Sony’s free X-Radar Portable PSP program makes its Japanese debut

Japanese PSP owners, or people with Japanese PlayStation Store accounts, can get X-Radar Portable, a really neat, free program, courtesy of Sony. As you can probably tell from the radar part of its name, it allows you to see where you are on maps with the help of PetaMap. It’s a good alternative for PSP owners living in Japan who want or need a GPS, but don’t want to actually pay for one.

The best part is, this program doesn’t require the PSP GPS peripheral, which North American and European PSP owners were promised at CES 2008. If you are lucky enough to have the GPS peripheral, you can use it with X-Radar Portable. If you don’t, you can just switch on the WLAN switch and use wireless hot spots to get maps of where you are so you can find out how to get where you want to go.

X-Radar Portable does have some extras that cost money, though you don’t need to pay for anything to enjoy and make good use of it. If you want more information and details, better maps are available for ¥500 (~$5.50)…