Round-Up: Burnout PSP, Guitar Hero, Baby Geese

Today's wrap-up includes news of Burnout for the PSP, a new rhythm game from the critically acclaimed Harmonix, and High Voltage Software's heartwarming geese rescue mission, as well as the latest product news and job postings. - Criterion Studios is developing Burnout Legends for PSP, which will incorporate elements of all three console Burnout games to date. The portable version will also include new features specific to the PSP game, as well as wireless multiplayer. The wireless function of the PSP also sees use, with the ability to share a demo level of the game with others who don't have the Burnout Legends UMD in the system; it's not clear whether or not the two players will be able to play together on the sharable course. Burnout Legends will be on display at Electronic Arts' booth at E3 2005, and will be released in September. - Harmonix Systems, developer of Frequency, Amplitude, and the Karaoke Revolution series, is developing a brand-new music game called Guitar Hero, according to a briefly available official website. The site indicated that the game will feature gameplay similar to Konami's Japan-only Guitar Freaks series, complete with a custom guitar controller which will be produced by RedOctane, manufacturer of other music-game peripherals such as dance pads and drum controllers. It seems likely that the game will be published by RedOctane as well, since the company is also handling publishing duties for Roxor Games' upcoming dancemat-based game In the Groove, and more information should be available at E3. - High Voltage Software has released an important press release regarding Markus Peekna, artist at the Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude developer, who recently reunited a trio of baby geese (formally known as goslings) with their parents during a regular work day. After hearing distressed honking from a pair of geese in the pond outside High Voltage's offices, Peekna started searching for the agitated adult waterfowl. Further investigation turned up three goslings on the roof of High Voltage's building, where they had been stranded after hatching in the nest built there. Peekna coaxed the baby geese into a box (provided by IT director Raymond Bailey) and brought them down to the pond, where he managed to coax them out again without handling them. "I know it’s kind of cheesy and sentimental to say so, but it felt really good to do that for them. Their parents seemed very happy to see them," said Peekna after the rescue mission was completed. - Also updated today: product news involving the latest version of Installshield and a new release for the Panda3D engine, as well as newly updated jobs from companies including Funcom Oslo, Genuine Games, PlayFirst, Stormfront Studios, Sucker Punch Productions, and The Collective.