Sony extends PSP capabilites with Go!Messenger and Go!Explore

In case you missed it in all the hubbub earlier, we thought we'd take a minute to flesh out the details on Sony's newly announced Go!Messenger service for the PSP, as well as its also just-announced Go!Explore GPS package. Set to be released in January of next year, Go!Messenger will apparently be pushed out as part of a firmware update (which, of course, means it's free) and will sit on the XMB for easy access. From there you can get in some VoIP voice chat or, with the help of a Go!Cam, some video chat as well. What's more, the app will also boast a "new and intuitive on-screen keyboard" for some IM action. On the non-free front, Sony's trotted its Go!Explore GPS package, which was developed in collaboration with Tele Atlas and NavNGo. While the price doesn't appear to have been specified, the package will include both the GPS add-on for the PSP and a UMD loaded with your chosen maps. According to Sony, the system will be equally at home as a pedestrian or in-car GPS, and you'll most everything you'd expect from a dedicated GPS system, including 3D maps, 11 unique audio languages, and plenty of POIs. Look for it to launch "in the New Year," with seven different geographic versions set to be available for various parts of Europe.

Read - Sony Go!Messenger Press Release
Read - Sony Go!Explore Press Release

[Paul @ Aug 22nd 2007 3:58PM]

I guess i will no longer be purchasing the Garmin Street Pilot C340 for my car ... SONY SOCKS . . . Im sure the Xbox Portable can do that...oh wait it doesnt exist :-)

[Harlo @ Aug 22nd 2007 4:03PM]

I just installed one in my Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiidge Racer!

[DickHardknocks @ Aug 22nd 2007 4:27PM]

with the exception of being on an airplane, I don't think I could really sit there and watch videos on my PSP unless it was streaming media of programs I haven't seen before.

What bothers me so much about PSP is how it tries to recreate the Playstation gamer experience but lacks the controls to do so. Even Nintendo knows you can't make a console portable without featuring ALL of the buttons used on the main console's gamepad.

PSP needs a second analog nub. I have Rainbow Six Vegas and I basically shelved it after 1 hour of play because using the face buttons to LOOK was too goddamned hard.

[zaydur @ Feb 22nd 2008 6:16PM]

ye m8 the nintendos game boy or ds is nothin compared to dis piece of genius

wel dun sony, u reli showed it 2 nintendo

[Martin @ Aug 22nd 2007 4:27PM]

So where are all the Go!FuckYourself jokes? Eh, maybe it was just me that thought it (or was crass enough to post it).

[bucho @ Aug 22nd 2007 4:30PM]

Anyone know when the US can expect to see some version of this?

[KC @ Aug 22nd 2007 4:42PM]

No real keyboard, no go.

[producerism @ Aug 22nd 2007 4:43PM]

god forbid you post all this PSP under one single "PSP updates" post...

[MasterCKO @ Aug 22nd 2007 5:18PM]

welcome to the world of the people that were getting sick of iPhone posts.

[kyle @ Aug 22nd 2007 5:21PM]

it's about time. how long have they had gps support in japan?

[Cal @ Aug 22nd 2007 6:35PM]

why dont they just release a freakin clip on keyboard already.

[SimbaDogg @ Aug 22nd 2007 7:15PM]

wow...if sony really throws this down, i'll really consider getting a PSP. i already was interested in it because of the location free capabilities that they brought on, an the ability to work w/ the PS3...too bad it doesn't have bluetooth built in.

[Phil @ Aug 22nd 2007 8:58PM]

Brilliant Sony! Just in time for Christmas --- 2008.

[ratnikh @ Aug 22nd 2007 9:02PM]

Is Sony dead-set against making the PSP remotely useful or interesting to people in the US? What the hell is wrong with them? Since its inception they've done nothing but roadblack the device at every turn. From a lack of decent storage/media options, to gimping the OS and restricting homebrew content, they've pretty said "Fuck you, America, fuck you geeks and technophiles, we'll take our toys elsewhere."

As an owner of a PSP who finds it to be a moderately enjoyable diversion occasionally, I also find it to be a massively annoying platform due to the stupid processes needed to put media on it. The screen is well sized, quite bright, and although the speakers could be better, they are adequate. This could have been quite an affordable PMP/Gaming device.

Sony, are you the twisted union of siblings who fucked? Because, seriously, you're acting like retards. You seriously expect people to throw down cash for your "new" PSP after they've seen how you bent over and screwed the people who bought your first iteration?

These addons, even if they got to the US, are too little, too late, for my taste. At this late stage of the game, far more useful and functional GPS units can be purchased for short money, and less likely to come back bite you in the ass.

[foxdude0486 @ Aug 22nd 2007 9:23PM]

Damn, Sony really is taking over a persons entertainment life. If it all works out right. And Sony keeps good work on all this. Sony fans will be living in a dreamworld.

[cDub @ Aug 22nd 2007 11:33PM]

I cant wait until the homebrew community gets ahold of this. Oh and a targus ir pda keyboard will work with a hacked console.

[John Stracke @ Aug 23rd 2007 11:28AM]

They should've replaced the keyboard software ages ago; the one they've got now is overpoweringly craptacular.

[killbot @ Aug 24th 2007 10:29PM]

Hey Sony, you know what would be great? A FUCKING KEYBOARD FOR THIS PIECE OF SHIT. Thanks for making something as simple as typing in a URL a pain in the fucking ass. Logic3's keyboard didn't look like the best design, but it would've been a fucking godsend. But instead of releasing something people would actually use, release a bunch of shit nobody really cares about, like a camera. If I wanted to take shitty pictures, I'll just use my cellphone which isn't a pain in the ass to carry around.

Go fuck yourselves, Sony. Stop being dicks and release a keyboard. It's been over 2 fucking years already.