Well, it depends on how much Microsoft improves Live. Right now Live doesn't have that much over PSN and Sony really focused on improving that. So unless Microsoft improves Live Sony might have the superior network this gen.

Gaikai With PSN promising the Fastest/Power Online Service(No ones really talking about that) that should definitely scare MS a bit... Not just Online Service with Gaikai.. but later down the road backwards compatibility with ps3,ps2,p1,psn games streaming over the net no download screens.. and demos streaming no waiting for download to complete... thus eliminating production costs for having to put a seperate chip set just to run/be compatible previous gen games for sony over ms and DDR5 RAM which i bet MS wasnt even suspecting

No.

Power wise, as long as there isn't a huge difference, it won't be a big deal to anyone but the hardcore gamer.
Social features wise, MS is the software company of the two. I expect great things from MS.
The best game shown at the Sony event was a multiplatform game.
Streaming via Gaikai is cool but it will be cool for a small amount of people. It's not a system seller feature.

Price will be a huge factor. ALl indications are the Nextbox is weaker and thus cheaper. I expect MS to go all out with competitive pricing.

Just saying the metas scores is such an bad scoring system for a game, Either way gt6 would piss all over forza and its next three installments total sales wise as well....but which is the better game, is completly down to opinion, not the meta critic

I really hope they can deliver on the instant play, boot up time, and loading time statements they made.  It's this kind of ease of use and fluid OS that wouldn't be possible on PS3 (it even takes too long to load trophies let alone that SLOOOOOOOW store loading).

Nope. MS will have more innovation and little less power (most people don't care too much about power as long as the games look good), hopefully at a lower launch price. That's a winning combo IMO.

I don't think MS would need to weaken their hardware to undercut Sony's price. MS is in an infinitely better position to sell their hardware at a loss than Sony is.

I believe both PS4 and 720 will be on the same level.

well what are most lookingfor onps4?  uc4, killzone, infamous, gt, etc...

face it people love what they grew up on... considering ms has mean shot in the game department the last few years do you think theyre worried about games.  now the reverse would be a truer statement.  what does sony have  to fear about the next xbox?  games.  a sad statement but true

They are, but why not make a profit on the hardware? Honestly if I was Microsoft right now I would weaken the 720 specs to slightly above Wii U levels, and sell it at $300 for a profit. Doing so would make all of the PS4's extra power worthless, and would help Microsoft get a huge lead on Sony due to the lower price point. I doubt they will though.