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The Mad Box Is Coming!

Whatever that means...  Interesting.

It’s now 2019 – if you hadn’t already noticed – and next week is the largest tech event in the world, CES. While there are usually lots of announcements and rumours, the latest to pop up on the Twittersphere is quite the oddity. CEO of Slightly Mad Studios Ian Bell – the creator behind Project CARS – has taken to the social network to announce ‘The Mad Box is coming‘.

https://www.vrfocus.com/2019/01/project-cars-creator-joins-twitter-and-proclaims-the-mad-box-is-comi...
Big PC, all the headsets, now using Quest 3
16 REPLIES 16

RedRizla
Honored Visionary
Given that PlayStation 5 is rumoured to run 4k games at 60FPS, then this Madbox could be real. Hearing nothing about it leads me to think it's not real though, Unless the Madbox is PlayStation 5 🙂


RedRizla said:

Given that PlayStation 5 is rumoured to run 4k games at 60FPS, then this Madbox could be real. Hearing nothing about it leads me to think it's not real though, Unless the Madbox is PlayStation 5 🙂



If it is real, the price will be unreal lol
Big PC, all the headsets, now using Quest 3

Shadowmask72
Honored Visionary
A number of cards can run 4K 60fps on low settings...not many can run games 4K60fps at Ultra settings. I assume SMS are releasing a plug and play PC like console with 2x RTX 2080ti running their latest game (optimised for SLI) at said resolutions. They haven't mentioned price so I expect it to be rather gimmicky and expensive.


Ian said this regarding the name Madbox.

Media Arts Development Box, and/or a contraction of the 'Madness Engine' which is our SMS technology.




System Specs: MSI NVIDIA RTX 4090 , i5 13700K CPU, 32GB DDR 4 RAM, Win 11 64 Bit OS.



A number of cards can run 4K 60fps on low settings...not many can run games 4K60fps at Ultra settings. I assume SMS are releasing a plug and play PC like console with 2x RTX 2080ti running their latest game (optimised for SLI) at said resolutions. They haven't mentioned price so I expect it to be rather gimmicky and expensive.


Ian said this regarding the name Madbox.

Media Arts Development Box, and/or a contraction of the 'Madness Engine' which is our SMS technology.





My first thoughts were this is going to be solely for sims - driving and flying specifically.  I think the price will dictate that.  I believe "simmers" will spend the most on VR kit.  I hope it does well.
Big PC, all the headsets, now using Quest 3

RedRizla
Honored Visionary




A number of cards can run 4K 60fps on low settings...not many can run games 4K60fps at Ultra settings. I assume SMS are releasing a plug and play PC like console with 2x RTX 2080ti running their latest game (optimised for SLI) at said resolutions. They haven't mentioned price so I expect it to be rather gimmicky and expensive.


Ian said this regarding the name Madbox.

Media Arts Development Box, and/or a contraction of the 'Madness Engine' which is our SMS technology.





My first thoughts were this is going to be solely for sims - driving and flying specifically.  I think the price will dictate that.  I believe "simmers" will spend the most on VR kit.  I hope it does well.



Well if if does flying and driving sims really well, then I'll purchase it..

Anonymous
Not applicable
I haven't heard something so fishy in a while. The dude says its console could run VR at "60 FPS per eye", which means literally nothing. 60 FPS per eye is 60 FPS.
Also, I love the way he describes it : "4K, VR at 60 FPS" could make the viewer believe it can run 4K at 60 FPS, when in fact he did not say that. He said it could make 4K, and then that it could run VR at 60 FPS.
So we'll get a console that can run 4K, only not in 60 FPS, and run VR, but at no more than 60 FPS.
That stuff is literally pointless.



I haven't heard something so fishy in a while. The dude says its console could run VR at "60 FPS per eye", which means literally nothing. 60 FPS per eye is 60 FPS.
Also, I love the way he describes it : "4K, VR at 60 FPS" could make the viewer believe it can run 4K at 60 FPS, when in fact he did not say that.
So we'll get a console that can run 4K, only not in 60 FPS, and run VR, but at no more than 60 FPS. That stuff is literally pointless.



He has clarified - 120FPS!!!

Variety reached out to Bell, who clarified via email that the Mad Box will be 120 FPS after the confusing “per eye” FPS claim.
When asked about what games will be available on the console, Bell stated that “We plan to allow games from all developers, old and new.”

But it is all early days as he states.

https://variety.com/2019/gaming/news/ian-bell-mad-box-1203097617/
Big PC, all the headsets, now using Quest 3

RedRizla
Honored Visionary
@LuluViBritannia - Like I said in a earlier post the PlayStation 5 is rumoured to run at 4K 60FPS, so I see know reason why this MadBox couldn't do the same thing. Madbox will have to beat Playstation 5 and VR 2, if it is to stand a chance. By beat, I mean, get it out there before PlayStation 5 &  VR 2 arrives. I'd much prefer Sony to win though because of the amount of money they have to throw at games for VR..

Anonymous
Not applicable
But if that's what he meant, why didn't he say that in the beginning? Why say 60 FPS first, and then 60 FPS per eye? In fact, why talk about "FPS per eye" at all? This very phrase makes no sense! It just feels like the guy doesn't know what he is talking about and just says things he knows people want to hear.
... That, or he's just bad with words (which is something I can relate to xD).

Anyway, I'm definitely not trusting this project for now. Who knows, it could be revolutionary. But I hardly believe it.