Ironically, releasing on consoles got easier over the years. Patch certification cost (and possibly the entire requirement for indies) got dropped and programs like ID@Xbox allow you to release your game for free.
In some ways, it isn't that different; consoles are just computers with some platform-weirdness. But I do actually agree insofar as that I can reasonably target NT, Darwin, and Linux from one machine (so long as it's a mac or I'm willing to break the Apple EULA), but to target consoles, so far as I know, requires purchasing additional hardware.