2017 a golden year for video gamers

Nintendo Switch, microtransactions among hottest trends

2017 was another bountiful year for video games. One of the biggest success stories over the past several months has been the Nintendo Switch. A succession of well-received exclusives for the new platform, beginning with "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild," elevated the Kyotobased company back into the spotlight.

Meanwhile, Sony's PlayStation 4 extended its dominance of the console space, reporting over 63 million units sold as of last June. Looking to make inroads into the burgeoning 4K market, Microsoft recently released the Xbox One X — the most technologically robust console of this generation.

On a less sunny note, this year will also be remembered for the controversy attending the release of "Star Wars: Battlefront II." The backlash over its microtransaction systems suggests that developers might have to be cautious about how they seed their games with incentives to encourage players to spend real-world money. On the other hand, the rising costs of blockbuster video game development could result in a gathering of momentum for the microtransaction trend. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in 2018.

This year was also chock full of exciting titles. Here are the games that we could not stop thinking about:

"What Remains of Edith Finch” (Mac, PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One)

To think that a game about a family of cursed storytellers was initially conceived as a scuba simulator is to consider the byroads that the creative process can take. Yet throughout its development cycle, what became "What Remains of Edith Finch" was always intended to evoke sublime moments. In the game, players experience radiant episodes from

The Washington Post Clockwise from upper left: "What Remains of Edith Finch" (Annapurna Interactive); "Night in the Woods" (Finji); "Mario Odyssey" (Nintendo); and "Resident Evil VII" (Capcom).