except if the year was such hush hush why adress it at all? They arent obligated to tell us, yet he did. This to me feels like a classic case of activly ignoring the simple, straight answer just to go all conspiracy nut, because Peter didnt treat us like ten year olds.

Given his background, Lockheart could well have been involved in the formation of the Institute, alongside Robert House. I have already suggested that House could have helped fund the Institute in the construction of their headquarters beneath MIT. House could even be the 'billionaire' mentioned in the wiki entry.

The key point here is that, although I think you're definitely right about Lockheart making his way to the Commonwealth, this still doesn't rule out the possibility of a 2285 start date. It would actually give him a chance to become 'established' by the time the Sole Survivor is woken from stasis, which would open things up very nicely for a new side quest or two.

I'm not even sure we'll see Desmond, since we had the quest option to kill him. Given, it was a crappy option for us, but the game offered us the chance to do it without it just being some random act of murder. Maybe we'll meet him or Dr. Calvert in the Pre-War sequence? We'll definitely meet his rivals, that's for sure.

If the post-war part of the game begins October 23rd 2277. I doubt will see Dr. Li, as it would only be a couple months after the Lone Wanderer emerged from Vault 101. Seems a little soon for Li to have arrived. Now perhaps the "Sole Survivor" doesn't know how long its been. If his pipboy has been inactive for a long time it might not be tracking the date and the wastelanders may have lost track of exactly how long its been. They just know two hundred years give or take.

Zero evidence its midwestern brotherhood. More likely its an unrelated group. (especially given the fact that Washington DC is closer to Midwestern BoS territory then Boston).

Ignoring Fallout 2

If this is true it puts FO4 before New Vegas yes?

correct, which consider NV is a "spin off" that takes place on the west coast, is not that to impossible.

Because of the whole concept of misdirection.

Anyone watching the footage could fairly easily guess an approximate date, given the factions we are being shown, as well as various other elements. And so rather than leave it 'wide open' the devs tell us something that sounds very specific but actually isn't. If you don't believe me, look at the election campaign of any presidential candidate, or any other world leader for that matter. It is clearly misdirection.

If I'm right about the actual date being 2285, then a lot of other potential story elements could be pieced together from this information. And Todd made it very clear at the showcase that "we're not going to be spoiling or talking about the game's story tonight". And so they have every reason to want to throw us a red herring with regards to the date.

I was talking about all of the cranes and building sites seen in the footage and the concept art.

I would not be surprised if you are right (I wouldn't bet against it).

Alternatively, Todd and Pete may simply be deflecting any question aimed at gleaning further details about the story. Even if the exact date is insignificant, the aim of the question is, and I doubt they want to humor those kinds of questions.

I'm actually okay with that. Fallout 3's chief problem was that there was hardly any sign of progress, even after 200 years. I'm much less interested in the basic, hand to mouth, skin of their teeth survivalism of this kind of setting and much more interested in seeing the new factions, ideals, and governments that spring up to fill the void. That's why the most interesting part of Fallout 3 in my opinion was The Pitt.

The new occurrences/circumstances you're talking about are offered in a new location, though.
It may not have the option build on lore from FO3, but it may re-enforce it.
They have said they aren't going to go back in time. How many years between F1 and NV? That's a span of time we will never get in a new games setting, after this game, most likely. Think about that. What would a game set in Saint Louis, in 2193 look like? We will never know. For this type of reasoning, I am ok with not progressing timeline wise, when different locations can be on a different progression curve from the previous title.

I'm not saying that I necessarily want all new games to take place in the same decade or whatever. I can see the thought in holding back, though.

If it's set in the same year as Fallout 3, it would be so cool to hear random dialogue from people who comment on stuff like "Hey, did you hear about the fight last week at some memorial thing in Washington? Something to do with water and a science guy, who knows?" or "I just switched on my radio and got a signal from GNR, he said a single wanderer walked into an air force base just two days ago and blew it up. I doubt it's true!"

Lol. What I'm getting at is that it'd be great to hear things coinciding with Fallout 3's story as you progress through the main story.

Agreed.

I really liked seeing all the various factions pop up in FNV.

Personally, I would despise that. Continuity nods and callbacks are all well and good when they'er actually serving a narrative purpose (even minor ones like that time in New Vegas where someone mentions the Chosen one killing Rose's Deathclaw), but what you're suggesting is the equivalent of Todd Howard kicking the back of my seat and going "Hey! Hey! Hey! Remember Fallout 3? Remember Fallout 3!?Heyheyheyheyheyheyheyheyheyheyheyheyheyheyhey!"

That's rather disappointing. Honestly, I would have been fine with any sort of progress so long as it wasn't the same exact year Fallout 3 happens. 2279, 2280, hell 2281 like New Vegas. No one is asking to skip some hundred years like TES, just some sort of time to progress to allow the events of Fallout 3 to leave a mark on the lore. I just find it odd they're both happening at the same time or near the same time.

It feels like Pete Hines is still being just as vague as Todd Howard for the sake of keeping things on the down low, so I'd really like to wait and see for myself before jumping to conclusions, but still.

Cause Reasons.

Bascialy Either he MEANS 200 years TO THE SECOND and hes thinking this whole thing is a lot of notheing because who realy cares its just a game. . .

or hes being approximate becase hey Todd is not saying the exact time to the Exact Second and its Todd's game and not his after all...

Prydwen may have nothing to do with the DC BOS and just be a general BOS thing.

The problem is we are already 200+ years after the bomb fell. We are long past the "Beyond ridiculous" stage of how things are in the wasteland. (seriously those dead forests should have gone up long ago in a forest fire, ditto for most wood construction, and yes I know all about that petrified forest thing last month, Those trees were "preserved" by being burred at the time of the Eruption, NOT 200+ YEARS LATER) (and realize petrified trees are technically fossils and not wood anymore to begin with)

To be blunt Given the fallout world if they set each new chapter in a different part of the country you can cover the US for years and only need to advance the story a few months at a time.

Heck I would love to see a story set in say St Louis with three parts, first chapter pre-war up to the final run to the vault, second chapter in the vault and third chapter outside the vault after the war.

...except there is no need to misdirect us, they could have just chosen to say nothing until launch. Trust me, beth doesnt give two caps about people like you going around trying to figure the plot.

So is the dog the same Dogmeat from FO3? How long do dogs live for?

No
This is just Dog, AFAIK.
Dogmeat in F3 was a Blue Heeler.
Dog is a German Shepard.

Varies from breed to breed. Dogmeat from Fallout 3 was an Australian Cattle Dog with an average lifespan of 13 years. Dogmeat from Fallout 4 appears to be a German Shepard, which has a life expectancy of 11 years.

its basically a legacy name, like how the main character in Zelda games are named Link yet canonically its not the same person in each game.

Why specifically 2285? Why not 2280 or 2290?

Now that I think about it, what would be interesting about 2277 is that it would take place before 2281 (New Vegas). This might mean we could see a glimpse of Robert House, who is confirmed alive and conscious at this point. After all, he did study at MIT before the war. It would be strange for him to have absolutely no clue about what's going on at the Institute these days.

My money is on 2283, the 500th anniversary of the end of the Revolutionary War.

Not that I am saying Pete is lying in this case, but why on earth is anyone taking what he says seriously given ho much he lied during Skyrim in regards to stuff like DLC/patch releases?

because this isnt Skyrim but Fallout 4?