Creators Of Project CARS Want To Make Their Own Game Console
The year is only 48 hours old, but will this be the strangest racing game news of 2019? Why would the makers of Project CARS attempt to launch their own game console?
Slightly Mad Studios, which is apparently well-named, is hinting that something called the “Mad Box” will take over living rooms soon. CEO Ian Bell announced the project today in a string of tweets. “What is the Mad Box? It’s the most powerful console ever built… It’s literally ‘Mad!'” he boasted.
With his next few words Bell recited a brief glance-over of the Mad Box’s purported features. “You want 4k, you want VR at 60FPS? You want a full engine for free to develop your games on it? You have it.” Responders informed him that due to the demands of the human eye (when the screen is so close), 60FPS is on the low end of an acceptable framerate for a VR display. Bell then claimed that when he said 60FPS he meant “per eye.”
The engine Bell mentions is the Madness Engine, which was used for Project CARS and self-adapts its code for multiple console formats. Its strengths lie in the game genres Slightly Mad Studios specializes in: racers and VR games.
Not even the big boys like Activision or EA are talking going into the console business. How will a studio the size of Slightly Mad even fund such a thing? Bell told Polygon the Mad Box will be “designed, built, marketed, and sold by an unannounced business entity.” I hope this isn’t like the Gizmondo where the partner turns out to be the Mob.