Wow just read this whole thread, i will chime in on the value vs feature debate, some people need to calm down but they wont, thats what being a fanboy is all about and you know what...that ok, who cares if you are passionate and irrational right? Think about that for a minute.
Now for the main event xbone vs ps4, first of all xbox will not be a complete failure this generation but it will be trailing the ps4 and maybe even overtaking it but don't expect ps4 to reach 3 to 1 or even 2 to 1 we will be looking at a very narrow gap for most of this generation.
Xbox has done some damage to its brand but have been very quick to fix these things which is very impressive for such a large company to be able to turn around and say fuck it lets change it, but don't fool yourself whether its temporary or not All these discounted bundles and price cuts indicate soft sales this is a strategic play to move consoles. The problem is MS was convinced it would destroy Sony in sales and while their current sales are good they are i suspect way below forecast and that is what is key here, this will drive MS to be very competitive in terms of price and marketing (a win for gamers).
So in terms a value who wins? Well it depends, sure some people will buy a ps4 for the slight power advantage but the majority of people don't care or are simply unaware of it as its not painfully obvious, you guys may all be experts and digital foundry exists because there is a audience that loves the tech side but that is a minority.
So Its safe to say the power discrepancy will not be the single thing that decided this generation's winner.
So then what will? Well MS was betting on television you can be sure MS did its homework they knew exactly how many people watch Netflix HBO Hulu etc on the 360 they knew people were using their 360 for more tv than actual gaming, suddenly the xbone starts making more sense right?
Now what comes next is a series of compromises, the Xbox has to work everywhere and under every setup, for some people that is simply cable but for a rapidly growing number people its other boxes (roku appletv xbmc plex smarttv). These other boxes basically were non existent 5 years ago when plans for the Xbox would have been in full swing, so its seems that the combination of timing and region limitations really changed perception of what would otherwise be a great feature.
So is incorporating tv the deciding factor? Probably not, in a world were you have other machines that do it better this simply wont be a deciding factor sure some people will benefit but again a minority thus not giving us a system seller feature.
So then if its not graphics or tv whats left, kinnect? I wont bother doing much of a breakdown on this nobody really cares that much how they interact with their console both could have it or not it would be of little consequence the only problem is the cost it potentially adds.
So power made no difference, tv was a few years late and with some compromises, and kinnect was expensive,
So games? Well games are great they are true system sellers but what happens if they both have them? The reality is both companies will deliver great tittles this generation, so now what?
Well we go back to my first prediction Xbox made some mistakes and ended up with a more expensive console with feature that while not bad aren't terribly necessary either, but Xbox had a lot of good rep left over from last generation people had great experiences on the Xbox why not buy the new one right?
This all sounds vaguely familiar ps2 ps3? Backwards compatibility, sd card readers, 6 usbports,expensive complex cpu, bluray....all great not terribly necessary and much like xbox, sony had a lot of good will left from ps2.
So what was the result of that? Which of those 2 won? 360 right? The console with less feature (launch feature only) and yet at the end of the generation in ended in a tie more or less, yet MS still won why?
Forecast, MS beat them, Sony fell well under, so there you have it my AM rant.
TLDR both consoles are good will sell more or less the same.
