There are several ways in which game consoles can be categorized. One is by its console generation, and another is by its computer architecture. Game consoles have long used specialized and customized computer hardware with the base in some standardized processor instruction set architecture. In this case, it is PowerPC and Power ISA, processor architectures initially developed in the early 1990s by the AIM alliance, i.e. Apple, IBM, and Motorola.
Even though these consoles share much in regard to instruction set architecture, game consoles are still highly specialized computers so it is not common for games to be readily portable or compatible between devices. Only Nintendo has kept a level of portability between their consoles, and even there it is not universal.
The first devices used standard processors, but later consoles used bespoke processors with special features, primarily developed by or in cooperation with IBM for the explicit purpose of being in a game console. In this regard, these computers can be considered "embedded". All three major consoles of the seventh generation were PowerPC based.
As of 2019, no PowerPC-based game consoles are currently in production. The most recent release, Nintendo's Wii U, has since been discontinued and succeeded by the Nintendo Switch (which uses a Nvidia Tegra ARM processor). The Wii Mini, the last PowerPC-based game console to remain in production, was discontinued in 2017.
List Name Image Manufacturer Generation CPU Clock RAM On the market No. sold Pippin Apple BandaiKatz Media 5th PowerPC 603 66 MHz 6 MB 1995–1997 42 thousand M2 3DO Panasonic 6th 2xPowerPC 602 66MHz 8 MB Never marketednone PlayStation 2 slim Sony Interactive Entertainment| PowerPC 405 coprocessor 36.864mhz 32MB system 4 MB deckard 2000–2014 160 million GameCube Nintendo Gekko 486 MHz 24 MB 2001–200721.74 million Xbox 360 Microsoft 7th XCPU (Xbox 360)XCGPU (Xbox 360 S and Xbox 360 E) 3.2 GHz 512 MB 2005–2016 84 millionJune 2014 Wii Nintendo Broadway 729 MHz 64 MB 2006–2017 101.63 millionMarch 2016 PlayStation 3 Sony Cell B.E. 3.2 GHz 256 MB 2006–2017 87 millionMay 2017 Wii U Nintendo 8th Espresso 1.24 GHz 2 GB 2012–2017 13.36 millionSeptember 2016
See also PowerPC applications List of PowerPC processors
References