[BHSPitMonkey]

You have always been able to just visit https://plus.google.com/hangouts/_/ to directly open a new empty hangout. This is equivalent to clicking "New Video Hangout" in the G+ sidebar. Also, you can give anyone a direct link to any hangout (e.g. via email or text).

[intangible]

Since I use multiple Google Apps accounts and a personal Gmail account, this link works best for me (works for all Google services, just change the continue): https://accounts.google.com/ServiceLogin?continue=https://pl...

[joshstrange]

Sorry I just got around to this comment. Thank you for the information!