For a while now Sony has been accused of sitting back and not making the most of the PSP’s multimedia potential, instead relying on some rather medicore PS2 game ports to help sell the device to the masses.

This now seems to be changing, with new PSP games being developed that are innovative and interesting. On top of this, Sony are developing a camera attachment and there are rumours that Vonage are developing software to enable the PSP to be converted to a VoIP device.

And now we have Sony collaborating with Lonely Planet, the company behind possibly the best travel books available. This team-up will see the launch of Planet PSP Interactive City Guides (Working Title).

The Planet PSP Interactive City Guides will include photos, maps, videos, audio tours and pre-planned itineraries, and will be aimed at the young traveller keen to experience the best each city can offer in terms of food and culture.

Points of interest: Each city has 250 main points of interest covering eating, sleeping, nightlife, shopping and sights with original photography, key information and contact details.

Essential information: The bits you just must know from pharmacies to embassies, hospitals, airlines, money and costs.

Getting around: Comprehensive and detailed zoom-in, zoom-out maps covering transport systems and roads.

This sort of functionality is ideal for the PSP, although a number of issues may arise from using your PSP to find your way around a big city.

• 1. You will stand out as being a tourist.
• 2. Potential for being mugged for your PSP.
• 3. PSP screen being readable in sunlight.

While 1 and 2 may or may not be an issue for you, and the likelyhood is that you will not have any problems with would be muggers and thieves, the third point is a potential problem. If you stand out in the sun with your PSP, try and look at the screen and see how readable it actually is. Personally I find it difficult to read anything on the screen, so I would have to find a shaded area to be able to view any maps or images. However, the audio tours are a great idea and can be used discreetly with drawing attention to yourself.

Six leading cities at launch: Amsterdam, Barcelona, London, Paris, Prague and Rome, with more guides to follow in the future

I would imagine that more cities will follow if the first six prove popular and sell well.