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

 

[Ericzander]

I expected nothing and I'm still disappointed.

 

[Chizko]

Mmmmmmmm......................but no PC games..............

 

[Futurdreamz]

...Didn't they try this with the AtariBox?

Anyone obsessed with performance will be turned off by either the price or the lack of customization.

 

[Seliph]

They must be Slightly Mad if they're gonna go with any of those designs

 

[Dark Pulse]

My my, the Ouya is looking pretty fancy today.

 

[anhminh]

So they want to make a PS4/Xbone with no exclusive and no Japanese game? With design like these? Good luck.

 

[MaxiBash]

It looks like a disformed PS4 that tries to turn itself into a Nintendo Switch dock.

 

[DayVeeBoi]

I mean, it's not a necessity to respond,

I always try to respond to anyone who quotes me, I just think it is polite or if not, it's at least something of interest to me or I wouldn't have posted in the first place. You can see I have a reasonably old account with a fairly low post count. I don't just post willy-nilly to artificially inflate my imaginary internet points.

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.

I have no comment on the exterior design of this thing (other than that it looks stupid), but I have learned over the last few years or so that my tastes are certainly not representative of the markets I partake in. I think that the main thing holding NUC and other small computers back from the mainstream is just the relative high cost to performance ratio at this point. Small form-factor is becoming quite common in office workstations etc and widespread adoption will drive the price down (it already is, just look at all these little celeron etc desktops you're starting to see in Walmart et al. even though they're slightly more expensive than comparable full-sized turds).

I promise you, in the next 10 years these things are going to be everywhere. They're starting to put socketed discrete GPU's in them (upgradeable), last year AsRock put out a Mini-STX (15cm x 14cm or 5" x 4.5") motherboard with a socketed AM4 (the current amd desktop socket) and an MXM dGPU slot. Last week, they just announced that in February they are releasing a barebones Mini-STX desktop (so everything but RAM, Storage and CPU) for $119 USD. I don't know if people here have been paying attention, but like an $100 Ryzen CPU has enough integrated graphics to make a pretty viable budget gaming rig particularly when you factor in the cost of PC games. I'm totally a console gamer, but the lack of innovation is seriously making me consider jumping ship this generation. From what I hear, even Nintendo is considering it, lmao!

 

[fmhugo]

Insane

 

[Vivisector]

These are all pretty outlandish. I wonder if the final releade will stray from these concepts due to fitting the internals in or productions costs. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it but I can say for certain it stands out a lot from a black rectangle and a black inclined rectangle.

 

[pasc]

As always.. the software will decide if this can succeed...

I can't see devs jumping onboard...
Then again neither am I too impressed by the NSwitch as of yet.

Let's see...

 

[XDel]

Nope

 

[cost69er]

I think Alot of people are just fans of Xbox and PS. Personally I'm going to follow this thing and give it a go when it drops. Don't knock it until you tried it

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I feel like I'm the only one here who things the design is kind of awesome. Its different, and it sticks out. The current generation of consoles imo just look like plastic boxes, instead of interesting designs. I mean, look at the original PS3 or the Model 1 Sega Genesis. They broke the mold and still ended up looking pretty awesome.

I agree, I'm tired of all the monopolies out there. I'm definitely ready for change.

 

[Deleted_413010]

I think Alot of people are just fans of Xbox and PS. Personally I'm going to follow this thing and give it a go when it drops. Don't knock it until you tried it

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I agree, I'm tired of all the monopolies out there. I'm definitely ready for change.

If it ever releases

 

[cost69er]

If it ever releases

Fingers crossed lol

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There's no originality left.

 

[Bladexdsl]

they all still look like shit

 

[Edgarska]

There's no originality left.

You're right, this was already called Steam Box some years ago. Didn't do too good.

 

[guily6669]

I think Alot of people are just fans of Xbox and PS. Personally I'm going to follow this thing and give it a go when it drops. Don't knock it until you tried it

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I agree, I'm tired of all the monopolies out there. I'm definitely ready for change.

100% agreed... If they really get the best Next Gen console hardware and get all multiplatform games at least, if it has no online paid subscription I'm already kinda sold depending on price...

However if all the multiplatform games they get are also on PC then mehh I will stick with my PC and probably end up buying a PS5 a few years later after release mostly for Gran Turismo and Hideo Kojima stuff.

 

[WhiteMaze]

100% agreed... If they really get the best Next Gen console hardware and get all multiplatform games at least, if it has no online paid subscription I'm already kinda sold depending on price...

However if all the multiplatform games they get are also on PC then mehh I will stick with my PC and probably end up buying a PS5 a few years later after release mostly for Gran Turismo and Hideo Kojima stuff.

In all seriousness, this is a good thing. Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft need a well placed slap by some new competition. I hope this thing beats all of them.

The only thing that people are complaining about is the design of system.

Dear God it's atrocious..

 

[cost69er]

In all seriousness, this is a good thing. Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft need a well placed slap by some new competition. I hope this thing beats all of them.

The only thing that people are complaining about is the design of system.

Dear God it's atrocious..

Not atrocious, different