AceShowbiz - Sir Paul McCartney is said to have been addicted to playing classic shoot-'em-up arcade games before he recorded his hits. The 81-year-old The Beatles icon's love of being a joystick warrior ahead of studio sessions has been revealed by Echo and the Bunnymen guitarist Will Sergeant.

Paul's pal Liverpudlian Will, 65, said in his new book "Echoes: A Memoir Continued" about meeting Sir Paul at London's Air Studios, "While were hanging around in the games room, Paul McCartney pops in and says, 'So you are the Bunnymen from Liverpool, are ya? Nice to meet you.' We look on with broad smiles. 'My God, Paul knows our name and seems to know who we are.' "

Will added, "He sticks around for a brew and I play a video game with him. It's either 'Asteroids' or 'Tank Commander', one of the latest video game crazes." He continued, "Paul was a lovely fellow, still down to earth and quite prepared to be friendly to us young upstarts."

Sir Paul's love of computers is still going strong as in June he revealed how artificial intelligence has been used to create a new Beatles song. He clarified the statement days later, saying "nothing has been artificially or synthetically created."

Paul had announced he'd employed AI technology on an unreleased Beatles demo from the 70s, telling BBC Radio 4's "Today" programme the technology had been used to "extricate" John Lennon's voice from a cassette recording of the demo. He said, "We were able to take John's voice and get it pure through this AI. Then we can mix the record, as you would normally do. It gives you some sort of leeway."

Paul later added on social media "We've seen some confusion and speculation about it. Seems to be a lot of guess work out there. Can't say too much at this stage but to be clear, nothing has been artificially or synthetically created."