Slightly Mad Studios lives up to its name by announcing a console

Slightly Mad Studios, the British independent creators behind Project Cars and a slew of other racing games, has announced a new console. The Mad Box, as company owner Ian Bell calls it, will be “the most powerful console ever built” and will support all the bells and whistles a console gamer will want three years from now when the hardware launches. For developers, the console will come with a free game engine, although it’s not clear if that means fully free with no revenue sharing, or if there are back-end licensing fees.

Is it an early April Fool’s gag? According to Bell, it’s not a joke. Speaking to Variety, Slightly Mad’s CEO stated the Mad Box will be standalone hardware like the Xbox or PlayStation.