Interesting point you bring up with NameCoin. It's interesting that the only real value a "Bitcoin" has is.. scarcity? It's uniqueness. I tend to agree that if something has another use, such as gold as a metal or Namecoin as you describe then it stands to reason it would indeed be more valuable. Hmm..  I still see Bitcoin (with enough usage) becoming a de-facto standard for net currency. Like the US dollar in Cuba.