Real cost of the ps4, assuming 5 years of use.

>United States - $649 ($399 + $50/year PS+)
>United Kingdom - £549 (£349 + £40/year PS+)
>Australia - $899 ($549 + $70/year PS+)
>Europe - €649 (€399 + €50/year PS+)

Well, naturally PC's cost more since they let you do more things on them. Things that earn you money. Gaming is just a plus.

And of course, gaming on PC is not for everyone, since it needs you to have certain sets of skills that are probably too hard to grasp and learn for many people. It's perfectly understandable.

You will make a great PC, you might want to raise a bit more if that means getting a good SSD. 

I would say unless you are part of Generation Baby Boomer, you should easily grasp concepts of gaming on a PC, but seriously I agree with you 600-700 priced computer offers a much stronger machine and does more.  

sorry but you can build a gaming pc, that is close to the ps4 in power, for alot cheaper then that, plus why did they add taxes to the price? most online stores dont tax you. hell here is a quick thing i slaped together
PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2rPGt6
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2rPGt6/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus M5A78L-M LX PLUS Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($38.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($36.69 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital AV-GP 500GB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($40.98 @ Amazon)
Video Card: HIS Radeon R9 270 2GB IceQ X² Video Card ($111.99 @ Newegg)
Case: HEC Vigilance MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($23.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($14.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($13.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ OutletPC)
Keyboard: Rosewill RK-101 Wired Standard Keyboard ($5.99 @ Amazon)
Mouse: V7 Full size USB Optical Mouse Wired Optical Mouse ($4.50 @ Mwave)
Total: $456.07
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-12-28 12:06 EST-0500

so about $100 cheaper then there pc with about the same power.

I believe they are speaking about XBox One at the cost (~$500) it carries when paired with Kinect, not the $350 SKU.

I would like to see a PC built (With keyboard & mouse) that can compare with a XBone and/or PS4 with a $400 price tag before taxes.

Oh snap, now everyone must ignore my previous post.

All the prices in this article are 12+ months old?! O_o

I never pay more than $5 for titles like Arhkam City, Portal 2, Witcher 2, Skyrim, Bioshock, etc... I get GOTY editions with all of the DLC for a fraction of what "bargin" bin console games cost. So yes, PC games are far cheaper. If I purchased my Steam collection on consoles the multiplatform titles alone would cost more than my entire Steam collection and PC combined (at the aforementioned "bargin" bin prices)!

Additionally, Sony and Microsoft subsidize their hardware, especially early in their consoles' lifecycles. This serves to increase their cost to performance ratios but it is temporary as they need to eventually turn a profit (at least Sony does, the Xbox division seems to be a charity). A year from now the cost advantage of the hardware will be diminished somewhat making console gaming an even poorer bargain.

Edit: Additionally, I don't have to pay to play online (or wait for the DDoS attacks to end) further erroding the savings. Also, the Gamespot comparison is outdated and poorly done (Assassin's Creed for a PC / console performance comparison, seriously?)

A good gaming PC has a higher cost initially, but if you look at the long term, then there's certainly a lower cost associated with a gaming PC compared to a console.

^ So a year later $456 will get you a PC with half the memory of a console that's now $350
Putting you specs together in Canada I get $114 for the CPU, Motherboard out of stock no price, Video card $189 ($159 after rebate) out of stock. Nm.

Anyway, if you just want to play games, you're going through a lot of hassle, spend $100 more, and end up with a system that's not going to be able to keep up as games start taking full advantage of PS4 and XBox One. Sure you can add some memory later, upgrade the gpu, which offsets the cost of live or ps+. With those you get tons of games as well though.

...But there are cheap games on consoles. I've never understood that argument. New games on PC are still full priced, just like on consoles, and old games drop in price everywhere. That's not just a PC thing.

EDIT: Ninja'd way too hard.