I'm (virtually) yours

She is a typical high-maintenance girlfriend, requiring regular gifts and plenty of attention to keep her happy.

Treat her right and you can watch your relationship blossom. Fail, then expect the cold shoulder.

If it sounds like a game, you're right - and it could be the answer to the prayers of single technogeeks everywhere.

Virtual Girlfriend allows you to test your skills and determine how far your computer 'relationship' goes. Similar to the hugely popular Tamagotchi pets of the 1990s, Virtual Girlfriend needs love to survive and flourish.

She is being developed by a Hong Kong company for customers with video mobile phones.

Users who subscribe can send text messages to the virtual woman, who appears as an animated figure on the handset screen and responds by voice. The game will follow a daily or weekly schedule, which changes continuously over time.

Ada Fong, of software company Artificial Life, said proferring gifts such as virtual flowers or diamonds would elevate the user to higher, more sophisticated levels.

And even though such tokens of love are made up of cold, hard data, suitors will have to pay cold, hard cash for them. The amounts have yet to be determined, Ms Fong said.

The game will ban interactions of a sexual nature and will be suitable for all ages, she added.

It will be launched in December and a virtual boyfriend for women is due for release next February.