Hmm well the loss in height isn't really that noticable at all, whereas the gain in width is actually pretty handy! Especially for running a browser/document on one side of the screen, while doing other stuff in the other half!
As for gaming, even if you play older games (that don't natively support widescreen) there's usually hacks/tweaks to get them working (i'm currently playing Quake II + III & GTA III with widecreen hacks.. works perfectly!)
Excellent site for widescreen gaming info