system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: How does a video game programmed in a PC get stored in a cartridge that can be played by a console?
gpt
So ultimately what gets run on any piece of hardware is machine code, instructions that the chips on that hardware can understand. You can program in any "high level" programming language and then compile it, which means turning it into machine code. It's like translating from English to a region's local language. You can "target" a specific set of hardware, say a Nintendo Switch, by compiling specific machine code and making sure you meet certain limitations. Generally, developers who want to make games for a console can request to buy a dev unit from the makers, which is a system that has all the same specs as a normal console but are otherwise meant for ease of testing. They make sure that their games run well enough on the target system before publishing the game.