Last PowerISA version was released in 2014. PowerPC is anything but ageing.

Doesn't Nintendo know developers don't like having to go the extra step just to port a game

Porting to PowerPC or from PowerPC really isn't that difficult... They just down't want to optimize.

It's not just a possibility, it's exactly what Iwata said the goal was. Here is a bit longer quote from him on the subject.

"For example, currently it requires a huge amount of effort to port Wii software to Nintendo 3DS because not only their resolutions but also the methods of software development are entirely different. The same thing happens when we try to port Nintendo 3DS software to Wii U. If the transition of software from platform to platform can be made simpler, this will help solve the problem of game shortages in the launch periods of new platforms. Also, as technological advances took place at such a dramatic rate, and we were forced to choose the best technologies for video games under cost restrictions, each time we developed a new platform, we always ended up developing a system that was completely different from its predecessor. The only exception was when we went from Nintendo GameCube to Wii. Though the controller changed completely, the actual computer and graphics chips were developed very smoothly as they were very similar to those of Nintendo GameCube, but all the other systems required ground-up effort. However, I think that we no longer need this kind of effort under the current circumstances. In this perspective, while we are only going to be able to start this with the next system, it will become important for us to accurately take advantage of what we have done with the Wii U architecture. It of course does not mean that we are going to use exactly the same architecture as Wii U, but we are going to create a system that can absorb the Wii U architecture adequately. When this happens, home consoles and handheld devices will no longer be completely different, and they will become like brothers in a family of systems."

So pretty much the next-gen devices won't be exactly like Wii U but very similar in order to maximize software output because they will already be familiar with the hardware and can now develop games simultaneously for both the handheld and console much more smoothly and it makes porting from one to the other much easier as well.

I think everybody is reading way too much in the "architecture" word & that what Iwata said had nothing to do with the kind of processors that will be used in the next Nintendo console.

The last sentence: "When this happens, home consoles and handheld devices will no longer be completely different, and they will become like brothers in a family of systems." pretty much is the context.

The way I read it, he is not talking at all about the board architecture of the consoles, he is talking about the architecture of the way the console plays, with a second screen in your hands, enabling 3DS like gameplay & even off-TV play, just on the screen you have in your hands streaming the game from the console or streaming the handeld game to the console/TV.

I can see this "brotherhood" working like this: Next handheld will allow you to stream games from the next home console & vice-versa. The next home console will still have a new updated gamepad, but it will be optional (standart will be classic controller), owners of the next handheld will be able to use it as a gamepad, better you could link 4 next handleds to the home console or buy the optional new gamepad.

All should will have mandatory off-TV play, which would enable classic controller-only, on the TV.

GameCube/Wii/Wii U board architecture has nothing to do with: "home consoles and handheld devices will no longer be completely different", that is why I think he is certainly not talking about PPC or whatever!

Is this a translation from Japanese? They could mean they want to "absorb" what was learned from the wii u architecture (architecturely it's certainly not worse than at least the xb1, it's just missing ram and clocked too low... But the way it works is sound, like the 360 was fine, it just does it too slow...

As for the PPC architecture, I think it willl be replaced by a good number of ARM cores, less in the handheld version and many many more in the living room version... Same thing for thw gpu and ram/storage...

I love me some PPC. x84 is boring architecture for boring people.

I hope they do just a lot more powerful

emulation should be possible if the Wii U succesor is a real next generation machine. Then there would be 2 gens of difference in power between the two consoles. Wii U is as powerful as PS3-Xbox 360, and the new console would be mroe powerful than the PS4 Xbox one.
I still don't know if they want to go that road.

Power7/8?