>>> I believe its safe to assume that all the replacements for the leading
>>> game consoles will remain PPC based.

>> Sure? The latest rumours on the PS4 (Orbis) say x86(-64).

> I'd bet a kidney on it.

From "flailing around in the dark" to betting a kidney, that went pretty fast ;-)

> what's the real advantage to 64bit X86 except memory addressing?
> Does a game console need more then 4GB of memory?

I don't know, but the reason for 64-bit in hypothetical x86 consoles could be the same as for 64-bit in existing PPC consoles like the PS3 and the XBox360, don't you think?