CEO of Project CARS developer Slightly Mad Studios teases new console on Twitter

The CEO of Slightly Mad Studios, maker of the Project CARS franchise of simulation racing games, is teasing a new video game console on Twitter. Called the Mad Box, the device will be designed, built, marketed, and sold by an unannounced business entity, Ian Bell tells Polygon.

“What is the Mad Box?” Bell asked in the sixth message sent from an entirely new social media account, prompting a flurry of new followers. “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.”

Reached for comment, Bell said that the console would be compatible with the cross-platform game engine that Slightly Mad has used in the past, the Madness engine. Slightly Mad’s marketing materials stress that it is especially well-suited to virtual reality and vehicle simulations.

One curious claim Bell made on Twitter is that the console will deliver virtual reality at 60 frames per second. But that’s already common for most consumer-grade VR headsets. Sony, for example, announced in 2016 that it wouldn’t certify any game for the PlayStation VR that couldn’t meet that threshold. Asked by followers to clarify what he meant by this claim, Bell said the 60 fps figure quoted was “per eye.”

“60 FPS per eye is hyper smooth with panning algorithms,” Bell said to Polygon, promising that more information will be made public later in January.

Update (Jan. 4): Bell has released the first images of the Mad Box on Twitter.