2019 has just started but we already got a doozy of a news at our hands. Slightly Mad Studios, the developers behind the multiplatform racing simulator Project Cars, have announced their plans of releasing a new gaming console. Titled Mad Box, the console is supposedly going to be ‘the most powerful console ever built’.
What is the Mad Box? It's the most powerful console ever built… It's literally 'Mad'… You want 4k, you want VR at 60FPS? You want a full engine for free to develop your games on it? You have it.
— Ian Bell SMS (@bell_sms) January 2, 2019
CEO of Slightly Mad Studios Ian Bell gave an exclusive interview to Variety, where the company boss unveiled the Mad Box. Well, only that it’s going to happen because at the moment this box of madness is nothing more than a promise. And an insanely tall one at that.
Console gaming has been around and healthy for decades and with every new console generation, more and more users are being attracted to consoles. No wonder that such a healthy business is being seen as a viable target for businesses. The truth is however, getting a footing in the console business is an extremely complicated and costly endeavour, even for the biggest and richest companies.
Tech giants during their prime like Atari, Philips and Panasonic all have spectacularly failed at creating a successful console. In recent memory, the Android-based Ouya made headlines by promising a paradigm shift for consoles, only to fail miserably.
As such, today’s news that the rather niche British game developer Slightly Mad Studios is gunning for the gargantuan task of creating not only a console but the most powerful ever created, is leading to doubt-filled faces all across the internet.
Ian Bell of SMS is promising the Mad Box to come out in about 3 years while giving no comment about the projected pricing, only that it will be competitive with other consoles. A rather crucial point, especially for gaming consoles. Coupled with his statements that his console will be equivalent of a ‘very fast PC 2 years from now’, will do 4K gaming and support all major virtual reality headsets, it’s hard to not expect a pricey box. If it actually ends up releasing at all.
You can read Bell’s full interview over at Variety but there’s very little more than lofty promises at this time.
