I think some knowledgeable people in the industry have said that PS2 emulation might not be possible on the PS3 because of the very different architectures. For me this would be a big issue should I decide to buy a PS3 later on at $199. I wouldn't like to keep my PS2 because of the clutter and especially because of the wired controllers.
Hardcore gaming is a bubble economy blown up by Microsoft's $7 $6 billion losses.