It's a Great Time to be a Wingnut

The results are in from our annual New Year Poll, and Wingnuts have spoken! Final numbers represent the highest level of optimism among fans in the thirteen-year history of this particular survey. The number of Wingnuts with a "poor" or "unsure" outlook on the year ahead has been trending down for several years, and it's currently at the lowest measured level ever. "Great" has reached its highest percentage yet, and it's followed closely by people with a "good" feeling about 2013.

There are multiple factors that contribute to the positive results. The space sim genre is doing fairly well with the launch of Star Citizen and Elite Dangerous, among others. Here at the CIC, we've also been very impressed with the recent resurgence in fan projects. There have been more than a dozen different fan projects highlighted here in just the past month alone. This all sets a great tone for the year as the CIC zooms towards its 15th Birthday in August!

The new poll asks which game manual was your favorite. The WC series has a long history of amazing documentation, so this could be a tough one to decide! You can download these game guides and many other WC booklets here. Be sure to check them out - there's quite a few manuals that were translated into different languages or had significantly different versions in different countries or with console ports.

Colossal Clash Erupts in Eve Online

A few news outlets have picked up on an impressive story out of Eve Online. Last weekend, a mind boggling 2,800-ship battle broke out. Words can't properly describe such an incredible melee, so check out some crazy pictures of it all.

For one, it was beautiful – the screenshots, compiled in an album here, are gorgeous renders of spiderweb lasers and stardust surrounding powerful feats of man. For another, the pictures show an absolute warzone beyond any chaos we know. But seriously, it was pretty.

The fight was in Asakai and involved a Caldari Factional Warfare alliance, the Drunk 'n' Disorderly alliance, and a few gravity wells that pulled in more ships throughout the night.