The US is really getting shafted.
If that's the deal the US ends up getting, then the US "deserves" that deal.
What I mean by that is, if an American has already pre-ordered an XB1 for 499 US dollars, that must mean that they are ready and willing to pay that much for the "bare" console. No one put a gun to their head. They seem happy, or at least perfectly willing, to pay it. Thus, the deal is "fair" in their eyes. And if they
think it's fair, it is, in fact, fair. (To them, at least.)
Contrast that to the Europeans. Perhaps they have
not been in such a hurry to throw their buck-analogs at Microsoft. Perhaps because they feel that a bare, not particularly powerful console is not, in fact, worth that much to them. (Also, it costs more over there.) It's a personal decision, different for everyone, but perhaps that's the way a bunch of those folks have been leaning.
And so, MS has sweetened the deal. That's how negotiations work. Good on Microsoft. Congrats to you Europeans.
I happen to agree with the folk overseas that the XB1 is
not actually worth $499. Therefore, I have not pre-ordered it, and I probably won't
ever purchase it at that price. That doesn't make the Americans that have pre-ordered it wrong, or bad, it just means they are more comfortable with the current deal than I am. I
do wish they were a bit more stingy with their money, so I could get a better deal, but what can you do? It's their money. You
certainly can't blame MS for taking their money. God knows I would.
(I personally believe that the US pre-orders aren't terribly strong either, at least compared to those for the PS4, and thus I fully expect we Yanks to get a pack-in as well. We just gotta wait.)