Sony has just announced that the PlayStation Portable Slim, the updated version of the original PSP handheld, will launch in Europe on 05 September for €169 (£115 / $229). Lucky Europeans will also be getting a pair of €199 (£133 / $265) PSP Slim bundles: a black and red Spider-Man handheld with the Spider-Man 3 game and UMD film, or a yellow (!) Simpsons model, with The Simpsons Game.

The company laid out its plans for the PSP Slim launch at the Leipzig Game Conference, where it also pulled the covers off of its new Go! Entertainment brand. Go! will offer PSP owners a slew of new services, including voice chat, video chat, instant messaging, a GPS satellite navigation service product for those who get lost easily, and video downloads for your face.

What does this all mean? Well, all sorts of exciting things, since you asked. For instance, from early next year, users of the Go! video download service will be able to download content from numerous popular BSkyB channels, including sports, entertainment, movies, music and animation.

Go! Messenger will kick off in January, allowing those with a wireless broadband connection and a tendency to gas to chat to chums using an on-screen keyboard. Simply inserting a pair of headphones allows you to talk to them, and you’ll also be able to use a PSP Camera to make video calls.

Meanwhile, Go! Explore, will let you use your PSP as one of those GPS-enabled devices that are so popular nowadays. The UK, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and Scandinavia are all currently covered, though don’t give up hope on that stag night in the Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands just yet, as Sony is promising to release more European maps over time via the PlayStation Network.