I'd take anything beyond very specific, measurable claims with a very large grain of salt. Todd Howard and the Bethesda marketing team have shown themselves partial to massive amounts of bullshit, and I don't expect any changes this time around. It also should be noted that they've trimmed down the number of skills even further this time around, which doesn't make me particularly optimistic. I'd be very happy to be proved wrong, but I haven't had much faith in Bethesda for quite a few years.

The addition of perks, 250+ of them that really define a character, is a great sign if you ask me. Actual choice and definition to character building? It's like a sun coming over a mountain for the TES series.

WHOA...I must play this. Ehh, it'll be in a couple of years, though, when the rig I'm hoping to build is done. My most powerful computer is a five year old pseudo-gaming laptop, and I just DON'T play Bethesda stuff on a console. Not that I have a next-gen.

250+?

That many perks are likely to be mostly minor stat/skill improvements. I doubt they will "define a character". Will have to wait and see though.

I expect I will pick this up once the price has come down a bit, and the hype has died down.

I'm still a touch bitter for their claims about Oblivion which never surfaced (most notably "Radiant AI").

If they can get rid of the annoying mini-games (the speech one in particular) that would be a great boon.

I'm sure we'll be inundated with information over the coming months though.

This reminds me of a Johnny Cash song. A boy named Sue.

From what I gather it's more category restructuring than significant a reduction in actual skills. Most of the categories in Morrowind were starkly surplus to requirements, so I'm not really quite so worried about that. I'd rather the game focus on things which are actually usable than wind up something like NWN1.
It's lucky he'll never get married. The vicar would probably faint halfway through.

I could see if you named a pet, but a child? This world definitely has someone crazy enough to do it. Which is almost funny until you realize the implications this has for the Human Race.

WIth a dog or something it could be so much more fun. Like if you named it Patrick Stewart. Then you could say great things like "Patrick Stewart chewed my couch and shit all over my new rug." or "Patrick Stewart just went to town on my mother's leg." People would never look at Star Trek the same again.

Some of them are basic stat increases yes, but that is sort of the point. You only get one per level so you will have to take the ones that suit your character and current play style. Unlike Oblivion and Morrowind it will actually matter what you choose to level up, since other stuff will not get the boosts. In other words choosing all the sword perks mean not being that good at magic or bows and arrows as you could be.

TES has never had that before, you could max everything.

I don't know why one would think 250 different stat boosts is a good idea. That is information overload, I don't want to read a list of 250 stats at level 2 (or 50 different ones every couple levels) that's just bad design. I'll bet all the designers pick the same ones over and over again when they get the choice, those are probably the ones they should use.

Horse armor?
A big paper bag for the kid to wear if the game sucks?

A quote for the ages. :P

so far everything I have heard and read about skyrim is really getting me worried in the direction the game is going

So far it doesn't look good - at all

just read that an egyptian father has named his new daughter Facebook because of the role it apparently played in the revolution there

Links please? All I've seen are some gorgeous screenshots, a few hints about possible storylines, and word that they've revised the skill system and added perks. All of which sounds great, actually.