No, you cannot use an old fashioned controller. They ditched the old controller ports. There may be a converter some day, but it's unlikely. Can you use your original xbox controllers with the 360? No. It's the same sort of deal. They're going to squeeze as much profit out of accessories as possible. If you're not buying new controllers, they don't get as much profit. There is going to be a converter to use old memory cards though.
To answer your second question, it may be possible. Although I highly doubt the functionality will ever be brought to us by sony. Even the ps3 controllers don't use usb to transfer data EVER even while being charged via usb, they still communicate with the system via bluetooth.
This post has been edited by h4xx3d: Nov 20 2006, 10:35 AM