wars-style dual-stick multidirectional shooter, one part indie art fest and one part musical album. Wait, what? The brilliance of Mak's design is not just in the control and ever-increasing difficulty of the shoot mechanics, but also in the fact that the entire game is composed much like a musical album. Each level is a track, and everything that occurs in the gameplay is set to the music that is somewhat altered on the fly by the player's actions. The rules are changed slightly with each new level and rhythm, and the game as a whole evolves with a fun progression system. Released in Oct. of 2007, it still stands out from the crowd of PlayStation 3 downloadable titles.

Fat Princess (Titan Studios)

Titan Studios gets credit for doing its best to bring 32-player mayhem to the PlayStation Network in the form of Fat Princess. With the hilarious concept of trying to prevent the capture of one's princess by feeding her enough cake to make her fat (and therefore harder to carry), Fat Princess earns its attention. It keeps it, however, with a solid class-based system of combat, and 16-player vs 16-player PS3 matches online. Though teamwork is often something of a challenge due to the randomness of matchmaking, Fat Princess is hardly to be blamed. Instead, we praise the chance to get in on such great online multiplayer action at such a low price point.

Flower (thatgamecompany)

Since last year, Flower has become the perennial game to bring to the argument of "Are games really art?" Whether it intended to be or not, the end result is a game that both challenges our ideas of what a game can and should be, while also feeling like an interactive piece of art. In HD, it is a thing of absolute beauty, and its serenity is only interrupted by a plot point designed to challenge gamers as they progress. Though it has its faults, Flower stands out as one of the most original games created in recent years, as well as one of the best uses of motion controls to date.

Patchwork Heroes (Acquire)

Who would have guessed that cutting things into pieces with a saw would be so much fun? Well, anyone with a saw and something to cut, but the point remains it's the execution more than the concept that wins over gamers in Patchwork Heroes. Exclusive to the PSP via the PlayStation Network, Patchwork Heroes drops a player onto seemingly two-dimensional warships. You then have to scale them by cutting with a saw. The concept is simple - create a cut all the way from one end to another and the smaller piece falls away from the ship. Of course, things get more complex and more tools come into play, but the simplicity and striking visual style are what will win gamers over. It's also a heck of a lot of fun chopping things up until it is all dismantled.

Echochrome (Sony Japan Studio)

Yes, there's a PSP version also available on UMD, but the PlayStation 3 version was released exclusively on the PlayStation Network, and it is such a unique title it had to be included. Echochrome is like a MC Escher drawing come to life in new, exceptional ways. It is amazing, first and foremost, to see a console so focused on HD gaming go with plain, black-and-white straight lines. But it is perspective that counts in Echochrome. The game is simply about tilting those straight lines to make things look like they are connected or disconnected, but even straight lines can get incredibly complicated if Echochrome is an indication. Equally as difficult as it is fascinating, Echochrome remains one of the top games to get on PSN, even though its PSP successor, Echoshift, was kind of a dud.

Joe Danger (Hello Games)

Joe Danger has quite a bit in common with the Xbox Live Arcade title Trials HD, but it's got way more in common with the classic Nintendo title Excitebike. As much as we love Joe Danger for those reasons, we love it even more because it spins those inspirations in fantastic new ways, becoming its own game in the process. Add to that a fantastic art style reminiscent of cartoons gone stylishly 3D, a fun main character and extensive replayability, and Joe Danger marks its place as the most recent title exclusive to PlayStation Network to demand your attention.

Do you agree with our picks? Let us know in the comments section below.