If you can't afford it then just wait for the inevitable price drop which will probably occur this time next year. I agree that the Xbox One exclusives are superior at this point in time and given the fact that MS is investing a billion dollars into exclusives, I don't expect that will change anytime soon. MS learned their lesson with the 360 in regards to exclusives. That being said, once you actually factor in inflation, both of these consoles are a great deal. If you were to buy the Xbox launch console in 2012, (cant officially do 2013 until the end of the year) it would cost you $388.80. If you were to buy the XBox 360 launch console in 2012, it would cost you $465.11. Using 2.5%, which is roughly the average rate of inflation over the last ten years, one can estimate 2013 figures. The original Xbox would cost $398.52 and the XBox 360 would cost $476.73. So basically the Xbox 360 would be just $23.27 cheaper than the XBox One and remember the XBox One has Kinect 2.0 in the box. The original Xbox 360 did not. So all in all, the price of the XBox One is one of the best deals gamers have gotten yet in regards to buying consoles at launch. Its vastly more powerful, has far better features, has Kinect 2.0 in the box, and its basically the same price as the XBox 360 was.
I think gamers tend to overlook inflation, simply because the video game market hasn't generally been in line with inflation. That is a very good thing and gamers should recognize that fact as it basically means gamers are getting more for their money. If you remember back, N-64 and SNES games were roughly 50 bucks. That means if games were in line with inflation, they would cost $72.24 in 2012 and $74.04 in 2013. So the fact that games are only 59.99, basically just 10 dollars more than they were back in 1996....well, its pretty amazing and again it means that gamers are getting more for their money. When people complain about the 59.99 price on games, I don't think they quite realize how lucky we are. In regards to the value of our money, gaming has never been cheaper. The fact that most games can be found for 20-50% off, just a month or two after release....well, again, gaming has never been cheaper.
The bottom line - $500 bucks for an XBox One is actually an amazing deal. Again, if you cant afford one at launch then just save up and buy one when you can afford it. The best part about waiting 6-12 months is there will be a much larger selection of games when you do buy it and many of the games will have already dropped in price. Its a win win either way you go. The only way you lose is if you opt out of buying one altogether. Personally, I cant imagine not buying the next gen consoles as I personally believe that this will be, BY FAR, the best console generation we have had yet.
