But who says the PSN catalog will definitely go away even without CELL?
- PSX, PSP, and probably even PS2 titles will be emulated
- Mini's and PS Suite are virtual machines ... they will have a VM developed for the new architecture
The part that gets fuzzy though are PSN (non-disc) titles. What I'm not aware of is how many use PhyreEngine. If it's most (or is it all? ... are you allowed to code to the metal for PSN-only titles) ... then I expect they'll work. The engine will get ported to PS4. That's the point of using an API. It's to avoid using HW specific calls that would force emulation or actual recoding of game code.
So the question is, what portion of the PSN-only content is using PhyreEngine or some similar API that was meant for portability? If it's most or all ... we're cool. Obviously that said, PS3 titles bought over PSN are hosed unless this system has true BC (which seems to be no).