A couple of days ago the CEO of Project CARS developer Slightly Mad Studios, suddenly announced on Twitter that the company was in the process of designing its own console called the Mad Box. Spouting some figures as well as proclaiming the powerful console would be VR capable, today has seen Ian Bell return to the social platform with further info as well as a couple of images.
So first up the images. Well as you can probably tell these are all computer renderings to give you an impression of what the Mad Box will supposedly look like. Even though it’s being touted as a console, the Mad Box looks more like a high-powered desktop PC, with liquid cooling.
Giving a few more details Bell notes that: “The Mad Box has a one press deployable carry handle, between the ‘m’s… It weighs very little and will talk to other Mad Boxes without cables…” going on to add: “Controller work is in progress. We have a great partner and will show it when it’s ready.”
If you’re somewhat sceptical about Slightly Mad Studios’ ‘Mad Box’ then join the queue. Not only is VRFocus taking all this sudden info with a heavy pinch of salt, but so are Twitter users themselves. When grilled that the concept sounded no better than a shady Kickstarter, Bell responded: “I’m not asking you for any money. A shady Kickstarter would start with that premise… You’re way off.” Going on to say: “We’ll ship a product and you can choose to buy it, or not. Any other issues I think are yours…”
While somewhat unorthodox Bell has certainly succeeded in grabbing both industry and gamers attention, whether they believe all the tweets or not. And just because its CES 2019 next week don’t expect to see anything at the event regarding Mad Box, as Bell claims the console is approximately 3.5 years away from release. That’s a long time for this industry, with new consoles from both Microsoft and Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) likely to have arrived by then.
VRFocus still isn’t 100 percent convinced about the Mad Box, going into the hardware market is a very risky business. As always, if more concrete information appears, VRFocus will let you know.
via Mint VR