ast486: I don't think a 'normal' eye is going to have the braindance hardware built in.
Archonsod: There's no real hardware necessary. A braindance is pretty much a recording of the brain, you don't really need special hardware for it, simply the ability to record the brain activity. Cyberware is handy because it tends to do this as part of normal operation, but you can achieve the same results via external brain scans. Specialist equipment is only needed if you want to do something more elaborate, such as have more than one perspective.
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I mean in real life, I can pull out a phone and record an hd video that's 30 seconds long without a problem, so why can't a cybernetic eye built into a cybernetic network in your body?
Archonsod: The camera and the eye aren't strictly speaking the same. In tabletop cyber optics could be fitted with a digital camera as a (fairly expensive) option. Viktor was already being remarkably generous by fitting V's implants for free; it's unlikely he also chucked in the optional extras to boot (although IIRC you can't actually have digital targeting and a digital camera at the same time).
PS. He's not the most important person on earth... just of that company.
Archonsod: Which is one of the largest and most powerful corporations on Earth ...
CraigN: You have to remember this is a projection of tech in the 80s into 2020, and then 50 years past that - technology took a different route.
Archonsod: It's not so much 80s tech; one of the things Mike has done with Cyberpunk Red is update the technology side of things. It is an alternate timeline though where technology didn't develop on the same path as it did in reality. One other thing to note though is Cyberpunk is somewhat post apocalyptic; the global economy crashed in 94, the US fell apart in 96, there's been several plagues caused by bioweapons and several occasions where differences have been settled via the dropping of sizeable rocks from orbital mass drivers. The world didn't really start rebuilding until the 2040s.
ast486: Given the story talks about nanite technology, there's probably self repair function built into everything too.
Archonsod: Not via nanites. They're not all that popular after the Carbon Plague; possibly one of the reasons Arasaka were keen to keep that biochip well hidden.
Thanks, this is kind of what I was trying to get at but not with as good of an explanation. I appreciate you chiming in and correcting me.
CraigN: Y'all are all examining this with the lens of the tech you have now and projecting that to 2077.
You have to remember this is a projection of tech in the 80s into 2020, and then 50 years past that - technology took a different route.
Notice how despite the fact you have super enhanced eyes and lots of visual overlays, everyone still has a regular phone for making calls?
Why can't a mobile phone chip also just be implanted in my head by that logic?
Because the technology of this timeline diverged differently. That's the answer. Your expectations based on how we developed things doesn't imply or fit with the way the world developed in Cyberpunk's verse. Just because it seems intuitively obvious it *should have* in their timeline because it seems a natural progression in ours, doesn't mean that it was intuitive for their development.
ast486: You can still adjust a game to make the expectations fit better for convenience.
Btw... how do you know that your 'phone' is an actual phone and not just a projection in your eye?
Except for the radio call, I've never seen my guy hold anything besides a gun. (outside cutscene)
You could, but then you're diverging from the source material, so at what point do you stop being faithful for the sake of narrative convenience? At your personal suspension of disbelief shouldn't be the benchmark.
You literally see other people use regular ass phones multiple times in the game. Wakako almost always has one in her hand when you visit her in person.