Bumping this topic for a good ol' fashioned infodump.
First, there's
this IGN article. The combat stuff is mostly already known, but there's some new info on how the interface and AI work that I found interesting. Also, the game will now automatically populate the map with neutral city-states that are more like mini-Civs than barbarians. They won't work towards any victory conditions, so they're mostly there to negotiate with/crush as you like. They also talk about the leaders and their backdrops, which makes me wonder whether I'll get to see Montezuma in a suit like in Civ 3.
There's also a Eurogamer interview
here, but there's very little information about the game in it. Who knows why, maybe the interviewer was too interested in his own cleverness like Eurogamer tends to be. You get a chance to talk to the lead designer of the next Civilization game and you piss most of it away talking about fanfiction and whether the game is educational, what the fuck is wrong with you?
Finally, somebody in the SA thread for this game collected all the confirmed Civs and known leaders in a list.
Germany - Bismark
China - Wu Zetian
America - Washington
Japan - Nobunaga
Arabia - Harun al-Rashid
Mongolia - Genghis Khan
Rome - Julius Caesar
France - Napoleon
England - Elizabeth
India - Gandhi
Ottomans - Suleiman
Inca - Leader unknown (Probably Huayna Capac)
Aztec - Montezuma
Songhai - Askia
Russia - Catherine
Egypt - Ramesses II
There are 18 Civs in total, so we still don't know 2. It's pretty likely that the Greeks are one, considering they were one of the original 'untouchable' Civs, but the last one is anyone's guess. Some people are theorizing that they'll do another African Civ, probably the Zulu since putting both Mali and Songhai in would be kind of redundant. I'm a little disappointed that multiple leaders per Civ is gone, but since every leader has unique traits and a full model now maybe that would be more complicated. Oh well, I'm sure there will be inevitable expansions for that.