I think the mistake there is in thinking there's a 'specs war' at all.
There really isn't. This isn't the 90s. Both Sony and Microsoft will have had the opportunity to make $1000 uber-powerful boxes, but there's so much more than needs to be considered. Obviously additional functionality adds to the cost (Kinect, touchpads on controllers, 2x HDMIs for TV overlay functions etc etc). But there's also form-factor and power consumption to consider. If Microsoft wants the next Xbox to be an always-on PVR, having monster-specs will only make the box larger, more power hungry and more hot. Not ideal for the type of box they're aiming for.
Your average family isn't going to want a massive and noisy Xbox-sized box under their TV. It's not going to be as appealing to them as the tiny form-factor of the Apple TV for example.
I'm very positive about what ms will bring, but I wont give them excuses if they dont deliver.
My gaming laptop has an nvidia gtx gpu, and it has a fucking button that lets it go to "green energy saving" mode, and when not gfx intensive operations are needed, it gets by with a whole lot less consumption. battery life can last many hours more like this.
oh, and completely silent too, even on gfx intensive stuff.
If my laptop can do it, which I dont think is the very latest word of technology of 2013, then a machine that is supposed not only to be the hotness of today, but is supposed to last for five years, cannot give me excuses like that.
I am not making comparisons with sony's new machine, but with today pc's tech.
in my opinion, kinect was brought to fight wii marketshare and help microsoft recuperate the red ring thing, as they kept the old 360 afloat for a couple of years more than they should, to get good profit.
if they target EVERYBODY day 1, and if that means medium hardware because tv box, kinect, apps, triple hdmi's etc as you suggest, then its cool and I really hope it works out for ms.
One potential problem could be that half of what they try to offer through apps etc does not work for many countries in europe.
I will most probably buy the xbox even if specs "suck", but at that case it will be a machine strictly for the good exclusives. kind of like a bought a wii for last gen.
Only case I dont buy, is if microsoft manages to make a mess with drm, used games, and a few other things , but personally i want to think that ms does not want to ruin a good thing they got themselves rolling here, and everything will come out peaches.
