I understand where you are going but I am looking at the long term.  I actually did not word that correctly.  I do not mean hardware revisions but instead mean cheaper component prices.  You can believe MS is in constant talks with hardware providers to get cost of materials lower.  Usually that will go as profit back to MS if they can manufacture the hardware cheaper.  Instead this will go to getting the console to that magic number of $300 a lot sooner than later because of the PS4.

Is this suppose to mean what we should wait and NOT buy the current Xbox One model until we hear further official details of this future model? And is it arguably to say that current Xbox One user might be screwed out of a potentiality better model this early in the Xbox One's lifespan?

Perhaps, but this doesn't change the fact that there is more potential to cut manufacturing costs in PS4 which is already cheaper, mainly due to GDDR5 which will drop in price more quickly as it spreads and production becomes more efficient and benefits from greater economy of scale, whereas with DDR3 this cost reduction has already occured to a large extent.

Additionally, MS's ability to barter with their suppliers may be limited by the contracts signed. Now I have no idea what the actually wording of these may be but it is perhaps possible that these don't allow for lowered prices beyond the usual drops like the Ram situation described above other than those agreed previously, which may limit MS's room for manoeuvre, though if someone more knowledgable can refute this then fair enough

In other words, to get to $300 first, MS would have to eat enormous losses which I doubt would be covered by other sources of revenue, and given that some on the board are already sceptical of Xbox's profitablility and whether or not its money should go elsewhere, that may not be possible

pfff and I thought gamers where techies..... discs has been the single most dreadful crap in storage technology since the punch card..... it is a dying support and about as relevant in the future than vinyl are today.... I haven't bought a disc for any media in years unless I was forced too (ie gaming) and I can't wait to see it gone completely.... completely unreliable and unless you are an hardcore gamer that finish a game within a week and go to the next one it has very little resale value especially for customers buying 2 to 5 games a year if not less....

I don't see the point of a disc drive in todays era going forward..... there is a reason it is gone on more and more devices nowadays.... but hey it seems to be dear to some gamers.... something about a nice dust collector plastic case I believe.... and completely unreliable medium over time.... OH well here is to hopping they don't listen to you guys to much.... I can wait for it to be gone.... (still pissed at my ME3 disc getting damage in it's box in the drawer from no apparent reason) DEATH TO THE DISC ERA

Though I understand your reasoning for wanting to move on, discs will be with us for sometime yet. Internet speed/data caps are a problem, plus for many more casual gamers their main exposure to a lot of titles it seeing them on sales in stores. Add to this that it can be a disadvantage as digital-only creates a virtual monopoly, thus causing potentially higher prices due to a lack of competition.

Of course if you want digital then go ahead, but physical media has many years ahead of it yet

So basically they would be forcing the implementation of their original concept on the console unveil.

No used games, Constant DRM. Kinect still there.

Microsoft is so wonderful. They never give up on trying to rape their customers in the bum. I expect them to try and revert their decisions once they got people in, but i never expected it to be this soon.

Of course, all this believing the rumors to be true.

This would of course be a bad thing, seeing MS's PR men floundering on camera as they try and justify their lies could be extremely entertaining ;)

im more surprised about the Halo thing. Halo 2 rerelease in Nov. with 5 beta? Does that mean we wont see Halo 5 till next year?

and what prevents you to buy a digital code in store ????

what prevents you to have DL station at retails where you come with a MS or Sony encripted catrige or even a external HDD with your gamer ID information on it to DL it there with high speed data transfer.... a digital world could go far beyond an internet connection only world.... this is just being narrow minded.... alternate solution to discs even in world without internet are very much possible and would even potentially generate more revenue to retailers.... smaller shelves space less shipping cost to absorb etc etc etc.....

I am not making comparisions between what Sony can or will do to what MS can or will do.  I am isolating this discussion on the topic not X1 VS PS4.  I am stating that MS is looking to get to 300 as fast as posible because they need to negate the advantages of the PS4.  Sony is in the driver seat just like MS was last gen where they did not have to adjust their prices for years and reap profit from the hardware.

@bolded:  MS is not new to this game.  They have 3 consoles under their belt and they learned a lot during their first console.  Its the reason they custom built their CPU/GPU from AMD.