Comment on Xbox ditching hardware and exclusive games "makes sense," former Microsoft exec and Blizzard boss says, as "only a moron would continue" making consoles as games go third party

• Agent_Karyo@piefed.world ⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  I guess it depends on how you define PC. But older consoles also used CPUs that were found in desktops (and laptops), although they weren't PCs in the strict sense.

  • Sega Mega Drive (and other consoles) used the Motorola 68K that was also used on Macintosh and Amiga.
  • Game Gear and Sega Master System used the Zilog Z80 which was also used in the ZX Spectrum and other computers.
  • N64, PSOne, PS2 used MIPS CPUs which were often used in high-end computer systems (SGI).

  Consoles did often have custom GPUs though.

  That being said, these days both Playstation and Xbox are literally locked down, custom form factor, AMD Ryzen CPU + Radeon GPU PCs.

  source

  • Truscape@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    I think the bar is effectively “x86 architecture and could theoretically at least run linux” (in which case the original xbox would qualify)

    source

    • Agent_Karyo@piefed.world ⁨22⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      I wouldn't limit it to x86 though.

      Playstation 2 supported Linux and it ran MIPS, which was the architecture used in SGI Indigo systems, perhaps most famously seen in Jurassic Park's "it's a UNIX system" scene.

      It seems that even Playstation One has an (early) public Linux port.

      source

      • Truscape@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨22⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        I mean… Yes… But you wouldn’t be able to run steam or install games designed for the PC platform on the hardware, which is what the 8th generation consoles (at least a hacked PS4, Xbox 1 is unhacked) are able to do. I supposed even with that in mind, the Original Xbox and PS2 would count because Doom, but still.

        Bringus Studios PS4 Linux PC gaming vid

        source

        • -> View More Comments
  • Lfrith@lemmy.ca ⁨21⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Yeah I define PC less by the hardware but whether I can install whatever OS I want and whatever programs I want without restrictions, which consoles don’t let you do. And consoles these days are way more powerful than PCs from decades ago yet still crippled when it comes to expected PC functions.

    source
• Flamekebab@piefed.social ⁨22⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  Mac haven’t used PowerPC since 2005.

  source

  • cerebralhawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨21⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Apple announced the transition in 2005 but began using Intel chips in 2006, but still, PowerPC is best known as the chips that powered Macs for a little over a decade.

    I’m not the person you responded to — I actually did not know that the Wii U used PowerPC. I did know that the Xbox 360 did and have made that argument.

    It’s a big egregious to call it a Mac (though I do, mostly in jest), but, that is the connection.

    Of note, the PowerPC chips were made by IBM (and Motorola according to the article I linked — I did not know that before). So, a former Apple competitor. And now (since mid-2020) Apple competes with Intel, which they switched to from PowerPC. So, bit of a tangent at this point, but these rivalries we have as users are partnerships that come and go in the business world.

    source

    • atomicbocks@sh.itjust.works ⁨13⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Just for clarification the Wii, Wii U, 360, and PS3 all used the Cell Broadband Engine which is a PowerPC derivative. The original PowerPC was made by the AIM Alliance which stands for Apple, IBM, Motorola. Apple and Motorola had a long history of collaboration as all Apple machines had used Motorola processors up to that point.

      source
    • Flamekebab@piefed.social ⁨20⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      I’m confused by your first sentence - the last machines they made that used PPC were in 2005. To me it reads like you’re correcting me but saying exactly the same thing..?

      The fact that Macs stopped using the architecture twenty years ago makes it bit of an odd connection, I would argue. As you say, the 360 used the architecture far more recently and over 84 million of those were sold. It’s not like it was some obscure device.

      source

      • Truscape@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        The main reason I used the comparison is because no PC analog outside of Apple’s space (Unless you count Linux on PowerPC?) used the architecture. x86 has a strong association with Windows, PC gaming, and “PCs” as a whole, while PowerPC’s most iconic use in the personal computing space was in consoles and in Apple’s lineup. Because of that, I chose to mention the PowerPC Mac line.

        source

        • -> View More Comments
• Anarch157a@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  All 3 consoles of that generation (PS 3, Xbox 360 and Wii) used custom PowerPC cores suplied by IBM.

  Before anyone says anything, Yes, the Cell CPU on the PS3 had a PPC core paired with 7 vectorual units, so it counts.

  source

  • Truscape@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨12⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    That’s 7th generation. 8th generation is PS4, Xbox 1, and Wii U.

    source