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How does the Codec in the Metal Gear Solid series work?

D

DigitalRicket

Member
(*this might contain slight spoilers*)

So after watching Giant Bomb's Metal Gear Scanlon series it got me thinking on how the codec works in the MGS series.

MGS1_Codec_2..png


I've done some research on the unofficial MGS wiki sites and I still don't get it. Obviously in the original Metal Gear MSX games and past games (MGS3/PW) Snake is practically talking on a radio. Nothing fancy or sci-fi about it. Just call and answer communication between him and his CO. But in MGS and MGS2 it really gets jarring when you see Snake or Raiden literally step away from an actual conversation with a character to engage in a codec conversation.

Apparently the codec system uses nanomachines which practically allows the people to communicate without physically speaking.... sorta like mind sharing but digitally. However, in MGS2 you can press a button on your controller to hear what the playable character is actually thinking (ex."yeah right!"). So what exactly is being transmitted to the other party? And what about the people outside the codec conversation who are just standing around, do they see the person in a codec conversation talking to themselves or are they just sitting there silently? I'm thinking the latter since people communicate via nanomachines to avoid being heard.

I feel like the codec never really got a full explanation which is weird considering Kojima takes the opposite approach of the tv show "LOST" wherein that he tries to explain everything's origin rather than keeping it vague.
 
It vibrates the bones in the ear apparently.
And the visuals are just for the sake of the player. No one is actually seeing anything in MGS1-2
 
If you've ever seen how they communicate in Ghost in the Shell -- wireless, internal communication, mind sharing, etc. -- that's how I've interpreted it. The "mind reading" from MGS2 is just for fun, I think. If not, maybe it's a layer of the Codec that's considered immoral in MGS lore. You can hear others thoughts but you shouldn't. It's rude.
 
The Codec functions by directly manipulating the small bones in the ears, such as the stapes, so it appears as if a user is talking to himself or herself. Furthermore, the Codec can process and send photos to people within its network from a digital camera,[2] and had some capability of video communication.

During the Big Shell Incident, the Codec was primarily nanomachine based, and people wired with nanomachines will also engage in nanotech-based speech while outwardly appearing silent.[4] However, the nanomachine based Codec model is nonetheless compatible with the older Codec models as well as standard military radios.
Click to expand...

Yup.
 
Despite all the meta within the narrative, people have still never seemed to understand that MGS is a self-aware video game. The Codec works exactly like it does for us. Snake stops, everything pauses, and he talks to this comrades.
 
Isn't it pretty much explained within the first few minutes of MGS1?

"The Codec's receiver directly stimulates the small bones of your ear. No one but you will be able to hear it."

From this description by Col. Campbell, I just assumed it was a really small receiver inserted into Snake's ear.
 
Psycho Powaa said:
Isn't it pretty much explained within the first few minutes of MGS1?

"The Codec's receiver directly stimulates the small bones of your ear. No one but you will be able to hear it."

From this description by Col. Campbell, I just assumed it was a really small receiver inserted into Snake's ear.
Click to expand...

I just found it difficult that people just sit there silently while the people on the outside just wait around for them to finish. But Koji gonna Koji I suppose.
 
More than that, how the heck does MGS3's codec system work with the character seemingly being capable of seeing what Snake is wearing, injured with or equipped with over simple radio transmissions.
 
Robot Pants said:
It vibrates the bones in the ear apparently.
And the visuals are just for the sake of the player. No one is actually seeing anything in MGS1-2
Click to expand...

IIRC
In MGS1 when Kaz reveals that he is actually liquid by removing his mask, Snake visually reacts to this before Liquid even says anything.
 
freeofgreed said:
IIRC
In MGS1 when Kaz reveals that he is actually liquid by removing his mask, Snake visually reacts to this before Liquid even says anything.
Click to expand...

Yup, not to mention whatever you the player are looking at your support team can also see too... somehow.

The codec is like a phone that's implanted in your head, no big deal I get that, but I don't quite understand how they can see what you're seeing.
 
slightly off topic... by why did snake still have his codec headset thing after
the torture
scene in mgs3?
 
Any time I try to read into anything about metal gear, I always come to the conclusion that Kojima is high as fuck.

Don't read into metal gear.
 
DigitalRicket said:
However, in MGS2 you can press a button on your controller to hear what the playable character is actually thinking (ex."yeah right!").
Click to expand...

13 years later and I'm still learning new things about this glorious game. Unless I forgot about this, but honestly I don't think I ever knew about it.
 
Betty said:
Yup, not to mention whatever you the player are looking at your support team can also see too... somehow.

The codec is like a phone that's implanted in your head, no big deal I get that, but I don't quite understand how they can see what you're seeing.
Click to expand...

The bigger issue is where the camera is shooting their headshots comes from.
 
Shauni said:
Despite all the meta within the narrative, people have still never seemed to understand that MGS is a self-aware video game. The Codec works exactly like it does for us. Snake stops, everything pauses, and he talks to this comrades.
Click to expand...

This is how I take it. The rest of the world pause when you open the codec.
 
I know how the incoming sound works but what about outgoing? Snake can get pretty riled up via codec and I'm sure guards would hear him talking.
 
RoboPlato said:
I know how the incoming sound works but what about outgoing? Snake can get pretty riled up via codec and I'm sure guards would hear him talking.
Click to expand...

Maybe the guards dismiss it because it sounds like a crazy man talking to himself in a one-sided conversation
 
It makes perfect sense how he can hear them (vibrations in the ear like tiny earphones) but i've always wondered how you talk back without it being out loud or in a whisper
 
jwhit28 said:
This is how I take it. The rest of the world pause when you open the codec.
Click to expand...

In the MGS wiki there's some info that got me intrigued:

In the 2000s, FOXHOUND adopted the Codec system. Invented by Mei Ling, it incorporates anti-wiring coding, digital real-time burst communication. A normal communication over ten seconds is instantly codified, compressed, and transmitted in a burst one microsecond in length. It is received in real-time, unscrambled, and decoded. It is incomparably more innovative than the conventional anti-wiring frequency scrambler. The 24-hour system that is unaffected by weather is made possible by integrating information from high-altitude reconnaissance satellites and low-altitude reconnaissance planes. Despite this, substantial restrictions such as environmental harmonic resonance, enemy discovery and very low structures over an operative have caused significant interference in past testing.
Click to expand...

Is this meant to be understood that Snake can communicate instantly or that there is technically no lag involved with the codec system?
 
Robot Pants said:
It vibrates the bones in the ear apparently.
And the visuals are just for the sake of the player. No one is actually seeing anything in MGS1-2
Click to expand...

"I just didn't expect a world-class designer of military technology to be so... cute"

But yeah it's just basically Kojima magic/nanomachines/bullshit, just run with it and you'll have a much better time.
 
Shauni said:
Despite all the meta within the narrative, people have still never seemed to understand that MGS is a self-aware video game. The Codec works exactly like it does for us. Snake stops, everything pauses, and he talks to this comrades.
Click to expand...

Thank you! It's a game that knows it's a game.
 
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