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An interactive ‘perfect’ recreation of a human being is a decade away, the boss of Sony Worldwide Studios has said.
Shuhei Yoshida, speaking at a Gamescom panel discussion on the future of game technologies, said “I think what people want in their games in ten years’ time is a perfect digital human being, where you cannot tell the difference if it’s real or not.”
Sony has in the past flaunted PlayStation 3 technology by attempting to accurately recreate the human face.
In 2005, the company demonstrated a digital version of Hollywood actor Alfred Molina (video below).
But Yoshida believes that in ten years there could be real-time displays of a human being where there are no anomalies or limitations to the visual fidelity.
Mick Hocking, a senior director at Sony Worldwide Studios, also believes these lifelike characters could be built with far higher artificial intelligence.
“I think the next battle is AI,” he said during the Gamescom roundtable.
“That’s going to be really interesting, bringing more emersion and depth to players.”
But there were doubters on the panel. Kellee Santiago, the co-founder of Thatgamecompany said “I just don’t think humanity is something that technology can do very well.
“And,” she added, “I don’t think it’s a good use of our time to invest in communicating emotions. I think even the simplistic 2D games can be fantastically deep and meaningful and emotional.
“What’s stopping games from having a more accessible reach? Honestly, it’s where the money is going.”
GO HERE TO READ THE FULL SONY PANEL ON THE NEXT TEN YEARS FOR PLAYSTATION
