Sega Showcases Seaman

On Wednesday, Sega of America held an event celebrating the release of Seaman for the US Dreamcast. GameSpot was on hand to take in the festivities, speak with the game's designer, Yoot Saito, and take an updated look at the game. The event, held at Underwater World in San Francisco, was highlighted by a short presentation by Saito, who briefly thanked everyone in attendance and asked them to experience Seaman for themselves. Prior to the presentation, GameSpot had a chance to speak with Saito about Seaman. During the interview, which will appear shortly on GameSpot Live, Saito discussed the US market for Seaman, Seaman itself, his favorite game genre, and touched briefly on the sequel.

In particular, Saito mentioned that he is completely committed to creating future incarnations in the Seaman franchise, and that he is not particularly interested in exploring other genres. In fact, he is primarily attracted to simulation games, and he expects to keep his game development focus based on that genre. He also discussed his expectations for Seaman and online gaming, specifically saying that "we are thinking of a network version of that weird creature."

When asked whether he would consider creating a Seawoman, perhaps as company for Seaman, Saito interestingly revealed that Seaman isn't a man after all - it is both male and female. Regardless, Seaman should have plenty of friends in its underwater world, as Saito plans to add several new creatures to the game's future incarnations.

Seaman is currently available for the Sega Dreamcast. In the game, players must use the Dreamcast microphone peripheral to communicate with and nurture Seaman from an egg to a full-grown sea creature. The game comes packed with the Dreamcast microphone and retails for US$49.99.