More of a curiosity than a game, Seaman challenges Dreamcast owners to raise and study a fictitious character who is half man, half fish. Seaman resides in a virtual aquarium and responds to spoken words, as well as controller-delivered tickles and flicks.

With over 12,000 lines of scripted dialogue, the wisecracking Seaman has the ability to recall past conversations and can vary his responses based on factors such as the age and gender of the player.

Created by noted Japanese designer Yoot Saito, Seaman is somewhat reminiscent of the virtual Tamagotchi pets so popular with children in recent years. In order to successfully raise their Seaman, Dreamcast users must interact with the fishy character for at least 10 minutes each day over the course of a month.

Benevolent owners will ensure that their charge is properly fed, kept warm, and stimulated with tickling and good conversation. Negligent Seaman keepers will find that their creature has grown sullen and unresponsive.

The $49.99 package includes the Seaman game disk as well as a small microphone that attaches to the Dreamcast controller. Leonard Nimoy, of Star Trek fame, serves as narrator.

While Seaman is the first microphone-centric game, it certainly won't be the last. Nintendo demonstrated Hey You, Pikachu to eager crowds at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles.

Scheduled for November release, Hey You, Pikachu lets Nintendo 64 gamers interact with the ubiquitous yellow Pokemon via bundled microphone.

If you're beginning to smell a trend here, step to the head of the class. As low-cost voice-recognition technology continues to improve, there will be numerous potential uses for electronic games. These have not gone unnoticed by game designers and industry analysts alike.

"Seaman or Hey You, Pikachu are really only early indications of where this technology could go," said Joe Fielder, site director of ZDNet's popular GameSpot website.

"Think of how the advanced AI seen in Mindscape's virtual pet sim Creatures could be applied to an actual game, and you can see a parallel to where voice recognition could possibly be headed," Fielder said.

"The idea of literally being able to hold conversations with characters in a role-playing game like Final Fantasy is pretty appealing. To me, talking to a character isn't quite a game, but it could be a great part of one."

And therein lies the rub. While some users will be fascinated with Seaman's snide repartee, there's not a lot happening much of the time. Its voice technology is amusing, but Seaman is hardly the kind of game you'd invite friends over to enjoy with pizza and beer.

Still, it's fun in an offbeat sort of way, and represents an important historical milestone in gaming.