Microsoft never said this the press did, just like most of the rumours that turned out to be false once they had clarified their earlier position.
This is what happens when you realise what a ball of litigation you were about to let snowball from the top of the highest peak you can find. I hope people don't praise them for it. They deserve nothing but backhanded compliments for this.
Indeed, even with this gone the Xbone still sounds like a worse proposition than the PS4. One hundred bucks more, seemingly the slower hardware and no free online play at all (vs some on the PS4), what a deal!
I don't think the hardware difference will account for much as most games will be cross platform and coded to lowest common denominator. The Price is key though - I expect MS to discount heavily before launch. Maybe, just maybe it might teach MS a lesson. I think that they though they were Apple for a while there and could dictate the market. They were wrong. I don't mind paying for XBL - quite frankly it is an excellent service and much, much better than PSN. PSN Premium comes close, but of course you have to pay for that. In the years that I have used both, I always preferred XBL.
You do and you don't, they clarified that free to play games (Planetside 2 and co) would be completely free to play, requiring no PS+ subscription. They also stated publishers would have some leeway for keeping their games free. Exactly how that's going to work wasn't explained, but expect it to mean that Call of Duty, Fifa and co keep their free online play by pure crushing weight of publisher demand. Even with PS+, it's still a better deal than Microsoft's effort of exclusive World of Tanks (as long as you pay for XBL Gold).
Don't worry, it'll be remembered just as the announcement is written: a wonderful of show of listening to customers and providing the best experience to consumers. Only thing listened to is the sales department seeing how far behind projections they were. It's nice they're willing to listen and change... when absolutely forced to. The real applause goes to the consumers who declined to order the junk they were being offered. The key to a large company's heart is it's pocketbook, afterall.
