HappySqurriel said:
With that said, Nintendo is in a fairly unique position heading into this generation because they can freely choose whatever architecture they want. The reason for this is that they can maintain backwards compatibility with the Wii through software emulation because they will have the necessary processing power to pull it off (regardless of the architecture they choose). On top of that, most architectures could be made to suit the needs of a console manufacturer. You could take something which seemed underpowered for a game console (ARM processor or Intel Atom) and increase the number of cores, expand the instruction set, and/or over-clock it to make it perform at the level you desired; or you could take something that seemed to run too hot (Power 7) and scale it down by reducing the number of cores and/or under-clocking it to suit your needs. |
Good point, I still think the POWER series of processors is what Nintendo will go for. Either the 5 ,6, or 7 will be more than capable for the next generation Wii.