Slightly Mad Studios is Working on Its Own Console

[Wolfe]

Why? Easy... the improvements in console land are happening in too small increments and are bogging down the development of games. At least what I understood from Ian through his tweets.

Bogging down the development of a minority of highly sophisticated and/or technically demanding games, like advanced racing simulators or your typical overwrought glorified interactive movie, that is. A fair point for simulators, but not a whole lot of other games.

I've been enjoying a variety of innovative, creative, fun experiences on the Switch that prove that gaming is thriving perfectly well without the need for a console even as powerful as the base PS4/XBone. The rise of indies was the best thing to happen to gaming this past decade, and the Japanese studios are back in their groove as well.

If more developers did more with the power available, like a TLoZ: Breath of the Wild on steroids with cool uses of physics processing and other new gameplay possibilities, instead of whatever the hell the point was for all that exhaustive detail in Red Dead Redemption 2, for example, then I'd be more on board with having more powerful hardware.

Hardware is pointless without games to support it. That goes for both gameplay sophistication and this SMS console.

 

[FoRiZon]

I thought it was Soulja Boy for a second.

Funny to hear Ian Bell selling chinese console knockoffs with Mario Games alongside the "1000 in 1" NES games inside it.

 

[Gr8_Lakes]

I have to admit, if I were a business man wanting to bring the most innovative sim-racing title to market, but kept getting saddled by console's hardware limitations, I'd be tempted to say, "Screw it, let's just explore the possibilities of building our own console!" I certainly won't criticize at this point. Every innovation had it's birth stage. We'll just see how it pans out. I'm of a positive mindset, and only wish success for risk-takers. Godspeed @IanBell !

 

[Agbullet25]

I have a big problem with @IanBell and the decision to do this. They haven't demonstrated they can even put out a complete and polished video game, and now they're just going to go and create a new hardware system? Sorry but after the effort, or lack thereof, that was placed on PCars 2 and committing to finish it, I'm losing what little faith I still have in SMS.

For PCars 2, I was beyond excited for the game. It had everything I'd ever wanted in a racing sim, with Group 4, Group 5, Group C, modern LMP1 and GT cars, etc. on some of my favorite tracks, including COTA, with weather and dynamic time of day. Then I got into the game and found the online portion to be severely lacking and dismal. From terrible connections to servers, a ridiculous penalty system that seemed to invent penalties as it went (getting told to give up a position after having been smashed into comes to mind as one glaring one), and a constantly broken promise to have a decent working model to create private championships, it fell well below the mark of what lofty expectations you yourself put out for the game Ian. I really wanted PCars 2 to be an answer for what I was missing in Forza Motorsport or Assetto Corsa, and unfortunately it let me down. I'll have one or two really good races in some awesome race cars and come away remembering why I was so excited for this game to come out, only to then have several bouts of connection issues, lack of available races, or some BS penalties to ruin the next set of races, and ultimately quit and store away my wheel again in frustration.

 

[SleezyBigSlim]

I think the angle for Mad Box is to be pitched at people for VR. I think this device will be positioned as a console that plays most PCVR headsets. Gona estimate specs. 12 or 16 core Ryzen 3 CPU, high end AMD GPU with HMB3 RAM. $599 US dollar launching 2022.

 

[SimTourist]

Seems pretty dumb, Microsoft has barely made a penny of profit in 18 years of running the Xbox division, and we've seen many consoles fail just in the last 10 years alone, from really cheap like Ouya to expensive enthusiast machines, the market just won't accept a 4th player.

 

[FoxMulder]

I have to admit, if I were a business man wanting to bring the most innovative sim-racing title to market, but kept getting saddled by console's hardware limitations, I'd be tempted to say, "Screw it, let's just explore the possibilities of building our own console!" I certainly won't criticize at this point. Every innovation had it's birth stage. We'll just see how it pans out. I'm of a positive mindset, and only wish success for risk-takers. Godspeed @IanBell !

It's nice to have dreams, but weak consoles aren't holding back SMS from making a game work well without controller or other QA issues.

How many people are even interested in some super powerful console beyond what MS or Sony can make and with a far larger price tag. Why wouldn't they already be on PC.

 

[mef]

This is the discussion thread for a recent post on GTPlanet:

Slightly Mad Studios is Working on Its Own Console

This article was published by Kyle Patrick (@SlipZtrEm) on January 2nd, 2019 in the Gaming category.

Will it come with a Day 1 patch?

I'm confused.



Project Cars 3
Project Cars Go
Fast and Furious Game
Mad Box



Also, I'll leave this here.

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Mad Box

Haven't we heard overpromising and underdelivering before from SMS. /rant

 

[Chikane_GTR]

As long as pcars 3 is announce for the ps5 i could careless about them making a console.

 

[OJT6627]

Remember SMS announcing a special version of Project CARS for B2B markets?

Seeing as how they plan to make a special console, i think their main aim is to make a "console" for B2B distribution. They have the engine, they will have a special console that will be optimized for the engine. They will be able to sell the whole package to various companies, from big manufacturers to small racing teams that just want a simulator platform to test out car settings.

As for the regular gamers, i don't think it will be the main goal for SMS. They'll just offer it to whoever is willing to pay the money (and, seeing how expensive and complex some of the simrig setups are on the Internet, some people can easily afford it)

EDIT: Sort of reminds me of Apple and their Mac computers, which are quite popular among the professional musicians and designers and such, but are rarely bought by regular people due to their price-to-functionality ratio

 

[GBalao888]

I wonder how the PCARS series will turn out when this is out, would it be exclusive to the Slightly Mad console or would it only receive special treatment?

In before people start playing Fortnite on the Slightly Mad console...

But either way, we want to see PCARS 3 first.

 

[Sick Cylinder]

Remember SMS announcing a special version of Project CARS for B2B markets?

Seeing as how they plan to make a special console, i think their main aim is to make a "console" for B2B distribution. They have the engine, they will have a special console that will be optimized for the engine. They will be able to sell the whole package to various companies, from big manufacturers to small racing teams that just want a simulator platform to test out car settings.

As for the regular gamers, i don't think it will be the main goal for SMS. They'll just offer it to whoever is willing to pay the money (and, seeing how expensive and complex some of the simrig setups are on the Internet, some people can easily afford it)

EDIT: Sort of reminds me of Apple and their Mac computers, which are quite popular among the professional musicians and designers and such, but are rarely bought by regular people due to their price-to-functionality ratio

This might be it! Something very expensive - effectively a high end PC, but with the convenience of console, primarily for commercial not domestic use.

 

[RaceFuchs]

Oh boy... with the new consoles by Sony/Xbox just around the corner... will anybody care? Of course this is just going to be a PC in a console case, but still - Slightly Mad should focus on their games.

 

[sems4arsenal]

This sounds like something that we and probably they will eventually forget.

 

[GTnForza4ever]

Project F.A.I.L., #FailClub's creator and now a console? That's triple the fail.

 

[Spacewolf1]

A game developer getting into the console business is unheard of. Developers help a company shape its hardware, sure — Polyphony Digital has done so with multiple generations of PlayStations, for example — but this, this is something new.

Is it ironic ??? Microsoft created several game (Age of Empire, Monster Truck / Motocross / Midtown madness, Flight simulator, Crimson skies, Starlancer...) before getting into the console business with Xbox.

 

[Brend]

 

[GT6mebe]

Why? Easy... the improvements in console land are happening in too small increments and are bogging down the development of games. At least what I understood from Ian through his tweets.

No they're not. The gaming industry is centered around console development because thats where 100 million+ gamers are at. Power doesn't solely make better games. Better game design does that.

And I'm pretty sure PS4 was near top of the specs when it came out and the same will likely be true for PS5.

 

[Moglet]

Seems pretty dumb, Microsoft has barely made a penny of profit in 18 years of running the Xbox division, and we've seen many consoles fail just in the last 10 years alone, from really cheap like Ouya to expensive enthusiast machines, the market just won't accept a 4th player.

Console sales generally don't make profit; the ecosystem and services associated with them do. I imagine this is why they've mentioned their own engine alongside it.

 

[Robin]

I think the 3 contenders struggle to survive in the current market as it is. At least with Sega for example they had some proper pedigree and weight behind the Dreamcast project as well as much more IP and somewhat of a hardware capability from building cabinets. Xbox also stuck mainly because of the endless cash MS could throw at it in marketing and incentivising developers.

 

[VBR]

 

[Corsa]

I am anticipating Project Cars 3, but the only mad box I'll continue to invest in is the one I've built at home.
I just love the freedom a PC gives me and will never go back to console.

 

[VBR]

What was Ian saying the other day about how he'd learnt a lesson regarding 'biting of more than he can chew'...

 

[force ewerby]

This guy is actually delusional

 

[Robin]

I swear, lots of 'things' get annouced just after new years to create buzz or some attention and then around March you never hear about them again!

 

[Moglet]

If they're going to target VR at 60fps (or 120fps in some cases) in a console form factor then I'd love to see what cooling they're planning on using.

 

[Slapped]

If they're going to target VR at 60fps (or 120fps in some cases) in a console form factor then I'd love to see what cooling they're planning on using.

They're going to need to target 90fps minimum, preferably 120fps for effective VR. I know most PSVR games top out at 60fps, but Sony has worked around that to some degree by using some form of image interpolation which delivers 120fps. It's not perfect as you can see the the problems with it, but overall it does help.

 

[_ApexPredator]

Who else will be developing titles for it? I can't imagine people buying an expensive new-to-market console if it's only got a handful of games available, and I find it equally difficult to imagine attempting to unhitch the strong bonds/relationships/commercial interests that currently tie AAA publishers & developers to their respective platforms... it's certainly a bold move!

Clearly they're happy with their game engine and feel unduly restricted on current hardware - but that's just the reality of the console market - it's a compromise.
I just can't see how it could be their best option, as opposed to working on improving their relationship with Sony (I can imagine this being difficult, with PD clearly the favourite - but even so!), or developing on pc.

Either way, they'll need to do a better job of writing its architecture than they did describing their game engine:
"ADAS and autonomous vehicle systems are the newest and progressively most visible part of this trend, as cars are including more and more sophisticated diver aid systems."

Unless they're describing dive & roll... but I doubt it

 

[JC_Dude]

So a small game studio is going to make a competitive console and launch it in 3 years? Yeah, good luck with that, unless it's going to be a PC with a fancy case. Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo are gigantic corporations, with many first-party studios chugging away, making a varied exclusive offering. SMS has just them. Making niche, buggy racing simulators. They're no competition to Sony, MS and Nintendo.

And as far as the madness of the Mad Box goes, 4K is not going to be "mad" in 2022, or whenever they release this thing. Xbox One X can already do 4K pretty competently and it's going to be 5 years old by then. The PS5 and whatever-they-decide-to-name-the-next-Xbox are going to do 4K easily, in all but the most unoptimized titles. VR at 60 fps? That's not "mad", that's the minimum for it to be playable and not just a puke machine. The PSVR on the regular PS4 does VR at 60 fps. The image quality isn't great, but it's running on a 2013 system. Getting a good game engine for free will be nice for those who want to make games, but those are in the tiny minority and all it's going to guarantee is a wave of garbage a la Steam.

 

[cjr3559]

This announcement has really piqued my interest, but it seems to have a Silicon Valley vibe surrounding it.