The answer is probably related to timing more than anything. A game like Resident Evil 7 has been in development for years - likely well before any developers received the Switch dev kits (or even knew what the Switch was). We'll either see some of these games get ported later or - more likely - we'll see games that have started development in the last 12 months being potentials for Switch as well as other platforms.

Unfortunately it's not simple, cheap, or easy to port games from one platform to another.

Free online was always going to be unsustainable though - yes, Nintendo offered some great online experiences that were free (say via Mario Kart or Splatoon) - but there was no way they were ever going to strengthen and diversify their online offerings without a revenue line to support it. If they throw in some free games and special discounts here and there, and if that balances up well against the price of entry, then it will be worthwhile.

I think it looks really refreshing. It also has real potential as a competitive game (perhaps?)

Aside from that, from what I've read, the motion controls are really precise, which I think is great. Some have described it as feeling a bit reminiscent of Sega's Virtual On, which is great.

Also, the fact that you can play the game with more traditional controls (sticks and buttons) is really good, especially for competitive gamers or people who are uncomfortable with the motion controls.

Hopefully Nintendo support it online like they did with Splatoon - new stages, new characters, etc... would be awesome. :D

Whatever the new hardware is after the PS4 Pro - whether it's PS5 or something else - I think backwards compatibility will be important. The mere existence of the PS4 Pro is an indication that Sony are moving away from major architectural shifts that would threaten this compatibility; it's becoming too expensive to lose your user base every five years.

The OP has it the wrong way around - Nintendo should release Wii U games on Switch because so many millions of gamers missed some awesome titles on Wii U. These games should come to Switch, so that many more people (potentially) can enjoy them.

There's absolutely no point back-porting Switch games to Wii U.

"A nightmare we wish would go away" - speak for yourself. :-)

Why is it so hard for people to understand that other people may not like what you like? Why does someone else have to be "wrong" if they have different preferences or appreciate value in different ways?

I mean, although I own a 3DS I've never been a huge 3DS gamer (or Vita gamer, for that matter). And yet, I'd never tell people that these platforms should "go away" or imply that they are wrong or stupid for loving those platforms. Geeze.

@texasgoldrush: Well, again, what criteria are we using to determine how good the year was? Sales/industry impact or personal preference on the quality of the games?

How do you see that?

Doom is a really landmark achievement if you care about the Doom franchise. If you aren't interested in this franchise, then it's easier to dismiss Doom as "just another shooter".

What's most remarkable about Doom is that, unlike Doom 3 (which did legitimately experiment with more of a survival horror approach), it managed to capture the speed and thrill of the first two games while actually making the game feel modern. For a game that was in development hell for a period of time, this is an incredible achievement.

Also, the Glory Kill system is awesome. It's really clever as an idea, and it's beautifully implemented. It gives Doom this kind of fast-paced arcade feel, and it simultaneously respects the drivers of the original games while also being a modern innovation.

I'd say it's certainly a great game, but again, it depends if you are interested in the franchise or not.

As for Uncharted 4, I think it's very different to The Last of Us. In many ways though, having played both games, it's really clear that Naughty Dog took a lot of lessons from The Last of Us and implemented them in Uncharted 4. The latter is a further extension and refinement of the former in terms of narrative.

But again, whether or not you like it as a game is very dependent on whether or not you actually like the Uncharted franchise itself. If it's not your thing, then no amount of narrative brilliance will make it fun for you.

It's really interesting that you mention ludonarrative dissonance because I think you have this the wrong way around, at least in one important case.

In the former case, your in-game activities are very tied to the narrative in a way that doesn't feel jarring (admittedly, the ability to kill enemies is a big example of ludonarrative dissonance, but I wasn't nearly as bothered by this as others were).

In the latter case - well, I could write an essay, but I think that Uncharted 4 goes much further than most games to specifically avoid ludonarrative dissonance. In truth, in any video game, you're always going to have a degree of this problem - and I'd argue it isn't always a problem worth solving - but this is the one of the few things Uncharted 4 can be accused of doing at least in comparison to any other video game.

I'd be interested to know if you have an example of a particularly egregious case of this, as to why you think these games have the problem to a greater degree than anything else.

But this is a very reductive view of a large and varied experience.

I mean, if you don't personally like the game, that's cool. I don't care about that.

But it's not worth dismissing the entire project. To be sure, the game absolutely has some major flaws - particularly the final chapter, which feels entirely disconnected from the rest of the experience.

But the battle system, the open-world exploration, the wonderful comradery between the main characters...there are many things about the game that are highly special. And it's worth celebrating the fact that this game even came out at all, to be honest. I don't see the need to be so cynical.

PlayStation VR only just came out. The library isn't huge right now, but that's fine - it'll get there. You have to remember that VR, as a format, is entirely new and developers are still finding their feet.

But does that means it's reasonable to just dismiss VR entirely? No, I don't think so. PlayStation VR brought about experiences in this last year that I have never had before in video games, especially on console. This alone is utterly remarkable and should be celebrated. It marks 2016 as a very important year in gaming.

As for the point about sales - well, again, what's your criteria for judging a weak or strong year? If it's about sales, then that's an easy judgement that requires no debate. If it's about quantitative measures like how we felt about the experiences? In that case, see the rest of my post.

@texasgoldrush: But how are you judging the success of the year in gaming? By commercial success or by what each of us think as gamers?

I mean, if it's the latter, then I disagree with your assessments of Doom, Watch Dogs 2, Uncharted 4, and FFXV.
In terms of these games, I'm curious: which of them have you played yourself?

In terms of PlayStation VR, again, have you tried it? I don't care how well it does commercially - that's not how I rate the success of 2016 for me as a gamer. PlayStation VR is awesome. It's a really resfreshing and refined experience, and it is remarkable that Sony were able to package so much into such a low-cost product. Try playing the Kitchen demo for RE7 and tell me that PlayStation VR isn't fantastic.

Again, it depends what your criteria is for a strong year or a weak year. Are you talking about commercial/industry successes or are you asking for our opinions as gamers?

Both the Xbox One and PS4 are great - there are some wonderful exclusives on Xbox One that make it worthwhile (and definitely much more than a 4K Blu-ray player!)

That said, I've undoubtedly spent the most time with my PS4 so far in this generation. For me, it's definitely my main go-to platform at the moment. But I really like having an Xbox One as well as a Wii U and 3DS; there's a diversity of content there which is great, and it's nice to jump back and forth between them. They all offer something awesome.