Here's my two cents.
I was never a fan od the gamecube or the xbox, i just hate the controllers is all. The Gamecube is bearable, the xbox is like playing witha keyboard, no fun. The playstation brings a huge selection of very good games, and i love the controller. It's great.
As for upcoming consoles, like xbox 360 (ok, so it's out already), revolution, and ps3. Well, it's called waiting. Once the price drives down to something reasonable, then I wouldn't mind taking these in, playing on them and whatnot. In the meantime, backwards compatibility isn't much of an issue

I don't play console games a lot anyway. Mostly when i have nothing at all to do. I do need to update my Fifa version, though, fifa 2000 is getting a little dated. I kind of want to see if the Henry to Barca deal goes through though, then i'll wait a little and get the 07 version so i can play with henry and ronaldinho together
As for the Godfather. I'm waiting for the kid who's parents will let them play the game, but not watch the movie. It'll happen, i guarantee it.