I don't want to bash or anything but I think that there are some wrong assumptions in the last replies, the PSP is not more powerful in terms of rendering than the ps2...the CPU and GPU have a bit higher clock but that doesn't prove very much, whith a so little difference the architecture of the processor counts more, also the PSP cpu has to manage both the games and the dashboard at the same time. It true that the last 2 models of psp have 64mb (PSP-3000 and PSPgo), but 32 of those are used for the multimedia functions, games are programmed to use only 32mb, otherwise they wouldn't be compatible with older consoles, the VRAM at last is 4mb on ps2 vs 2mb on psp, that makes a lot of difference.
Also battery has almost nothing to about games looking better, the processors and memories on handleds are made to be power-efficient and only consumes only a very small part of the batteries, the screen illumination and the disc drive are what requires more energy.
The space on disc does not count that much, matter of fact, there was a lot of difference between XBOX and Ps2 using both the same discs, also gamecube games looked better on 1.5GB discs.

good post freebs2, i think that if digital foundry's speculation is correct there is a chance that the psp2 will be able to play ps2 games, but it will all depend on implementation.

Tech improves... OF COURSE it's possible.

I believe so !

no

Is it possible? Yes. Will it happen? No.

Possible? Sure. But who wants to play inferior versions of PS2 games on a tiny screen?

I'm pretty sure the psp's hardware isn't too far behind the ps2, with tech today a handheld could easily double the power of the ps2.

The question is, will the new handheld be more powerful than the PS3? No. Before a thing like that could happen we would have the, not Slim, but the Anorexia Nervosa PS3 model with less parts and with price drop if that could be possible... so... we may see PS2 games for download in the PS3 before the new PSP2. My thoughts honestly.

"we may see PS2 games for download in the PS3 before the new PSP2@

But ps2 games look realy bad in hd, while in psp2 will look ok.