Left-Handed Gamers Getting Left Behind?

An anonymous reader writes "As the stylus becomes a contemporary equal with the controller and joystick, it is a bit surprising to notice a game developer overlooking the simple fact that there are a lot of southpaw gamers out there. But the creators of Base 10, a mini-game on the DSi, did just that, making it impossible for the game to be played by anyone who isn't right-handed. Seems pretty silly for a game developer to just cut out a slice of their potential audience right from the start."

I thought controls favored Left handers

[commodore64_love]

The joystick or joypad is on the left side, my non-dominant hand, ever since the NES days.

If you think lefty is hard...

[axismundi]

I once knew a guy who worked as a video game tester in Baltimore (for Absolute Quality). He had no right hand, just a stump. I'll never forget getting my arse completely stomped by him in any and every game we played together. The advent of the mini joystick (versus 8-way D-pad) on the N64 forward allowed him to play on the same level as anyone else.

Re:Impossible?

[spun]

Your statement demonstrates a lack of understanding of what the term 'survival of the fittest' means. There is no such thing as 'fittest for all possible situations.' There is only fitness for the conditions the entity finds itself in. Conditions change, and fitness criteria change. Having flat feet is no longer the impediment it once was. Being bad at math is now more of a hindrance than it used to be. Being an anaerobic single celled organism that farts out oxygen was the height of fitness at one time, but then all this pesky oxygen started appearing, and that wasn't such a good niche anymore.

Evolution does not proceed from "less evolved" to "more evolved." Some of the most successful creatures in existence have not had to evolve in hundreds of millions of years. Having eyes seems like a more evolved trait, you wouldn't expect a creature with them to evolve into something without them, but every biological structure carries an energy cost, and if it isn't doing any good anymore, it will be lost, as with cave fish. Are cave fish 'less evolved' than sighted fish? Well, they are far better adapted at living in caves, but put them in the open ocean and their name would be 'snack.'

Evolution has no direction. It is not moving away from anything or towards anything in particular, but it is constantly moving. Survival of the fittest always applies, it just doesn't mean what you think it means.