A couple of days ago I read this informative little interview with Firaxis’s Barry Caudill over at Computer and Video Games. The by-line is “staff”, which should have set some alarm bells ringing. But the interview intro said “…we managed to catch a word with Barry Caudill, senior producer on the title, to catch up on all the latest news and learn how Civ IV could be the one to capture strategy fans’ hearts all over again. Here’s what we discovered”

Sounds legit.

Then, today, I see the exact same interview over at Fragland. No by-line or any indication of where the interview is from. Or at least none unless you click on the “News” section. Then it is apparent that the Q&A is from 2k Games itself – the publisher of Civ IV.

So either 2k Games is passing around interviews they did with Computer and Video Games, or – more likely – they are passing around a generic interview script for the smaller sites to put up as content. So the C&VG people did not “catch a word” with anybody or “discover” anything. The exact same interview has been posted on an Italian website and a Spanish one. The interviewer is never identified and the questions are generic enough to fit just about anywhere. A question on game balance, a question on handhelds, a question on consoles…nothing that would make the reader suspect that this is a corporate Q&A.

So, credit to Fragland for saying that the interview came from 2k Games. This should be more prominently posted with the interview itself and not just on the news post, but it’s more than C&VG did. “Catch a word” indeed.

As for the interview itself, there is not a lot here that we do not already know. Civilization IV will be powered by Gamebryo and there will not be hardcoded civ traits – civ abilities will be connected to the leader you choose for your country.

This last bit is actually disappointing. It was much more fun to be addressed as King Troy than as President Napoleon, but I suppose there is no reason that picking a leader means that I am choosing a name.

And don’t forget to check out the new screenshots at the official site. Gandhi looks a little suspicious.