hi this is a very fascinating topic and my opinion is that the future of emulation(which in this case involes playing without buying
) is doomed. i think as future gaming consoles head toward a more interactive experience, ie virtual reality, it would be near impossible to replicate the gameplay process through the traditional pc input devices/peripherals. i know i wouldn't bother buying specialized equip to emulate a system if i can do the same thing with a real console.
my predicion is if the wii success is any indication, is that the next round of consoles will further include virtual reality control schemes and unless the pc gaming world also adopts similar controls, i don't think future emulation is viable.
i think the next wii will include head tracking as well as reality gloves(think virtualboy without the googles). the next ds wll probably do away with buttons and opt for a fully multitouch system ala iphone. xbox and ps will focuse more on "online virtual reality" and that's going to be pretty hard to emulate as well, although emulating sql databases shouldn't be that difficult if wow private servers are considered.