Why? This is mid range PC type of specs nothing out of this world. 8 tiny CPUs combined with a midrange GPU which a 88xx would be. The high end will be 89xxx. This is what I expected but will disappoint a lot here hoping to get a high end PC specs for 399.99 dollars.
$399-499 is the highest they can go unless they go with the Xbox live $199 + 2 year subscription model.
The specs have nothing to do with retail PC parts. Everything is custom and they aren't buying chips from AMD. They're buying bluprints with the right to manufacture where they see fit. Big chip, bad yeilds, ram chips, complex mobo, packaging, assembly, royalties for tech, etc will cause a price to sky rocket.
The specs sound sick if true. An 8800 would straight up beast. CPU should be decent for gaming as well. Physics and lighting are being done on the gpu now next Gen, that frees up the CPU for other tasks like improving AI and all that other crap that CPUs do.
We will see a major jump in fidelity. Unlike at the start of last Gen, we actually have game engines ready for the new hardware and they've been ready for years.