So he's buying this TV for the sole benefit of being able to go from 480i to 480p? Total waste of cash.
Widescreen gaming is what its all about, and widescreen on a 4:3 set of 27" diagonal is going to be awfully small.
Since the next gen systems are all about HDTV, there is no such thing as a HD resolution that isn't 16:9. I'm sure all games will be able to play at 480p, but I'm not sure if they will be 4:3 letterboxed or not..and if they're letterboxed, you're back to the orignal problem of not having enough screen real-estate.
Better to spend your money on a widescreen display than suffer the indignity of a 4:3 HD set...like I said, for watching TV its fine...but for playing a game 27" isn't going to be enough if you're running in widescreen.