You’ve likely heard of the racing sim Project CARS. But what if you were told that its developer, Slightly Mad Studios, is making its own video game console? It’s called the Mad Box, and it’s coming in about three years, according to the studio’s CEO Ian Bell.
Bell made a new Twitter account that teased the console, which was then retweeted by Slightly Mad Studios’ official Twitter account. The tweet claims it will, among other things, be capable of 4K and VR. The tweet thread leads to some confusion, as it states that VR will be at 60FPS “per eye.” Variety reached out to Bell, who clarified that the console will be capable of 120FPS.
https://twitter.com/bell_sms/status/1080468977019584512
Beyond that, the only performance pointer he provided is that the specs will be equal to a “very fast PC two years from now,” which is subjective at best. Also, since the console will only be released in about three years’ time, it will still be lagging behind the equivalent PCs of that time. For what it’s worth though, Bell says that it will be “competitive with upcoming console prices.”
Right now, Bell says Slightly Mad Studios is in talks with component manufacturers. Images of early designs for the console will also be coming in four to six weeks.
An important point to note is that Bell says title exclusivity will be up to game developers. He says that they are exclusionary, and that “As of now we have no plans to pay developers ‘incentives’ to exclude other hardware vendors.”
Let’s not forget another fact as well; in three years time, it’s very likely that Mad Box will be competing against the next generation PlayStation and Xbox. It will also be coming in a little late to the party, assuming Sony keeps the seven-year life cycle for the PlayStation 4. It will be interesting to see if it stacks up well against the already established competition.
(Source: Variety, Ian Bell / Twitter)
