Uber-realistic games to be ready in as soon as 2 years

Characters to look and behave like actors

20 February 2007 11:51 GMT / By Amber Maitland

Gaming is at the brink of becoming a lot more real, according to games developers speaking to the BBC.

Super-realistic computer games starring characters who look real are at most 2 years away.

One developer calls the difference between games characters at the moment and getting them to look real the "uncanny valley".

"They look strange - they're too close to real, but not quite real", David Kunkler, producer for Obsidian Entertainment, said.

"Give us another year or 2 and we'll be able to completely get across that uncanny valley", he said.

Motion-capture methods have become so advanced so quickly that it won't be long before developers will be able to recreate human emotions through a facial wrinkle or little nod.

Although this technology is a boon for consumer games developers, it is especially crucial for serious games designed to train soldiers and emergency relief teams.

"There are many simulation approaches which train soldiers, for example, for when they have to communicate with people in Iraq", Professor Alexander Nareyek from Games Lab at the National Universityof Singapore told the BBC.

"They have to understand the emotions displayed by these virtual actors, and train to cope with emotional and challenging situations."

Consumer titles will also be more evocative and able to play on the human emotion of the gamer, although whether this is a good thing is debatable. Should the line between virtual reality and the real world get any thinner in violent games like Grand Theft Auto?