Sony Releases Free Navigation Tool for PSP

New GPS-ready tool features game-like elements.

2010-01-26 06:28 / Anoop Gantayat / 1 Comment

Bust out that GPS attachment, PSP owners. There's a new free app to play with.

Sony Marketing released x-Radar Portable for the PSP yesterday (1/25). The download app is available from PlayStation Store for the friendly price of exactly nothing.

X-Radar Portable displays a radar-like view of your current location. The app links up with Sony mapping service PetaMap to guide you to restaurants and other points of interest.

To get your location, the app can make use of either the PlaceEngine, which determines location via wireless LAN spots, or the PSP's seperately-sold GPS unit. You can also directly look up data by entering train station names.

The main radar interface.

While the basic app is free, users will be able to pay for optional content, including skins which change the look of the interface, and more detailed mapping information. Detailed maps are being gradually released at ¥500 per region.

The app includes some game-like elements. As you "get" spots from around Japan, you build up a light map of the country. Get key spots, and you'll earn titles which can be shown off to friends. Spots can also be exchanged with friends using the PSP's local Ad-hoc wireless mode. Getting spots also contributes to the growth of a mascot character, "Ghost," whose look changes with level ups.