[lencastre]

→ To ease the transition, players will still be able to download previously purchased content after the closing date for the foreseeable future.

does this literally mean what I think it means, you get up to a certain date a chance to download purchased content, and… will that content play without calling PSN servers? and download whereto, an external HDD, can I make copies of my HDD?

[jeandrek]

This is the status quo for PSP. Don't know whether it'll call PSN servers (some servers will of course need to exist for downloading in the first place), but otherwise it'll just be like using your PS3 offline, right?

The PS3 lets you back up content to a USB flash drive, and you can copy it to your PC from there (see also RPCS3).