I think there is a very good reason why City have agreed with Nike and gone ahead with a badge instead of it being flush with the shirt.
Soriano and Txiki did this at Barca and the point was to try and get the Club's logo/emblem more visible and unique to the kit and to give it that "stand out" effect. They perceived a successful club is one which has a strong brand and identity and Soriano likes to utilise this feature of a football club to its most optimum.
So all in all, not just to us fans who have followed the club for years and/or are locals, I think this badge feature making our logo and crest more identifiable is targeted to the rest of the world so that our City logo is up there with Barca, Real, NY Yankees and Bayern...
me thinks only and I love the kit now including the badge!