@beanzvision
I am going to go ahead and presume a little bit here as I think this was listed as a feature request a while ago...
We already have material overrides, pretty much exactly like in 3ds Max. That said, I think there are a few of us out there that would like at a material override that can also take in a material not just objects.
Having it like V-Ray where you control it in the material editor is similar to that idea with the difference being that the button for the override is located under the material editor instead of the render settings.
I think that if UI clutter is an issue (_I definitely don't want to clutter it as simplicity is Coronas strength_) a good solution could be to "just add" an option whether you drag the materials or objects into the existing material override window.
Hopefully that makes sense. :P