New Mad Box Controller Designs Reveal a Sleek Touchscreen Look

Even with the next Xbox and PlayStation 5 looming on the horizon, that doesn’t mean they’ll be the only game in town. Slightly Mad Studios, the team behind the Project CARS franchise, has been hard at work on a new console called the Mad Box. And today, it just revealed a much larger piece of the puzzle, in the form of a suave new controller.

The developer revealed a first look at the peripheral on Twitter today, which you can see in the screenshots below. This is just a concept draw-up, so the final design may still vary. But there are some interesting features to make note of.

As you can see, the controller lights up and actually has a number of different colors available. These include light blue, red and orange, and we’ll probably see a few more settings, which will probably adjust depending on which game you’re playing. No word yet if you can set up your own custom settings with it.

There also appear to be conventional analog sticks and a D-pad on the controller, along with other small functions. And the buttons look to be pretty solid as well. But then there’s the big feature, in what appears to be a somewhat large touchscreen right in the center of everything- one that actually interacts with other parts of the controller.

As you can see by the concept art, some buttons can actually light up with the touchscreen, depending on what function is called for. For instance, in one of the screenshots, you can apparently shift to a new gear, and a button is highlighted for a speed boost, just in case you need it. No word yet on what racing game this is associated with.

There are also other functions highlighted, like a “respawn” button in case you get eliminated from a match (probably a first-person or third-person team-based shooter, but it could be something else), as well as an interactive keyboard, in case you need to text something to your friends.

We also get a good look at the system, which appears to light up in the same colors as the controllers. Again, it’s early concept days, so nothing’s finalized yet, but it certainly looks sweet, based on what Slightly Mad has done thus far.

(Source: Twitter)

We’ll keep tabs on this controller and system design as it comes along, but the developer is definitely on the right page. And the touch-screen/pad interactivity looks to be off the charts thus far. But how will it hold up in-game? We’ll find out soon enough.
There’s no word on a Mad Box release date, but we’ll have more information when we get it.

Is this a system you’d add to your collection? Let me know why on Twitter at @TheDCD!