Star Wars creator and "Father of Digital Cinema" George Lucas has been chatting away at a recent conference held in LA, waxing lyrical on gaming technology at the annual computer graphics and interactive entertainment expo, at which he delivered a keynote speech on game artificial intelligence. Lucas commented during the address that he hopes games can evolve "to a point where you can talk to the game and it will talk back." He spoke of the importance of voice recognition, and a vast leap looming in AI capabilities.

Lucas is also said to have spoken of his wish to create "intelligent and challenging first-person shooter-type dramas," with heightened realism and complexity far beyond current first-person offerings. He believes that improved AI can make for far more involving storytelling.

George Lucas is of course chief of LucasArts, home to several of the directors own film franchises. Indeed, perhaps in line with 'father's' wishes, the developer recently expanded to some 150 staff, who will be broadening the range of the studio beyond the predictable deluge of titles. We'll keep you posted on George's ambitions.

By Luke Guttridge