I agree that this is a very good move for gamers. It's a compromise that Microsoft must have been extremely loathe to make. They were building their entire strategy for this generation around Kinect, and without that gimmick it remains to be seen whether the platform has the chops to compete. My hunch would be that it does and that Bolivar is overstating the issues with memory - Microsoft still have absurd amounts of money to throw around at attracting talent and buying exclusives, and XBone sales have been quite a bit stronger than I would have predicted before release. Forza's a pretty huge deal, and Dead Rising 3 and Killer Instinct both have some serious fans.

I expect it will play second fiddle to the PS4 this generation, but then last generation saw the PS3 take a loooong time to catch up before finishing in a very strong position, so I wouldn't bet anything I couldn't afford to lose on that.

Must taste like ashes in Microsoft's mouth though. I commend them for accepting that it was a failed proposition in a fairly decent time span and making adjustments, though.

Also I think removing the Gold requirement is a much bigger plus for multimedia ambitions than removing Kinect as mandatory.