I can think of a few people who said tp me "it will never happen"
I think the price should be around $350 though

I guess we will have to see how much they are able to catch up... if they can catch up!

If they hadn't been so stubborn out it right from the beginning and listened to what a lot of people were saying, even before it launched, maybe they would not be so far behind the ps4.

I wonder what excuses we will hear from all the MS employed xbox business strategists on this site?

NOt everyone said that , some of us just find the idea distasteful , even when we dont like kinect .

So here we are with a console losing it's main gimmick gadget , and with weaker specs and all around performance than its direct concurrent ?

Unless you are sure you've got a community on XB waiting , or truly want the xb1 exclusives , it's just one less PRO on the list .

More than one actually , dont forget that you can't capture and share feed without it , as it wasnt built to do so without the kinect

@4sh0w: What makes them unique is losing them sales, the Kinect isn't for everyone and for the minority who likes the Kinect, it's not enough to keep the Xbox One afloat. The XBO has inferior tech to their competition(PS4) with a higher price point. This will put them on par with the PS4 in terms of price.

It will be very interesting to see how things pan out now, XBO sure has some good games to keep them going. I for one will be purchasing an XBOne now due to this.(Main reason for not purchasing XBO was Kinect & being spied upon).

Wow.

I was wrong.

I didn't think they would do it.

This honestly has to be the fastest relaunch I've seen.

@ 4show:

the only thing this does is give people an *option*, which is never a bad decision.

and honestly, there's not much that kinect does that the PS4 camera also can't do, so there's not as much uniqueness to xbone with kinect as you might think.

At least MS sold around 5 million Kinect compulsively. Just can't say MS's never built an Kinect base. I believe Kinect is still the game changer, considering more harsh time game developing than the past. Hardcore should cooperate with casual, XB1 will make hardcore gamer play casual games vise versa. That means more profit game developer would get. The benefit is instant and clear, XB1 with Kinect just like a combination of XBOX and Wii.

Have you not seen Titanfall?

@xHeavYx

"I can think of a few people who said tp me "it will never happen"
I think the price should be around $350 though"

And I can think of a TON of Sony fanboys whose constantly repeated talking points (required Kinect, price, app paywall, Games With Gold inadequacy, etc.) just got doused in gasoline and burned to the ground this morning. What do you have left to harp on about - a couple of better looking multiplats and the name on the box? Or are you guys just going to say "I told you so" and yell "180" like you always do?

Anarki I get that but regardless of your personal tastes Kinect does make X1 unique, its like Android strength is that its a more open OS compared to iOS. There are people on both sides who like and dislike both platforms for exactly the same reason.

With Kinect X1 does some really nice things, should have unique games, without Kinect its a slightly less powerful ps4, not that that matters a whole lot as long as they deliver strong games, sure X1 will sell more but sales were far from in the toilet, in fact they are still ahead of 360 which did quite fine sales wise and as a gamer I never cared about X1 having higher sales, clearly they've got plenty enough for continued strong dev support, 3rd parties are all in on X1, but no this is about micro's ego, so again its a bad decision because it affects the future of Kinect integrated X1 games.

I'm sorry but the crying from those who don't like Kinect should NOT outway Microsofts decision if they truly believed their vision of a Kinect gaming environment, NO that means then unfortunately those who don't like it should just stick to ps4 because the console isn't focused on YOUR WANTS. That's life, and now micro shows their true GREED here putting higher sales $$$$ over vision. Its a sad day, but just like I said that's life.

This reminds me exactly of the always online/DRM fiasco= to this day Iam 100% convinced X1's real potential was gimped do to catering to the masses rather than following a vision that would sell less but be looked at 10yrs from now as a great achievement for setting the bar of things to come, hell I'm 110% convinced we'd see even better games than we already have on X1 and sales may be a bit higher because instead of folks hearing about 1080p this or that might be hearing about more uniquely created game worlds, Driveatar like AI games, that went beyond what Turn 10 did. Trust me I thank sony fans for nothing, I'm old enough to remember when the move to more detailed 3D games were question as "interactive violence", when the thought of online gaming was frowned upon because it will expose to many young children to "vulgarity", or hearing things like "game consoles should just play games", etc, etc. I don't know I'm not a business man, but if I did own micro I'd be fine with making a few billion in profit instead of 10's of billion, selling less hardware than my competitor while also being respected for trying to innovate, if I wanted them to "be like sony", then I would just buy a ps4.

@ Heavy

"I can think of a few people who said tp me "it will never happen"

I was one of those guys. I really, really didn't think we would be seeing this - especially not at the 6 month mark.

I was wrong.

@tehpees3 I think you mean, "the fastest damage control for a console ever released".

Headlines of the future. "Kinectless sku spawns 7 million pre orders."

"Gamers agree, what the f*!# took them so long?"

Well folks, we now have ourselves a race!

Good on Microsoft for once again showing some flexibility when it comes to the Xbox One. This move will only help the Xbox One and I think the stakes at E3 this year just went up considerably.

I still view the PS4 as a better choice (that's just my personal opinion) if you're only looking to pick up one console or the other but certainly this is a game changer.

@webby,
Couldnt have said it any better.

It should have always been an option and not a requirement. Cheers to MS for making a great decision. Now the only thing is that I hope the price of the Kinect separately is not an outrageous price.

@Unholy_One

"Wow.

I was wrong.

I didn't think they would do it."

Mad props for being one of the first I've seen to do this.

I just wish MS would've never included Kinect in the 1st place. I've always said it was a huge mistake and it should've remained an option. Where would the numbers be if they didn't include it which inflated the price? Is it too little too late? Will it turn things around? Personally I think, as always, it will come down to the games.

I know we gamers say this every year but honestly I've never been more intrigued for E3. This could possibly be the best in years. I'm hoping it is. I plan on gaming until I kick and I don't plan on shuffling my mortal coil anytime soon.

I think MS made a lot of poor choices to start this generation and I'm frustrated by how long it is taken them to try and correct their mistakes. I still know competition moves us forward. So I'm just glad these moves are being made. Time will tell what effect they will have.

Drop the price to $350, drop the paywall for netflix and other services, and then I'll start watching some of the games for what I'd be interested in.

A step in the right direction, for sure. MS just might have prevented their gaming division from going extinct before the end of the generation. However, it is hard to stop momentum, an object in motion tends to stay in motion. PS4's momentum isn't going to slow any because of this, so XO is really going to have to ramp up fast to be any real threat.

That said, at this point Phil and friends aren't likely concerned about being "a threat" to PS4, and claiming the #1 in sales crown which only really matters to internet enthusiasts. They just want to take this sinking ship and try to make a little bit of profit from the recent investments made on the console so that execs and investors will stop calling for the division to be sold off.

Great news!

Now PS4 price drop please? PS4 for $299,- that will be great for all gamers!

I bet PS4 is almost reaching the break-even point so please drop the price.

Am I the only one who thinks that this is actually a hidden price increase for the console itself? Weren't there people claiming that the production of Kinect costs almost as much as the console itself? And if I'm not mistaken, you can get an X1 + Kinect + Titanfall for 500 bucks at the moment ...400 for just the console seems like a hoax.

I'm waiting for the 180 on all this cloud makes you go super saiyan talk

Don't really care one way or the other but they've now essentially killed Kinect

Good move, they only have 1 final hurdle to tackle now, they need to find a way for the One to catch up to the PS4 in terms of power.

LOL

Those who said that this wouldn't hapeen go EAT CROW NOW!

I told you so!

^^
And not this is too little too late for X1. If you look at trends it will tell you that the X1 won't be even competitive unless it's $299.99.

What Microsoft SHOULD have done, is make the Xbox One 400$, with kinect. Just saying.

Its about time

@Heavy

Yep, they went directly after Sony, that was stupid. They have the money to spend why not drop to 350 and give Sony a fight? They are being beaten 2:1 globally after all.

@gameon1985
infamous does show it a lot....1080p and above 30fps on an open world game with awesome graphics.
and 349 it's 50 less than ps4 so it should be right even if there's not much difference.

You seem to forget the amount of features this system has. These two systems are dramatically different. It is like comparing an MP3 to a Cellphone.

I personally spend half my time using my Xbox One with functionality that I could also do on a PS4. The other half, I spend it using functionalities and features only applicable to the Xbox One.

What this, to me, means is that I paid $250 for a gaming system that can do exactly the same as a PS4. and the other $250 for the remaining 50% of features that are unique to Xbox One.

I think that at lunch, the Xbox One was hugely overpriced. But at this point? No way! It is a bargain for the amount of value it provides.

I digress, but who cares?! I use my Xbox One everyday, and I would be willing to bet that the average time Xbots spend on their Xbox One is at least twice what the average Ponies spends on their PS4.

If you take the above statement as being true, then nobody can't argue that the value provided by the Xbox One is on average twice what the PS4 provides. So in paper, the Xbox One could cost twice as the PS4 and still be worth it due to the amount of value it provides its users.

I digress, again. But in all sincerity, I can pay $400 dollars to use a PS4 for a set amount of time. OR, I can pay $500 and use an Xbox One for twice the amount of time. Tell me, which one provides more value, satisfaction and usage?

@lelo
I dont think so, MS is losing a crap ton of money now http://tinyurl.com/ofsracw ,so i think a 400$ price tag is fine

JustCallMeDaddy I guess it depends what you purchased the system for. I use my PS3 100% of the time to play games ... because that's why I purchased it. Xbone does not include a single feature the ps4 does not have that I personally find useful. I use a remote for my tv. I can press the power button without speaking, I can sit on the couch to play games, I don't need to jump around and look like an ass playing my games. etc. etc. etc. Of course this is just my opinion (and I'm entitled to it :).

$250.00 worth of unique features the Xbone provides you? How on earth did you come up with that???

gameon1985 - There are a few games on PS4 that show quite a huge difference compared to XBONE

1) Infamous Second Son
2) BF4 compared to XBONE ver - The difference here is actually quite big, especially in AA and texture quality. Not to mention the clarity of objects in the distance.

Ps4 is more powerful but X1 is packed with far more features and a better social system. Both consoles are winners in their own respects.

Still costs too much for weaker hardware for sure!

Because one has more functionality and expandability outside of games.

@Clown - maybe, but then again 360 had that over PS3 and it took massively inflated sales numbers due to RROD to be up there with PS3 sales.

@Clown_Syndr0me
Yeah but software and features on PS4 can and will improve over time and should rival the xbox 1 nicely but the hard ware difference and 40% or so more raw power cannot be caught up by Microsoft! its physically impossible!

Yes they can improve the api and drivers and sdk dev tools and optimise but so will the PS4 and so the difference in performance will more then likely stay!!
Software is something Sony will be able to improve on that's a given but M$ cannot catch up the difference in power between the consoles.

And this is coming from a core gamer who is a happy owner of a PS4,WiiU and XBOX ONE.
It actually is a bit disappointing because now the xbox one wont have anything unique about it.
If at E3 Nintendo unveils a game pad less Wii u then that would be a mind f_ _k!!

Microsoft's lack of vision and direction is worrying, all these 180's they have done while good for us the consumers is still worrying!

Just what an earth were they thinking at M$ head quarters? the X1 is a good console but should of been so much better but now the money they wasted on kinnect could have gone toward making the x1 more powerful.
Its the same with the wii u if it didn't have the game pad it could have been more powerful granted power is not everything, and again it would of made the wii u the same as the competition. I actually liked that all three of the consoles this generation where vastly different offering different things.

Its a strange situation for sure, if the X1 sales start picking up i wonder if this will be a hint to nintendo? i doubt it!
If Mario kart 8 and smash dont make wii u consoles fly off the shelves then nothing will!
I love the game pad but would of preferred if it wasn't included and was optional, that way the wii u would have been much cheaper.

But the kinnect i just dont see any use for it!
i suppose M$ will finally fix the home screen and make the os more controller friendly as it is at the moment its very awkward, i dont like it!

I think they made it that way on purpose to force people to use kinnect, which is a hit and miss most of the time.
I do hope they make the o.s more controller friendly now.
Either way this Generation just got allot more interesting!!

@SIX exactly right. picture a piece of turd, now cut a third of it off and you have a kinect-less xbone. (my own opinion so don't everyone get all poopy and teary)

But the other has better games? See anyone can do that.

Lol I love how people were bitching when DRM and disc policies were introduced, then they reversed those policies and people started bitching about the price................ then they offered the titanfall bundle for $450, people were still bitching............ now they removed kinect, people are still bitching.......I'm so thankful to all those people for making these changes happen, but for shit's sake be grateful MS is listening.

And then there are the Sony fanboys, with less and less things to hate on XB1 for you can see the insecurity level rise, like SIX here for exmaple^.