Slightly Mad Studios barely dropped the news that they are working on an independent console to take on the next generation of consoles that the company's CEO, Ian Bell, released the first image renders of the console on Twitter:

Failed to fetch tweet https://twitter.com/bell_sms/status/1081170180582006785​

It seems like Bell could not hold his excitement to share these designs as images of early design builds were initially expected to be released in four to six weeks' time.

The console, called the Mad Box, is projected to ship in around three years and is being boasted as "most powerful console ever built" with 4K and VR support.

What do you think of those early designs? Some more fine-tuning is required or you'd be happy to own a console that looks like that?

UPDATE

After sharing the first render of the Mad Box, Ian Bell took to Twitter again to share some more possible looks of his company's upcoming console. Which one do you prefer?

Failed to fetch tweet https://twitter.com/bell_sms/status/1081774150803349504
Failed to fetch tweet https://twitter.com/bell_sms/status/1082036334015868929
Failed to fetch tweet https://twitter.com/bell_sms/status/1082233744797270016
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SOURCE

 

[Boostnek9]

That's the ugliest piece of hardware I've seen in a while.

 

[DinohScene]

Yuck, RGB.

 

[DayVeeBoi]

Switch wouldn't exist without Nintendo, it's a portable Shield TV designed by Nintendo. Neither the Shield tablet nor the portable was really on par with Switch design. PS4 at least has a fairly sleek and simple interface going for it, but XB1 has a worse UI than any console I've ever seen. Zero reason to consider buying an XB1 over PC or another console.

Except the design of what you linked there is far, far more appealing than what's in the OP. And even that I doubt will sell anywhere near console numbers.

I am not sure what your point is, or what relevance it has to my comment so I find it hard to respond. Sorry.

 

[K3Nv2]

Any built in roms?

 

[SS4]

Meh, consoles nowadays are just a specific PC build running a slightly customized x86 OS.
I lost interest in console completely after the PS3 era . . .

 

[the_randomizer]

Any built in roms?

Why? So we can have another piece of crap Soulja Boy Chinese console with preinstalled ROMs that run at 40 Hz?

 

[snails1221]

Why? So we can have another piece of crap Soulja Boy Chinese console with preinstalled ROMs that run at 40 Hz?

That made me chuckle out loud a bit. This is probably just going to be another Steam Machine type deal.

 

[the_randomizer]

That made me chuckle out loud a bit. This is probably just going to be another Steam Machine type deal.

Oh yes, because we don't have enough of those already This is truly anathema.

 

[KingVamp]

The console can't be more than $500. Also, if they really wanted to, can make their own exclusives.

 

[Hells Malice]

This'll be the next big craze, just like the Steam boxes.

Instant success.


...oh wait

 

[Xzi]

I am not sure what your point is, or what relevance it has to my comment so I find it hard to respond. Sorry.

I mean, it's not a necessity to respond, but my point was basically that the Skull Canyon NUC looks a lot more appealing than the Mad Box, and even that will be extremely niche. If a person was looking for the ease-of-use of a console, then Switch = PS4 >>> XB1 > Linux prebuilts in that category. NUCs seem a lot more appealing to the enthusiast and power user crowd, but I don't see them having much success targeting your standard consumer market.

 

[Deleted-379826]

Quite the ugly looking PC you've got there.

 

[Axmand]

Hard to say, in the modern console market you need "strong legs" to walk in because right now the 3rd Parties got a lot of precaution when they develop exclusivities, even when they do for multiples consoles.

So if this guy dont have the minimum support in less of a year: BYE BYE...

 

[pedro702]

The console can't be more than $500. Also, if they really wanted to, can make their own exclusives.

the console is 3 years away lol by the time it releases its specs will be crap lol.

 

[Captain_N]

the console is 3 years away lol by the time it releases its specs will be crap lol.

Na man they using pc parts from the future... Why not just get the winning lotto numbers is beyond me.
Lets see them make the box run ps4,xbox and pc games. that would be something.

 

[Deleted User]

So, the Slightly Mad Mad Box design is slightly mad. I doubt this design will go unchanged.


But performance is touted between consoles all the time by console makers.

Ah, then it's probably just me, as both myself and many guys I know have mainly transitioned to PC, I had assumed that console manufacturers had given up on marketing performance increases and more on experiences. Come to think of it, both the Xbox One X, as well as the start of the 8th generation were littered with claims of large improvements in performance. It seems these days, consoles are more about convenience than raw power anyways.

 

[Bla1ze]

Yeah, this is never coming out lol.

 

[Bladexdsl]

already have a pc don't need this piece of shit

this monstrosity is gonna do 4k/60? bs the 1-x can't even do REAL 4k without TRICKS

 

[guily6669]

This thing will probably just be running linux so good luck blocking piracy. Even if they make some custom distro that prevents installing from unapproved sources (which I doubt they'll do, they'll probably just slap Ubuntu on it with some custom desktop environment if they even do that) all you'd have to do is install a regular distro, which you'll almost certainly be able to do unless they make a proprietary mobo that doesn't allow new OSes but that would be a ton of work and even then would likely be temporary. Even a Chromebook can be made to install linux, so this thing stands next to no chance against piracy.

I still don't think that it will be just a PC... They will probably do similar to Sony\M$ talking with AMD to make some custom SOC 4 them probably something with Ryzen cores (with some features cut) and a GPU more powerful than any included in any SOC that AMD actually sells for PC makers.

Because if it was just a PC then Steam would have been a console maker too with their shitty console like PC's which were expensive and not much upgradeable in the fact that you actually need space in a PC case if you want to keep using the same case 4 everything coming out...

From the way they are talking they seem to be actually meaning to make an actual pure gaming console to compete with M$\Sony\Nintendo... And then you have the other fact that they want to give similar hardware to a very fast PC 2 years from now at around the same price as the other Next Gen consoles, this tells right away hardware will be fully custom and not just throwing 1000$ or more worth of actual pure PC parts to sell for like 500$?...

ps: The more the better and just the fact they want to support most VR headsets and at high FPS is a + and if they put no online subscriptions screw all the others 4 me... I hate is its stupid design, but maybe for the shitty size of that huge box could it have liquid cooling??? (I just hate the shitty gaming trends of nowadays RGB leds, screw all that garbage).

 

[pedro702]

I still don't think that it will be just a PC... They will probably do similar to Sony\M$ talking with AMD to make some custom SOC 4 them probably something with Ryzen cores (with some features cut) and a GPU more powerful than any included in any SOC that AMD actually sells for PC makers.

Because if it was just a PC then Steam would have been a console maker too with their shitty console like PC's which were expensive and not much upgradeable in the fact that you actually need space in a PC case if you want to keep using the same case 4 everything coming out...

From the way they are talking they seem to be actually meaning to make an actual pure gaming console to compete with M$\Sony\Nintendo... And then you have the other fact that they want to give similar hardware to a very fast PC 2 years from now at around the same price as the other Next Gen consoles, this tells right away hardware will be fully custom and not just throwing 1000$ or more worth of actual pure PC parts to sell for like 500$?...

ps: The more the better and just the fact they want to support most VR headsets and at high FPS is a + and if they put no online subscriptions screw all the others 4 me... I hate is its stupid design, but maybe for the shitty size of that huge box could it have liquid cooling??? (I just hate the shitty gaming trends of nowadays RGB leds, screw all that garbage).

lol people said the same thing about atari box, they said a new console and so on, in the end its just an pc really lol, nothing custom at all.

Making custom stuff costs millions, this wont have millions of budget to waste on a console without any reveal if it will even have its own set of games or if it will just play pc games once again.

 

[Lemon_]

Xbox 720 looks sick.

 

[guily6669]

lol people said the same thing about atari box, they said a new console and so on, in the end its just an pc really lol, nothing custom at all.

Making custom stuff costs millions, this wont have millions of budget to waste on a console without any reveal if it will even have its own set of games or if it will just play pc games once again.

Yeah well execpt a very fast PC 2 years from now will cost 1000$+... So I'm sure they will have something similar to current Xone\PS4 a full AMD SOC in a motherboard made with just the needed stuff and the rest cut...

They actually told when they buy a lot of it becomes cheaper... So I'm still thinking it will be a SOC based on Ryzen CPU cores with some kind of next gen AMD GPU inside.

If they are wanting to stay ahead of Next Gen consoles at around the same price I don't expect them to just throw a Intel I9 9900K it and put a RTX2080ti in it 4 sure... Even a ~500$ PC now can't do much in terms of gaming, PS5 and next Xbox will push the boundaries once again for console hardware and the only way to do it is with full custom hardware based on PC hardware with features cut to lower costs.