| Soundwave said:
I think PowerPC is out too -- too exotic (meaning a higher cost to mass produce) of a chip. ARM will be Nintendo's partner, I think Qualcomm will get the nod for the GPU since Nintendo's Tech division head apparently used to work for Qualcomm. ARM + Qualcomm will probably give Nintendo a price that the likes of IBM + AMD simply can't match either. |
PowerPC is hardly exotic.
And considering what Nintendo has been saying about not having console and handheld be completely different, I'd say the chance of PPC handheld are higher than not. x86 is certainly out as its too general purpose. Since I see the WiiU for better or worse having several more years ahead of it, I think it would make more sense for them to work towards PPC integration and all of its benefits, rather than pursue ARM into areas where it itself has never been taken. ARM is for small mobile, there are better alternatives for larger mobile and, definitely, for consoles. For reference on architecture.
| Previously, our handheld video game devices and home video game consoles had to be developed separately as the technological requirements of each system, whether it was battery-powered or connected to a power supply, differed greatly, leading to completely different architectures and, hence, divergent methods of software development. However, because of vast technological advances, it became possible to achieve a fair degree of architectural integration. We discussed this point, and we ultimately concluded that it was the right time to integrate the two teams. 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. |
