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	Alex can swim. In water.

I probably shouldn't say it's shocking, because I've always been told electricity doesn't mix with water. I was wondering if Gothic would allow you to swim underwater, because some games neglect that sort of thing. You've heard the saying, "Ask a dumb question, get a dumb answer." Well, that's what I got. When I said, "Can you swim underwater?" Alex responded with, "Yes I can, can you?" Tom Putzki, whose mind was still on boobies and orc centerfolds, heard the mention of water and instantly said, "Baywatch???" If I come visit anytime soon, Tom, we can watch Baywatch together. I can even explain the difference between women and orcs if you're really interested.

Gothic is really shaping into an awesome game. I think there are a few things that can really enhance how good a game turns out to be. To best describe this, I'll use an analogy. Parents who always tell their children how smart they are will have children who grow up to be smarter than otherwise (or children who grow up to be neurotic, but let's focus on the smart ones); these kids then have happier lives. Some may not be too happy, unless the parents also give their kids plenty of love and attention and listen to the opinions of people who will buy copies of the kid and play with it. Where did this analogy go wrong? I'll just say this normally. A game is going to turn out better if the developers really care about the game and work hard at making it. If the people who are going to play the game have feedback on what they think needs to be included, it's good for the developer to listen. A lot of bigwig companies don't do this and only care about the profit in making a game. Once people realize this and start ignoring the bigwigs, they'll become tinywigs, and then we won't have to deal with them anymore, and only with people who genuinely care about their game.

I honestly believe Piranha Interactive cares about making Gothic an awesome game, and they like to hear what people have to say about it. When I mentioned Gothic's graphics weren't quite up to the standard of some games on the horizon in a Quickie I wrote (mini preview), Tom e-mailed me and virtually put me into a headlock until I said "Uncle!" After that, he showed me some updated screenshots of new technologies being used and better shots of how animated the characters really are. Rubbing my sore neck I had to agree with him that the screens were a big improvement. He didn't have to e-mail me. The Quickie wasn't going to be altered in anyway, but he did e-mail me, because he cared what people thought.

If you think I'm rambling on here, I'm not; I have a point to all this banter. You may notice Piranha Bytes gave humorous answers to a lot of the questions. Instead of just going on and on about how great the game was, they chose to have fun with the article and make it interesting for readers while still giving enough information on the game to make this an informative preview. My point was that not everyone goes to these lengths. The companies that do are the ones that care about their product and what people think of it, and those are the companies that make games work. I'm more apt to trust a team of workers that enjoys what they do and cares about their game then I am one that takes every opportunity it has to spew a multitude of buzzwords about their game and shove it down our throats.

You can look for Gothic in early 2000, and I for one can't wait. I'm not sure if the line of people camping out at CompUSA or Fry's will be quite as large as the one for Star Wars, though I have a feeling Gothic won't be disappointing. The full text from the interview can be read by clicking the link at the bottom, and be sure to visit Piranha Byte's web page to read more about Gothic!