Hal Emmerich
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Former ArmsTech researcher and chief of development for the Metal Gear project. Together with Solid Snake, he formed the anti-Metal Gear NGO "Philanthropy", and later worked to combat the Patriots.
Nicknamed "Otacon".
A fan of Japanese anime and regular attendee of America's annual "Otaku Convention", he adopted the event's nickname as his own.
After running away from home due to family conflicts, he dropped out of school. Through Internet-based self study, he secured acceptance to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he earned his PhD at a young age. He holds additional Bachelor's and Master's Degrees from Princeton University as well.
Scouted by the FBI as a student, he joined their ERF (Engineering Research Facility). After being caught monitoring and hacking their central database, he was forced out of the FBI and joined defense contractor ArmsTech.
At ArmsTech, Emmerich developed a series of new technologies, including stealth camouflage, that were officially adopted by the US Army. Following this, he poured his energy into the Metal Gear project. His love of Japanese robot anime made him dream of developing bipedal robots in real life, and he projected that dream onto Metal Gear.
Financed by DARPA, Metal Gear was developed as a top-secret black project, though Emmerich believed Metal Gear to be a mobile TMD (theater missile defense) project.