It can be simply a point of background. Show that society has changed, to hammer the fact that we're in the future, and in a society that is very liberal on some points (the "cloned human meat restaurant" part was on the same track : A way of saying that this kinda stuff isn't a big deal anymore, which contrasts with our own world). Just like the funky tech and flying cars that you see in any scifi movies/games and have no importance on the plot, apart than to show the viewer/player that he's not in 2017 anymore :)
Or just as the whole "advanced society where war, intolerance and poverty don't exist anymore" stuff in original Star Trek, that has nothing to do with 95% of the silly hijinx of the characters. But it was used to underline the fact that we're in an "ideal, more enlightened future" (and very occasionally to have that idea have an active role in the week's episode by clashing with some harsh reality, or with other culture)

SPOILER, ctd.
SPOILER, ctd.
SPOILER, ctd.

While you're not mistaken about the impression this scene left on basically everyone, including myself, upon seeing it for the first time, (a) we know it wasn't a last minute decision as the first hint drops immediately after the character leaves the bar where he meets that female character for the first time; (b) the way the later potential kissing encounter is framed is that initiative is entirely that of the female character, making the kiss basically the "do nothing" choice for the main character; and (c) misdirection in foreshadowing is the storyteller's prerogative (we've seen one masterful execution of it in The Longest Journey, where we're being misled on the destiny of the main character with quite a vengeance; I assume the encounter between April and Kian in Dreamfall to serve a similar purpose, yet, I definitely agree, it's not remotely as successful).

Yeah... you're often like "for a society that doesn't have money any more, they sure are talking a lot about how they don't have money any more". Granted, it's a point that's difficult for us to fathom. :)

Otherwise, back on topic : Any character in Crusader Kings 2, including the player-character, can have the "homosexual" random trait, and the game will use that trait to determine the potential romances and lovers (not spouse) for the character.

Since the game is a medieval dynasty simulator, it's a trait that will complicate the character's life, though, since you'll get a small relationship penalty with your vassals, and a small fertility penalty, but nothing crippling.

There is a separate car called "Banana":

http://www.bobulous.org.uk/ignition/cars.html

You apparently get it after completing the novice championship.

Oh. :P
Well then I guess I owe you an apology.

Sorry. :D

SPOILERS

Yes, you're probably right about the transgender part, and it also was meant to show technological progress since it is implied a total transformation is possible by that date. I probably shouldn't have "complained" about it :-)
(Disagree somewhat about the human meat restaurant, that met with clear disapproval from the main character, and imo was meant to show what could become possible in a brutally capitalistic world without moral constraints...the Chinese oligarch with his "eat the poor" attitude gave me the shivers).

Fable (not to sure about Fable 1) but I know Fable 2 (never released on PC) and Fable 3 (out on PC, but removed from sale, and uses GFWL) have same sex relationships in, but you have to find certain townsfolk to romance.

Apology accepted and put into a safe place for future use.

THE CLIMB is a - surprise! - climbing game for Virtual Reality. Initially, the player could vary the skin color of his hands, but he could only play a male. This is kind of a big deal, since the game is not only in first person, but in VR too, which means that you don't have the same distance to the avatar as you have when you play a 3rd person game like Tomb Raider. It is kind of offputting to suddenly have the hands of the opposite sex. It breaks the immersion, the holy grail of VR. Even in screen based first-person games, It just feels wrong playing as a a girl.

Someone wrote a reddit post about this: s"The Climb" and the gender problem

Later, a pair of female hands were added to the game. Gonna try them out at my next climb. Hopefully, having a pair of black female hands will make my head implode or something!

Interesting effect. I wonder how applicable it is to VR games in general. Games' stories have evolved so much that the main character now seldom is a mere projection figure, it's a full fledged person in whose shoes we're being put. That's kind of the reason I play those games, and I much favor 3rd person because of it. And if I get to customize my main character, the last thing I'd do is to make her look like myself. But a climbing game, or maybe even sports games in general, are pure wish fulfilment. There's no further story attached to it. It makes sense to adjust hands and hand color to your own. That's pretty much part of the fantasy.

Good luck with that imploding head experiment though. :)

Somewhat related: One developer made a game that relied on sensing the player's motion, and it did so by sensing reflected light. Unfortunately, this made the game unplayable to people with dark skin.
http://www.kotaku.co.uk/2017/01/12/how-we-accidentally-made-a-racist-videogame

@dtgreene:
Jez - near the end, that story is downright painful to read! Or maybe that just me - I just can't deal with embarrasing stuff.

Love this bit: