I'm not sure I see there being a big market for it. Yes there are a ton of games for the PS2, but there are fewer and fewer big new releases on it. They are sort of shooting themselves in the foot with it. PS2 sales are still pretty good, but to introduce a new product based on it seems strange.
I guess there is a big market for this. I personally wish they would have put the chip in a new PS3 (just like to orig. 60 & 80 gb models had).
I thought that too, and I still have my (dead) 60G, but the reality is, I haven't played a PS2 game in a LOOOOOONG time, so backwards compatibility really isn't that big of a deal anymore IMO, and Sony recognizes this. If they integrated the PS2 chip back in, then they would also charge $100 more for the PS3 retail and way more people would complain about that.