Slightly Mad Studios CEO Teases New Gaming Console To Rival Sony And Microsoft

If you are a fan of games like Project CARS 2 or Need for Speed: Shift, you are familiar with the work of Slightly Mad Studios from London. The studio was founded back in 2009 and is mostly known for racing and driving sim games along with its cross-platform Madness engine. The CEO of Slightly Mad Studios is Ian Bell, and he recently registered for a Twitter account and used that account to tease a new game console that his studio is working on.

The new console is called The Mad Box, and Bell notes that it will be a stand-alone console along the lines of the PS4 or Xbox One. The launch of the console is very far away with Bell stating in his tweets that the console is about three years away from launch. Tidbits that are being offered about the console at this time include support for most major VR headsets and specs that will be equivalent to a "very fast PC 2 years from now." That is an interesting statement considering Bell had already stated the console is about three years from launch suggesting it will be as fast as a PC that is a year out of date when it does launch.

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

Bell also noted that talks with manufacturers of components are in early stages and that while the design is spec'd out in detail, he can't say much about those specifications at this time. Bell was a bit confusing with his claims of 60 FPS per eye in his tweets and clarified to Variety that the console would support VR at 120 fps. As for games, the intention is to support titles from developers old and new. It's unclear if this console will play games designed for the PC or if developers will need to develop for another platform in addition to PC, Xbox, and PlayStation. Bell noted that developers would benefit from the studio's "completely free development engine." Images of the console in development are promised in the next month to month and a half.