Remember that really weird Dreamcast game where you raised a virtual fish with the face of some Japanese guy using crappy voice recognition technology? It might be coming to the DS.
Seaman was a game that only a select group of gamers could love. It was a virtual pet simulator, except instead of a cuddly dog prancing around your house, it was a carp with a Japanese guy’s head swimming around in a dark tank, that eventually evolved into a frog-fish-thing with a Japanese guy’s head that gave you the stink eye. Apparently too weird for Americans, Seaman‘s sequel for the PS2 never saw release in the States.
A new generation of game systems and a new generation of gamers, however, might mean the stage is set for the return of the Seamen in the form of a release on the DS. It would make perfect sense: the DS has a mic that could be used for communicating with the Seaman (a central mechanic in the original game), and the touch screen could be used for cleaning the tank, prodding your Seaman, etc. And of course, DS owners love coddling virtual pets, whether they be dogs or babyz. It could work!
The idea apparently has been in Seaman creator Yoot Saito’s mind for some time now, but work has only started in earnest on the game after the failure of his newest title, an iPhone game called Gabo where you interact with a virtual caveman by poking and prodding him using the touch screen. Apple, according to Saito’s blog, unsurprisingly “expressed displeasure” at the game during the approval process, prompting Saito’s team to give up and occupy themselves with Seaman DS instead.
[Via Offworld]
