New Console Developer? Ian Bell Announces 'Mad Box'

[Paul Jeffrey]

Slightly Mad Studios Ian Bell has confirmed on Twitter that the developers behind Project CARS are working on a new and super powerful console.

Intending to pitch right into the fight for console supremacy with the likes of Microsoft and Sony, Bell has confirmed that SMS are working on the provisionally titled 'Mad Box' device, with plans to significantly move the console marketplace forward with what has been described as "the most powerful console ever built...".

Although plans are in the infancy at this moment in time, Bell has stated that the new Mad Box console should be VR compatible from the off, with a proposed 90fps per eye, 180 FPS internally expected at the point of the consoles release - expected to be two or three years away at this stage.

Although much of the internal spec is still under consideration by Slightly Mad Studios, the overall design of the console has surfaced earlier today, as can be evidenced by the screenshots in this article, and Bell has been in very bullish mood during much of initial reveal discussions on social media - coming straight out of the blocks with some very impressive statements about the consoles capabilities once launched - easily putting the new Mad Box in the frame as a potential Xbox and PlayStation 4 beating piece of hardware.

Of course it is still early days in the development of the new Mad Box, but if the initial plans for the console do come to fruition this will be a very impressive piece of kit indeed. One of the key features mentioned briefly by Ian is the desire to open up the game engine to developers, presumably allowing game developers to access the engine platform in which to develop new games. Furthermore, Bell has stated that this will be a free facility for developers, which should be a powerful incentive for game studios to create content that works well with the new console.

All in all this is certainly a surprise move from SMS, and one very interesting topic to keep an eye on in the coming months..

 

 

[gianlucaP]

Those renderings are missing the red ring of death.
The company would go bankrupt in a month.
Imagine half of the customers asking for a refund or a replacement, because of the console's hardware problems and because of the bugs of the game in bundle with it.
Or maybe he thinks that it works like with Steam, where one can't ask for a refund after some hour of gameplay and many people don't even bother to ask it.

 

[mr Sw1tchblade]

Finally new generation is coming !

 

[Catlin]

Make sure not to criticise it in any way or you will be banned from using the console and playing your games.

 

[freytzouil]

slightly embarrassed.

 

[Mascot]

Has a product rendering ever been released three years in advance before? Ignoring how aesthetically-challenged it looks, three years is a long time in consumer taste. Also:

 

[Terra21]

 

[UnixRoot]

For me, the last real gaming console was the PlayStation 2. Really good exclusive games, without all that social media and always online crap.

You bought a game, drove home and started playing. Now you have to download 50 GB to even start a game.

Call me old and stupid, but I still use my old PS2 and even my SNES. The games were so much better. Not the graphics, but gameplay wise and without all the social media Twitter Instagram twitch YouTube nonsense.

 

[Jonny Austin]

Any innovation in a market massive place with only two players like Sony & Microsoft is welcome.There is not much love here obviously but hardcore sim racers are not really the target audience.

As others have pointed out Sony & MS dont make much money selling consoles so SMS must be looking at the revenues from live membership,developers,licencing,tv,youtube etc.I cannot imagine any game would be exclusive so I guess the games would be those that are on Steam & sub AAA titles.He mentioned developers so maybe there is some discontent in that part of the industry & some willingness to bring in another party other than Steam which is far from perfect.

While at least half the sim racing audience might think PC1 & 2 were a disaster they were probably a financial success for SMS so any investor will be interested in potential returns on investment not how nice SMS are to gamers in their forums & whether the games lived up to the hype.

 

[magzire86]

How can you take this guy seriously after the crap he spilled about pcars being the best '' sim '' ever

 

[thepharcyde]

Got visions of this being another steambox nobody asked for. Or a good concept, poor execution.

Unless they can build and price below what most people can build themselves for cheaper I foresee they will be up against it.

Still looking forward to seeing the outcome of this.

What happened to Project Cars Go announced in May 2018?

 

[thepharcyde]

How can you take this guy seriously after the crap he spilled about pcars being the best '' sim '' ever

Because you can run ACC, RF2 and the like.

12087578k per eye 1,000,000 fps

 

[Alex72]

In todays gaming world you are a winner if you can hype the customers. Dont have to deliver. Just have to nail the hype. Eventually when all the anger cools down you're a multi millionare and the customers have moved on to the next hype train to be fooled again.

*Cough Star Citizen Cough*

 

[CC]

For me, the last real gaming console was the PlayStation 2. Really good exclusive games, without all that social media and always online crap.

You bought a game, drove home and started playing. Now you have to download 50 GB to even start a game.

Call me old and stupid, but I still use my old PS2 and even my SNES. The games were so much better. Not the graphics, but gameplay wise and without all the social media Twitter Instagram twitch YouTube nonsense.

True true, wife bought a Xbox one X a few months for the kids to play on,
came with forza 7, to start with was excited about the whole idea,

it all came boxed brand new, with wall mounts and brackets ect ect, and kinect,
took around 30 minutes to measure the placement on the wall and get it all placed and setup which was not too bad, specially hidden behind the TV its ideal,

anyways 30 minutes to unbox, get the brackets and get it all wired and setup ready to play,
must have taken 3hrs to install the updates to the console from microsoft alone,
took 1 more hr to actually sign in and get an account working, must be because we are in ukraine, either way a total nightmare,
basically after 4hrs or so messing around and getting it all setup,
placed Forza 7 there in the console, obviously it wont play of course wants installing,
after another 5hrs went to bed and left it over night,
god knows what people do on xmas day buying them for the kids, I recommend unboxing it and setting the whole thing up 1st then packing it away again to make life easy,

kinda reminds me when I was 7-8 years old going back almost 30 years here,
when we used to have a commodore 64 and you used to have to load cassettes to play it,
used to take 30 minutes to load a game,

over the years must have had at least 15 Xbox consoles easily,
but this Xbox one X, is a total piece of trash,
never connects to the control pad, the kinect either shows turned on or not turned on,
have to restart the console maybe 5-6 times just to get the control pad to work,
even though we turn it on with the control pad in the first place,

sad thing is everyone I ever had all my life never had 1 single issue, just plug and play,
but this particular one is trashed, I have not even the energy to unplug it and place it back in the box,

but cut a long story short, these games now are a nightmare, takes hrs and hrs to install and load them, they sell the games and although the actual discs what store maybe 25-30% of the software,
the rest you need to download,
and even with 100mb download and 100mb upload wired connection, it still takes forever,
although through steam I can download games in the matter of minutes,
I once installed Assetto Corsa in about 6 minutes I think fresh install,
but yet on consoles even with insane internet its a joke to install the updates and software patches,
installing the games takes even longer,

even here with the wifi on my laptop I am getting this,

and today its running bad normally in the high 90,s through wifi, wired peaking over 110 up and down,

its so annoying the entire thing,

these days with the call centers and tech repair centers globally would cost you an absolute fortune to setup,
this is why everyone uses India for call centers its much much cheaper,
this will be the only option SMS will have otherwise will bankrupt them,

how they think they can even compete and then satisfy the customers in the end is totally mind boggling personally for me anyways.

 

[Oldzeb]

 

[Yapci]

Ugly as hell. WTF. April’s foolcame soow this year

 

[AJ McDaddy]

Just woke up to this news. I'm meant to be doing dry January and I think I must have been spiked last night.

 

[mantasisg]

 

[silhouette106]

He does realise that the only people to challange Nintendo/Sega in the console market is Microsoft and Sony, and they aren't small hitters by any strech of the imagination. His heart maybe in the right place, but going against those giants......

 

[UMC 22]

This announcement is ridiculous and lacks all credibility. As has already been mentioned, he's touting a pre-built PC that'll likely have no upgrade options and will cost a fortune for the consumer due to the lack of development licencing fees. That's on top of it looking about as pretty as a fresh turd with neon lights stuck in it. Whoever designed that needs to examine if they're in the right line of work.

The claims about it's specs, which apparently haven't even been finalised yet, are just pure nonsense. 90fps VR out of the box? Most affordable PCs can't even do that right now, and by the time this joke is released the next-gen headsets will be out. They'll require even more powerful hardware to reach that level of performance. PS4 and XBox One beater? I would bloody well hope so, given that by the time this joke is available both of it's competitors will be nearing the end of their life cycle. Good luck competing with the next-gen products offered by the big-two with their billions of funding, which will likely be hitting the shelves just after your effort.

The sad thing is that there are people out there that actually buy into this kind of worthless hype, and even more that just have to have the latest and greatest of everything, no matter what the cost. So despite the bloody thing flopping horribly and fading into obscurity, it'll probably sell enough to make another big pile of cash. He'll be laughing all the way to the bank,

Note: The comments and opinions in this post are my own personal views, and are not representative of RaceDepartment or anyone else.

 

[Pixelchaser]

isn't it the willingness of other developers to produce for your console that makes it a success ? the only reason I purchased an xbox1 a couple of months ago was for a title not made by microsoft..

I think IB wants his own platform for his own game. individual titles do have the power to sell a console and that is what he must be after. the reality is pcars 3 now costs 400 bucks..thats all. what a sham.

the point is NO other developers will be running to even consider this as an avenue to push their games. when there are 3 big mofo`s ruling the roost already. and you cant squeeze your fat lying ass in between them on the 3 seat sofa.

and can you imagine just how cheap and nasty the peripherals will be. lol wheel support ? nope.

most looked as soulja and thought one thing. IB looked and got inspired..

Mod Edit: No personal insults please