for the same reason sony hung onto bluray so bad.

they think they have a long term strategy and long term profit potential.  they have invested soo much money into the project they feel like they need to make it successful by any means necessary to justify that investment.

Their vision for XB1 has put them between a rock and a hard place.

MS wants to be in the living room and get you to watch tv and use skype through their pay wall and make a percentage of all your online spending. For that is has to be easy to use and stand out from the dozens of other devices that do so without a paywall. They have banked on Kinect for that.

Selling a kinect less sku to gain momentum is not going to help their goal. The casuals they want to reach will buy the cheaper version and use their smart tvs or other devices instead.

It's clear selling a great games machine is not the priority, all efforts are mostly concentrated on the US and UK where they have the most video services and highest live gold adoption rate. The existence of the hdmi in port is purely for the tv watching casuals to ease the transition to watching tv over the internet.

Just like the Xbox.

However, now they have a conflict of interest. Xbox or Kinect.

the investors the millions of dollars they put into it really could be a lot of shit, but if they unbundle it and make it an add on for what it offers it will not be worth a 100 dollars and I could see support really drop then

Except Sony could not remove the blu-ray drive. Digital wasn't a real option yet and re-releasing all games on DVD would be a nightmare.

Sony also had heavily invested in a video format that would make them money in both hardware and video sales, stuff that's the bread and butter of their company. Blu-ray failure would be very costly. MS however wants to be the middle man between you and your tv. MS can recoup their money faster by losing Kinect and make momney the traditional way by selling games. However the potential tv pot of gold is much larger.

Eh, i actually think kinect is part of a bigger plan, something to do with a vr device...

yeah, i suppose.  MS has it easier here because it will be less devistating to the xbone to back out of their kinect investment than it was for ps3's blu ray.  but the initial decision was very similar.  some business guy at sony (during ps3 design) and MS (during xbone design) said:

       "we are willing to comprise our product's other core vales in order to include this other feature."

in sony's case they comprised heavily on price selling a really expensive product at a massive loss.  in ms's case they comprised on price and performance putting out a somewhat expensive product with relatively poor performance.

Well thats the point. If its weaker, MS have to make it cheaper.

The market for a weaker console at a cheaper price (with camera optional) surely must be larger than a weaker console bundled with a camera at a higher price.

If more people actually tried the xbox one, they would see how great an experience it can be for non gaming applications. Microsoft made no qualms that they wanted to create a set top box that took over the living room...that has been there goal since the 360 was released. Kinect is an essential part of this vision.

Walking into my living room and saying "Xbox On" and having my whole entertainment system turn on is just awesome. It then automatically recognizes me and signs my profile on. Controlling television channels, volume, and DVR functions while moving around my house is fantastic. Being a little older now (Gasp...I'm 35) and having kids, you have no idea how useful this can be. Having Skype and being able to snap two applications at once is awesome too. Nothing like playing games and watching sports at the same time. Can't wait to use the fantasy football app this fall either.

Is Kinect ever going to be a great way to play games? No. As a sole input device it will be relegated to family and party games...which with a group of people and a few cocktails can still be a blast. But for more traditional games, I still believe it can add immersion while using a controller.

As a pure gaming machine, the PS4 is hands down better than Xbox One (I have all three current gen consoles) But right now, the One is a much better package if you want more than gaming.

My final thought...As a kid, sci-fi television shows and movies had people use their voice to control their house. They would make phone calls on a huge tv screen and see the person they were talking to. It was amazing and I always wanted the technology to exist. Microsoft has made it possible and affordable. For those of us who grew up in the early 80's or before, this is science fiction becoming reality.

the new world order