When did talking in a multiplayer game become ridiculous?
Chatting you mean? Ever since MSN and Ventrilo. This 3D chatroom thinking is so 2002.

Voice chat isn't an option.
Unacceptable to everyone except the incredibly small minority that can not let go.

It will never be an option.
As long as old farts get to decide, indeed.

Have you ever played a game on Xboxlive or PSN you have a game filled with 2-32 people , of those maybe 12 have a mic, 4 of them are cussing up a storm, 2 are tossing around racial slurs, 1 has an always open mic. and the others don't talk.
Those who want to talk can talk. Those who don't want to, won't. What has changed? Nothing, except you can actually multitask by playing the game and talking at the same time. This is the future!

How do you propose PS3 user chat with PC users? Should SE develop a VC on their already laggy servers?
Oh, I don't think it is much asked to make SE catch up with the rest of the world with their games if they haven't already. That's kinda necessary if they want to have an edge in the market. If they can't do it, they don't deserve to succeed. That's just how it is. If they think they can't do it, even more so.

I didn't quote your whole post because I did not care to comment on the parts I left out.