Aldebaran InteractIve
Wireframe-style mock-up of the MGEC's design
"Tech from beyond your wildest dreams!"
The "Marduk Graphics Entertainment Console" (Marduk or MGEC for short), could have been the greatest innovation in home computer gaming technology.. had it ever made it to shelves. The Sylairn Corporation supposedly worked over 4 years developing the MGEC, always trying to push it three steps ahead in a gambit to win the tech arms race.
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Slated to release in 1987, the MGEC would have boasted 1MB of memory and a unique graphics card that allowed developers to engineer their own color palettes. These palettes could store up to 64 different colors, putting their computer far and above others of the era.
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The MGEC had two disk slots on the front of the console. The games were to run on hard disks enclosed in the special 'Marduk Shell'. What's curious about this casing is that it seems as though the system would read different parts of the disc depending on which slot it was inserted into, as well as what side was facing up. The exact nature of this dual-reading system was unclear, but it could have been something as simple as "Move to slot B" to continue.
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This computer was also remarkably compact. It measured 9cm wide by 12cm long, and stood at a very stout 5cm tall. It was outfitted with vent slots across the top, allowing the inner workings of the console to be ventilated with ease. This compact design came with the drawback of having a pretty hefty brick on the power cord. The MGEC consumed a lot of energy.
While specs are interesting for sure, what's more interesting is the rocky development cycle of the MGEC and its eventual and inevitable demise. According to my sources, Sylairn Co. was very cagey about the actual inner workings of the machine. This lack of communication caused issues with game development at Aldebaran, but, more importantly, it was the main reason Sylairn Co. had such a hard time getting production models of the system made. They weren't forthcoming about what materials needed to be used, what kind of video/audio out was needed, and other bits of crucial information a factory would need to make the MGEC on a mass scale.
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Apparently, the situation got so bad that one of the workers from the contracted factory came to Aldebaran directly and begged them for help. Aldebaran agreed to help and gave them a couple of their development kits so that they could reverse engineer how the system. Source claims that Sylairn Co. was so furious with this that they came into Aldebaran's office and retaliated with physical abuse.
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After over 4 years of R&D, less than a year of game development, and several months of trying to mass produce the MGEC, the entire operation came to an abrupt end. A mass suicide at the factory and rumors of a 'curse' looming over Sylairn Co. and its computers caused production of the MGEC to come to a grinding halt. Soon, Sylairn Co. and Aldebaran were out of funds. Both companies were involved in some sort of a government seizure. The only remnants of these companies we have left are the pictures and interviews my sources were kind enough to provide.