[chaoticprout]

Seems that through all the saturday chaos this went unnoticed. While we don't know if it's an addon or not (my guess is that it is) this clearly (in my mind) is superior to the FTC kit for a number of reasons:
(Just my honest opinion after being exposed to both current Vex products along with the FTC Showcase)

A) Interfacing Lego with the FTC metal is possible, but causes tons of spacing problems that I won't go into.

B) Vex already has a huge backlog of great products while FTC has the HiTechnic sensors and only standard wheels and gears currently.

C) I like the fact that Vex is one product that has everything work together whereas FTC is straight up Lego with an additional Box for motors, servos and some sensors.

D) The one big advantage that FTC had with their DC motors seem to be gone with the introduction of this new controller.

My head hurts a lot and I feel pretty crappy, but I'll try to come up with more sometime later. Overall, this seems to be awesome and I can't wait for more details.

Just my $0.02