That's just not true. Without Kinect, it would be shipped for $399 because XB1, though underpowered, still costs more than PS4 to build due to...

- huge & expensive esram taking too much space on the die

- larger footprint of the console itself

- the external power brick

Some of these costs, Microsoft is trying to recoup through the online service charges, but when you look at the bill of materials, Kinect costs way less than $100, and at a $500 price tag, it is just an "alibi" to make profit on the hardware.  Even a $399 price tag without a Kinect at this moment may lead to a loss, forget $349! Underpowered does not necessarily mean cheaper. It's sometimes about the clever and ingenious hardware design.

By the OP's logic, 3DS should be $99, Vita $120, and Wii U $199. Also, iPhones should sell for $75. :/
There's more to the cost of a system than merely the eventual graphics it's capable of.

Pretty simple really.

No devs are really comfortable with any of the new hardware yet. They are building on PS4 since its more powerful and likely simpler due to the single memory type.

So they get more out of the PS4 at first and as they get better familiarized with both systems, the Xbone output will improve by larger margins than the PS4 output. Thus, for 3rd parties you'll begin to see the games look nearly identical.

This is also very similar to how PS3's early 3rd party games were noticeably worse than X360. But in the end they are identical.

Everything you just posted is rubbish, that has already beeen explained in the thread. It is NOTHING like ps3, last gen the 360 actually had numerous advantages, while ps3 had cell but it was difficult, The GPU and power gap is a lot bigger, with ps4 also being easier to code for. Technology is measurable, it is not some magic you can bend, the ps4 is a lot more powerfull and that is not changing, in fact the gap will widen.

Its not rubbish.

Both systems have similar CPU/GPU, however, the memory and other architecture is vastly different.

PS4 is likely the lead due to this simplicity of single memory pool and increased raw power. Thus devs in these launch games have a better handle and produce initially better results.

Its going to be quite the wake up call to many a fanboy when Xbone/PS4 3rd party games are really almost identical in a year or so.

Neither machine is being used to its full power or very efficiently at this time. Both will improve a lot.

Yep! It certainly is with weaker GPU and slower ram and a complicated design!

Did you mean 100$ for kinect consumer wise?

Wasn't sure. Just wanted to point out that ms said that kinect makes up for almost half the cost of the system.

It was rubbish. Similar architecture <> similar power, Thats like saying a weak PC is the same as a powerfull one because of similar architecture. Similar architecture actually make the advantage bigger as it will be easier for devs to tap into the extra power of the PS4. The gpus are similar but one has a lot more compute units and shader power. The more powerfull system is also easier to work on and has less over head.

there were differences most of all last gen in multi-plats...with systems that were close, ps4 is a lot further ahead this gen in power.

You are the one looking at a wakeup call, even industry people have been on record saying the gap will grow. The x1 ha smajor bottlenecks ps4 doesn;t no amount of wizardry is going to make x1 run even more demanding games as well as ps4.

It is nothing like last gen, in fact it's the opposite.

the reason the ps3 caught up to the 360 was also because it had the power to do so. the XB1 does not. sure they can learn it, but at the same time they will be learning and using the advanced power in the PS4. to say they will become more familiar with 1 over the other is rubbish, and to say they will be so much more familiar with the xb1 that it will negate a 50% power difference is just crazy talk.

It's common sense, technology is what it is, it can be measured in numbers, nothig is going to change the gap.