A year ago-
Sony fan: Wow, MS is charging you 20% MORE for a 40% less powerful system, and on top of which, they added in kinect, which is a waste of everyone's time, and they are STILL making a profit off of each unit sold. Open your eyes MS fans!
MS fan: Enjoy your super duper games machine, you know gaming is more than just power.

Now-
MS fan:
MS is charging you 20% MORE for a 40% less powerful system, and on top of which, they added in kinect, which could be removed, and they are STILL making a profit off of each unit sold. Wake up Sony fans!
Sony fan: whatever, it's your money.

3 months ago-
Sony fan: You should buy a ps4 because 400$ is a bargain, considering you could get a game and a year of ps+ for basically the same price as an xb1 with no game.
Xb1 fan: You should buy the xb1, because it has more value, it has kinect 2 and better games.

Now-
PS fan: You should buy the ps4 because it's still a better deal since it's still the more powerful system, and you can still get it and a game for around 50$ less than xb1.
xb1 fan: You should get the xb1 because it's even more valuable now. It has the game of the year free with purchase, and secret sauce will make it more powerful than ps4. Also, they will remove kinect and it will be even cheaper. Buy one today!

Is there anything on the Xbox One that even uses the Kinect? Please don't say voice commands because PS4 already has them and doesn't require a $150 piece of hardware.

Without Kinect, I very much doubt that the Xbox One would have been developed as a $299 machine. I think they would have upped the specs and that the end result would have matched or exceeded the PS4's gross potential.

After all, what ended up being one of the 360's major selling points? That it got equal or superior versions of most multi-platform games.

We no longer live in a "cheaper system always wins" world. Moms and dads aren't the only ones making the buying decisions now. As the gaming demographic has gotten older, a 50$ or 100$ difference is not nearly as important as it once was. When gamers are the ones making the purchase, they'll often go for the best over the cheapest.

Microsoft was just swinging for the fences, they would have been far, far better off playing it safe with a $400/$375 console and an optional Kinect add-on. This has been yet another lesson in the gaming industry of when greed for a massive hit wins out over the prospect of steady sales.

They could have had another 360, at the very least, but they sacrificed that in the quest for another Wii.

"That is incorrect. Microsoft never tried to match PS4 power. They tried to build a low cost machine so they could pack Kinect in at a reasonable price"

Well, they didn't do a very good job. Less powerful console (although not by a large margin) and a peripheral nobody really wanted, $500 vs More powerful console (again, small margin) w/o camera peripheral nobody really wanted, $400. Add to that, $60 of live for multiplayer and other online related activities vs $50 for PS+ for multiplayer and other online activities + "free" (noticed the quotes) games. Granted, they aren't the greatest selection of games but they are good games. With live, you get games with gold, you can keep the games they give you even after losing live offering good games but very few and somewhat outdated vs PSplus's games, which are essentially available until your PS+ sub ends, but with a much much much, greater variety of games of recent memory, along with "free" PSVita titles and I mean good titles (wipeout, uncharted, gravity rush, SFvsT, monster hunter, etc)

The main thing that will set these 2 consoles apart is the games and right now, they are just about equally matched (including Titanfall and inFamous) with the xbox one winning by a small margin.

Fallen, no matter what you say, if they dropped the Kinect it would still be inferior tech at the same price. They aren't far off from one another though. The PS4 has the edge. Just deal with it.

So you think Kinect 2.0 costs about $200?

That's like ps3 bluray all over again.

If only the price were X1's biggest problem.

even a 299 x1 would not out sale the PS4, but it be much closer.

there are plenty other weaknesses that x1 has.

With a cheaper price (without kinect), sales would be close.
saying it "could be destroying the PS4 in sales" is just stretching it.

I have no idea why anyone takes these breakdown of costs seriously. Both Sony and Microsoft will be ordering millions of these consoles and geting a fantastic price for components. PC components that may only sell in 10s of thousands are sold at a profit at retail and lower prices than this.  It's an absolute joke. Why would they be paying more for DDR memory than I paid at retail with delivery and sales tax?  That includes profit for manufacturer, retailer and all the transports costs from China plus custom charges possibly. Yet Microsoft buying lower spec bare chips pay more than me.

Blu-ray players are coming out of chinese factories for $15-20 dollars yet a bare optical drive is $37.

On a PC $471 probably represents teh manufacturing cost of a PC that probably retails at something like $700 and is only made in 10s of thousands of units.

Something like this;

http://www.amazon.com/Avatar-Gaming-FX6164-Desktop/dp/B00AZ428N8/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1394731499&sr=1-2

It's ridiculous to think a little games console stripped down to essential parts in a small case and small psu plus manufactured in millions would ever come close to the manufacturing price of that pc. That PC is probably assembled from indvidual components in the USA.