@5
      
                               PROJECT LOKI
      
         @6
      It can now be revealed  that  before  Escom sold the Amiga off,
      that  they  were  about  to   release  a  Spectrum/Amiga  super
      computer. Details are a  little  bit  sketchy,  but what can be
      revealed is that the hybrid computer  was to be sold for around
      £750, putting it into competition  with some Pentiums. This may
      seem rather stupid on  Escoms  part  but  it must be remembered
      that they re-packaged the  A1200  and   sold  it for £400 along
      with software that the basic  A1200  couldn't properly utilise.
      Along with the fact  that  they  had   a   few  tricks up their
      sleeves,  it  seems  Escom   were   after    making   a   quick
      Deutchmark, and would have probably done so.
           @7
      It all started with  a  chance  meeting  with  Alan  Sugar in a
      German bar, not far from the ground of Bayern Munich, when some
      young executive types from Escom  overheard  Alan Sugar, who by
      all accounts was slightly drunk, shouting "you lousy krauts may
      have got my best  striker  for  next  to  nowt,  well who's big
      enough to buy a  computer  company  off  me  for  even less, or
      haven't you got the bottle you lousy ....?". Always on the look
      out to buy a quick selling product, they were even eager to buy
      when told that the Spectrum had  already sold millions of units
      in Britain alone. The young gentlemen were quick to strike up a
      deal, and when informed  that  it  would  only  cost  the price
      of 4 season  tickets  for  Tottenham   Hotspurs, they obviously
      couldn't sign quick enough, just  in  case Alan Sugar wanted to
      change his mind when he   sobered   up.   Not  long  after  the
      deal was struck and the Spectrum  was officially sold to Escom,
      Alan  Sugar  was  heard   crying  in  a  toilet, but the person
      who  heard  him  wasn't  sure if he was crying with laughter or
      sadness. One can only guess.
           @6
      After this  event  took  place  the  production  of  the  first
      Spectrum/Amiga model was surprisingly quick. Two weeks in fact.
      Code-named Loki, named after  the  German  ~God  of Fools~, the
      machine seemed to consist of  technology  taken from both 8-bit
      and 16-bit machines, and  was  seemed  designed  to  be as cost
      effective as possible and aimed towards the Amiga owner looking
      to upgrade or the first time PC buyer. @7
      
      _______________________________________________________________
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
                  @5       AMIGA LOKI SPECIFICATIONS
      
      
      DIMENSIONS
      
      @6Width @7  483mm  (19.00 in.)
      @6Depth@7   242mm   (9.50 in.)
      @6Height@7   63mm   (2.50 in.)
                @5
      MICROPROCESSOR
      
      @768000/Z80A 3.5 MHz clock
      
      @5MEMORY
      
      @6ROM:@7 16 Kbytes  containing   BASIC   interpreter  and  Spectrum
      operating system.
      
      @6RAM:@7 16 mega-bits (1MB).
      
      @6DISPLAY:@7 Memory-mapped display of 256   pixels  *  192  pixels;
      plus one attribute byte  per   character  square, defining  one
      of eight foreground colours.
      
      @5SOFTWARE BUNDLE
      
      @6WORKBENCH  95:@7  6  x  90  minute  cassettes,  although  only  2
      cassettes need to be loaded to get Workbench running, you still
      had to load other programs from  the other cassettes to get any
      use from it.
      
      @6TEKKAN:@7 Coded in  Scunthorpe,  Yorkshire.  Tekkan  is Yorkshire
      slang for  taken.  This  is  a  game  in  which  you  control a
      Yorkshire coal miner who  you  must  help explore various rooms
      and caverns looking to take various objects. Not to be confused
      with the Playstation game Tekken!
      
      @6SUPER STREET SWEEPER 2  TURBO:@7  A  90's  update  of the classic
      Spectrum game Trashman, and not to  mistaken for any of Capcoms
      Street Fighter games.
      
      @6FRIDGE RACER:@7 A chaotic  game  in  which  you must avoid mutant
      penguins by steering  your  fridge  down  a  ski slalom course.
      Nothing remotely like Ridge Racer.      @6
      _______________________________________________________________
      
      @7
      As you will  have  probably  already  noted, specifications are
      somewhat sparse,  but  what  has  been  revealed  from  several
      sources is that the Loki  is  basically  the end product of two
      weeks research using cheap  Spectrum  and  Commodore parts, and
      not just Amiga ones at that. But what is just as astonishing is
      the marketing ploy that  was  to  accompany  the machine. Still
      having 98% left from  the  advertising  budget  from the A1200,
      Escom were  to  mount  a  strong  campaign  during  daytime TV,
      obviously trying to target  parents  who  stayed at home during
      the day, who would  at  some  point  be  looking  to buy a home
      computer for their offspring. Clearly  lacking  a disk drive of
      any sort (an additional interface  and  drive would be required
      to play Amiga software), the Loki  was to be advertised as easy
      to use and to be  bundled  with  Workbench  95, another ploy to
      lure unsuspecting  potential  PC  buyers.  Also  coming  with a
      massive 16 mega-bits (1 mega-byte actually, and not the massive
      16  mega-bytes  it  would   sound   like  to  the  unsuspecting
      customer), and with a software  catalogue  of 1000's of various
      titles, the machine sounds  to  start  looking like a potential
      bargain compared to some PC's, if  you  mistook it for one that
      is. The profit margin for Escom would be staggering. If for the
      fact that Escom decided to  sell  the  Amiga  to cut their huge
      losses, a reported £65M,  project  Loki  would have gone ahead,
      and indeed Escom did  take  out  a  few  adverts trying to lure
      Amiga owners into upgrading their old  machine for a swanky new
      A1200, in part-exchange for their  old  Amiga, which would have
      been used for parts in the Loki.
        @6
      THE END?