Facial animation made big news at SIGGRAPH earlier this month, with Image Metrics showing off their Emily Project. The process is not motion capture, so it requires no markers or special cameras. The actor simply acts and then software analyzes the images to create the animation. Since this is achieved at the pixel level, the animation looks surprisingly realistic.
Image Metrics is the company that has been producing animation for the GTA series. Video games on the (current) next-gen systems get all the attention for looking so real, but when this tech gets integrated into games, look out! Can we start the hype for GTA V yet?