It was a busy week at GameSpot.

　　On Tuesday, GameSpot previews editor Elliot Chin, features editor Tasos Kaiafas, and this reporter were invited to talk to Dynamix. The Sierra development house showed off its first first-person action/shooter, StarSiege: Tribes. We sat down and did what we love to do - deathmatch. We were pretty impressed with the jetpacks, sniper mode, and how the developers were able to add something special to the classic deathmatch experience (you'll find out when the game is released, but one added feature is sniper mode - definitely the sweetest feature, as it allowed each of us the option of picking off opponents at far distances).

　　Soon, a GameSpot preview will give curious gamers a better view of the upcoming title. Major parts of the game were still missing (like single-player levels).

　　On Wednesday, the Gathering of Developers showed off Fly! and Railroad Tycoon II. While both titles focus on two popular gaming genres - strategy and flight sim - the titles in their current form look like they could pull in new gamers looking for innovation in these two genres.

　　Then on Thursday, Activision showed off Civilization: Call to Power. Given the scope of the game, Civ and Civ II fans should be really excited about this welcome addition to the popular series. Here's what we know so far.

　　In hardware news, Creative Labs finally released the new Sound Blaster PCI128 and its first surround sound stereo system in a single bundle. The earlier two speaker system, by Creative subsidiary unit Cambridge SoundWorks, has won critical acclaim by numerous publications (inside and outside of gaming), and one can safely assume that the PCWorks FourPointSurround system will be worth considering. From what we can tell, the PCI128 is an upgraded version of the company's PCI64/Ensoniq AudioPCI audio cards. Gamers will get better support for DirectSound 3D, surround sound audio, and 128-voice wave-table. On the plus side for current owners of Sound Blaster PCI cards, Creative will be releasing a driver to enable those cards for Environmental Audio. The company has been ramping up developer support for its Environment Audio and has garnered additional support from Microsoft and MS's upcoming DirectX 6.0.

　　Along with the announcement of Creative's FourPointSurround system, Boston Acoustics announced its Boston DigitalTheater 6000 system that supports the Dolby Digital; you could actually hitch it up to your VCR or DVD player. Currently, the only way to buy the sound system is to purchase a new Gateway system, but it should be available soon as a standalone. One new development that could make games easier to manage lies in a chip being built by Toshiba. The chip, still in prototype stage, recognizes hand gestures without the use of gloves, wires, or strange clothing. Imagine controlling your PC like Keanu Reeves in Johnny Mnemonic. This is the type of technology that could take us there.

　　For all the legal eagles out there, two big cases achieved resolutions this week. First, the plaintiff in the case against Blizzard - suing for alleged acquisition of Windows 95 registry information from Starcraft users - settled and dropped his lawsuit. If you remember the original complaint, the problems started with Blizzard accessing information about Starcraft players without their knowledge or consent. Blizzard says that it only collected e-mail information about the players who couldn't connect to battle.net. Blizzard's legal department can catch up on their sleep now. If you've been watching news about Activision's pursuit of the Civilization brand name, you'll be interested to know that the company got what it wanted. Avalon Hill, the maker of the original board game, sold its rights to MicroProse. In turn, MicroProse licensed the name Civilization to Activision for use in its upcoming Civilization: Call to Power.

　　Remember, at GameSpot News, the legal education is always free!