You mean besides this one?

That's really a non-issue, except for GMs who let their players get away with abusing a 'maybe' in the rules.

The cyberware social thing isn't new either, except for GMs who don't read and remember the relevant sections of the code.

The only other nerf I'm aware of effects everyone equally (though mages less so only because they were already beholden to the rule).

Apparently, because the rules are vague enough for that: after all, they leave a lot of space for GMs to decide what a spirit might consider particularly important.
The rules are extremely clear in that a magician can not order a spirit to spend Edge at will, which is what the dev blog is apparently addressing.

I usually reserve the use of spirit Edge againt the summoner for special circumstances dictated by the fiction. For example, trying to summon an earth spirit in a flying plane or a fire spirit on a ship at sea. If the summoner or one of her friends has the appropriate Spirit Bane, then that, too, would make me think about using Edge. That kind of thing.

Ehhh, people....

Quote from Shadowrun 5 blog:

"The fix was that spirits cannot use Edge when they are bound or carrying out services. If a magician wants a spirit to have access to Edge on one of its tasks, he has to use his own, not the spirit’s."

The same thing for background count. If its a core feature meant to keep things on an even keel they need to put it in the main book and explain it really is everywhere in the 6th world. Though I fweel sorry for any adepts in the game where it is everywhere.

Background Count is a feature meant to keep mages on par with mundanes, but ends up as a fuck-you to adepts (and a handful of others, like free spirits and shapeshifters*)

*Shapeshifters spend a boatload of BP on being a shapeshifter and get remarkably little out of it, so hitting them with background count can screw them over pretty hard.

They should just make mages on par and leave BGC as a cool set piece for certain runs so the GM can add some extra challenges to a certain character just like how you might make the matrix security tougher than normal in another adventure. Side note I wish it was just a dice pool penalty or hell a limit modifier in 5e. I hate figuring out which adept powers to keep and then writing a bunch of notes on my character about what he can do now, its just apain in the but IMO and quite frankly adepts in 4e at least did not need the nerf.

I agree with this.

Try playing a Rigger in 4E in a game that does not handwaive hostile hackers.

Fixed that for you.
Hostile Hackers == Hostile Mages (which I can be pretty sure most GMs run).

Last I checked those, not many people dealt with wide area jamming. Which is more equivalent to BGC.

I was referring to your "keep track which of my powers are active" woes, not BGC. Securing every drone you own as a node is a tremendous amount of red tape, even worse if you install ICs (which you totally should). And don't even get me started on keeping all these programs up to date.

I also agree that the hacking rules are a mess of red tape, which is why I'm eagerly awaiting the SR5 revamp.

Mind, I don't want to relegate it to buff/debuff "mage" but having it only take two or three rolls to resolve simple tasks ("open a door" "turn off that camera" etc.) would be marvelous.

True. I've lucked out in that at best the riggers in my games did that on the side of decking so we never went to far into it. The occasional roto drone hear and there that was activly piloted by the decker wasn't much of an issue.

Having read the second preview, I am slightly more cautiously optimistic. I like what they did with Edge. The mechanics are virtually identical, but it is a lot more clear in some key areas. You can't negate a glitch or a critical glitch by re-rolling the dice, and what happens when you burn Edge in an opposed test is quantified. I hope the new edition fixes more of those irritating ambiguities from SR4 that have been unresolved for so long.

Indeed.
Even if it's not necessarily my interpretation, it does make it very clear cut.

I haven't stopped by in months... Any chance we are going to get new fiction/novels to accompany the move to 5th edition? I seem to recall there was rumors of a publishing rights issue which is why none have cropped up in the past few years. :/

There are Rumors about new novels floating around, yes . .

There have been six novels announced for the next two years or so (and also some novellas, though I'm not as certain if we've announced them officially, or how many of them there will be).

Interview with Jason M. Hardy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ls8n4GS4AZU

There are some technical issues at 18min10s, just FF to 18min55s, if you're watching

(Edit) Wrong thread. D"oh!

Hmmm...

So, to inform those that for some reason have a dying hate of Youtube...

-The Intro Box Set will be released shortly after the core rulebook gets released

-Splintered State will in fact be the first non-Missions published adventure module for SR5

-More confirmation on the Stolen Souls sourcebook (which will contain the usual plot hooks, as well as the run-down, how-tos, and gear to used on extraction-based runs)

-The first rulebook expansion after the SR5 core rulebook is released will be the Gear/Combat book (no title for that yet)

-There has been talk about bringing back the SR3-style custom weapon and vehicle generation systems

-An SR4 -> SR5 character conversion guide is being worked on.

bwahahahaahahahaaa!

Well it sounded like it was a ways off, probably not in the first gear book.