Now, if they'd just drop the Kinect, and shave $100 of the price, we'd have a nice system on our hands.
I say keep the Kinect standard, as it's the only feature I find compelling enough to make me buy sooner rather than later.
I agree the Kinect is pretty sweet especially for multi-tasking. It is the device that will set itself apart from the PS4. It will allow seamless control and integration of your media library, television and games through voice and gesture. Turn on the console, pause, resume movies, switch, and close apps/games. If you still want to use a controller you can too. The Kinect 2.0 can even detect changes in blood flow. Playing a FPS with a standard controller and having the Kinect there only acting as an accent to the experience like having to touch your temple to enable night vision...that is next generation gaming right there.
I have no problem with the Kinect being mandatory. It actually helps push innovation with the console knowing the entire user base has its functionality.
