PSP brand manager John Koller has spoken out about the prospects of the PSP for the rest of 2008: he is confident that like the first half of 2008, key titles like Crisis Core: Final Fantasy and God of War: Chains of Olympus, along with multimedia functionality, will set the system apart from its competitors. Koller also believes the key to maintaining strong sales is to add "new features, new functionality." He also confirms the Go!Explore GPS will go on sale in the States in the next nine months and hopes to convey to consumers the PSP is part of a "broader cultural trend for content on the go."

Addressing the new iPhone App Store, which has many games available for download on it, Koller feels that the iPhone "is more of a threat to DS than anything else" because of its nature as a secondary gaming device, hence attracting more casual gamers. We agree -- with an onslaught of specialized exclusives coming up like Resistance: Retribution, Papapon 2 and Dissidia: Final Fantasy, it certainly seems the PSP is poised to have a bright future.

Europe has had Go!Explore downloadable maps available on the PSN Store since the end of May, but a lot of countries in the region don't even have the hardware yet. Thankfully that looks like it'll be fixed soon as Play.com has the Go!Explore GPS receiver listed on their website with a July 18th release date. There's no telling just how reliable this date is, but we've emailed SCEE to find out.

The site also lists the product's price at £99.99, which seems a bit steep to us. Play.com seem to have tried their best at offering a discount, knocking it down from it's RRP of £104.99 by a massive £5. Ouch. Again, this info is unconfirmed. Should any new info come our way we'll be sure to forward it on to you.

[Thanks Stephen]

Today's store update is a little confusing, but mostly pleasing. Despite Go!Explore having no solid release date, DLC for the service is already appearing on the store. While frutstrating, it does tell us that buying the GPS add-on for the software will be very worthwhile. Especially if you travel a lot. We're waiting anxiously for the Japan map pack. Here's the full release list:

Playable content

• Everybody's Golf 2 Beginner demo (free)
• Everybody's Golf 2 Intermediate demo (free)
• Ultimate Board Games demo (free)

Add-on content

• Go!Explore Western Europe map pack (£14.99/€19.99)
• Go!Explore UK & Ireland map pack (£14.99/€19.99)
• Go!Explore Spain & Portugal map pack (£14.99/€19.99)
• Go!Explore Scandinavia map pack (£14.99/€19.99)
• Go!Explore Italy map pack (£14.99/€19.99)
• Go!Explore France map pack (£14.99/€19.99)
• Go!Explore Benelux map pack (£14.99/€19.99)
• Go!Explore DACH map pack (£14.99/€19.99)

Wallpaper

• echochrome wallpaper

The Go!Explore pack looks to be a rather fun and useful addition to the PSP's lineup of features. The GPS system is hitting France (and perhaps other parts of Europe) on July 2nd, if amazon.com's French site is to be believed. There are packages bundling both a GPS and PSP system: giving brand new consumers the chance to jump on the PSP bandwagon. We hope SCEA will announce a similar program in the not-too-distant future.

[Via MAXCONSOLE]

Europe gets all the fun stuff! Watch David Reeve's PlayStation Day presentation about the PSP, which talks about two key PSP products available across the Atlantic: PlayTV and Go!Explore. PlayTV gives PSP owners access to DVR content, through connectivity with PS3. Go!Explore is an affordable GPS utility, which adds yet another fancy tool to PSP's ever-expanding features list. C'mon, SCEA! Give us GPS ... now!

Go!Explore is the European branding of PSP's GPS system. And, now it has a price. There will be three ways to purchase the system, depending on what accessories you'd like with it:

• GPS receiver and UMD (including maps of the relevant country): RRP €119
• GPS receiver, UMD (including maps), Car Adaptor and Car Mount: RRP €149
• PSP, GPS receiver, UMD (including maps), Car Adaptor and Car Mount: RRP €299

The following territories will be initially available: UK/Ireland, France, Germany / Austria / Switzerland, Spain / Portugal, Italy. When you travel on foot, you'll be able to see cities in full 3D. You can select a destination, and watch landmarks and other POIs appear on the screen. You can also download new maps and upgrades from the PS Store.

The system's release has been set for Spring of this year.