about a year ago, or maybe two, x-com the enemy unknown was voted the best computer game of all time, and that surely attracts some attention.
as for firaxis, i will not jump with joy until i see their features.
i would rather say that civ could have been a bit different here and there, with some rather kiss solutions (in my opinion), and the microing got copied in other games in endless repetition.
xenonauts has some neat ideas, especially the 'extra time units for extra aiming' (that, afaik, was a feature of jagged alliance) lets the player make more use of time units that might otherwise be wasted, and also involves some decision-making
but their graphics looks bit too muddy in my opinion, just a little bit more saturated, especially shadows, would be better.
maybe some day some engineer will figure out a suitably kiss solution for doing destructible terrain better than the x-com tradition.
the ways to develop the game are numerous, now that i think of it, i better not even start
