RighteousNixon: Thats just it, its not just a machine you plug in and play games on anymore and that goes for the PS4 as well. Wether you like it or not, they are no longer just game machines. Personally, I will never understand why someone would want less features. Does having Netflix in any way impede the console's ability to play games? Does it impeded the game companies ability to create games? Of course not.
StingingVelvet: I think you're putting a lot of words in my mouth there.
The PS4 does have a tab for media services but it's easy to ignore if you want, and it doesn't get in the way or anything. In contrast the Xbox One UI seems to be designed around the living room media box stuff, and it is $100 more expensive because of the Kinect, which I will never use, and other such things.
I think it's over-designed and more expensive for reasons, not weird irrational hatred of Netflix apps.
The emphasis that the companies put on the media features is completely irrelevant. Either a console has those features or it doesn't. The PS4 isn't less of a media device because its media features are accessed by a tab instead of being right out in the open. That idea is pure nonsense. Your entitled to your subjective opinions regarding the setup of the overall dashboards but that set-up doesn't change the nature of these consoles. They are both multi-media gaming consoles and anyone suggesting otherwise is only fooling themselves.
Watching Movies and TV shows through companies like Amazon, Netflix and Hulu, check!
Being able to log on to social network sites like Facebook and Twitter, check!
Watching movies on Blu ray or DVD, check!
Music services for streaming music, check!
The use of apps to significant increase the consoles media capabilities (Crackle, Redbox, ePix, Vudu, etc. check!
Online store where one can buy movies, TV shows and games, Check!
Announcements by both companies that new social and media features will be available down the road, check!
MS and Sony cah change the dashboards until they are both blue in the face. It wont change the nature of these devices. They are, without question, multi-media gaming consoles. Dashboard design and tabs are completely irrelevant in regards to what features these consoles have. All the dashboard design does is dictate where someone accesses those features. If the PS4 has Netflix, Hulu and Amazon.com support, that doesn't change because Sony decided to stick those features behind some tab. Nope, the next gen consoles are as much media devices as they are gaming machines.
Hell, Sony bricked all the early Blu ray players so it could further its plan to make the PS3 the predominant Blu Ray machine on the market as not only would that give it a leg up on HD DVD, it would also help PS3 adoption, which was significantly behind the Xbox 360 at the time. I remember it VERY clearly as my $900 dollar Blu ray player was one of the casualties. Sony is just as focused on bringing more multi-media capability to its console as MS is and if you honestly believe its not going to continue to expand the PS4's media capabilities....well, anyone who thinks that way will be proven wrong soon enough.