Realistic game characters on the way

Computer games will soon feature characters with lifelike faces, a games developer has said.

David Kunkler, a producer for Obsidian Entertainment, said in "another year or two" the company would be able to simulate a human face accurately. At the moment, graphics technology is not advanced enough to provide realistic faces.

This leads to the so-called 'uncanny valley' effect, where characters are almost, but not quite, realistic.

"They look strange - they're too close to real, but not quite real," Kunkler said.

Techniques of 'motion capture' - which sense the movements of actors and apply them to virtual characters - are, however, becoming more advanced, which will allow game makers to perfect expressions and movements.

"That's when we're going to be able to fool the player into thinking: 'this is a real actor', and that's when we're going to move to emotional content in games," Kunkler said.

He made his comments in an interview with the Digital Planet programme on the BBC World Service