I could expect Pete or Todd to round the number to 200.

So 208 could be referred to as 200 by them.

But Codsworth said the Lone Survivor was 200 years late for dinner.

A robot wouldn't had rounded down the number.

After all he said the coffee was exactly a temperature of 173.5.

If Codsworth said 200 years then he meant 200 years.

Or are you suggesting that they did one line of dialog Codsworth for use in the game and a separate one to use during the presentation at E3?

If Codsworth was being totally accurate he would have gone down to minutes and seconds... he did not.

He has been outside for 200+ years, and is likely faulty as hell.

Reading back on all of this, I'm actually staggered by how much opinions differ on the whole 'start date scandal!' And I do think that this shows even more that it's not just a straight forward 'misunderstanding', and that they are deliberately not telling us too much in this department. Which would suggest that whatever dates they have used are actually very important to the story...

But on a slightly different timeline related note, I have a question. Now that we know that the game actually starts pre-war, giving us personal insight as to what really happened on the day the bombs fell, do you think we may be shown glimpses of other significant past events? For example, imagine actually being shown where and how the Institute changed from being a group of nerds to becoming a very viable threat. Or even finding out if our vault-tec guy from the tutorial really is connected in some way to the 'mysterious stranger' we see in Scollay Square.

He can feed, burp, and change a diaper for a baby and he wouldn't know most humans don't want the hours, minutes, and seconds unless they say they want the exact time?

Oh well, we will find out on 11/10/15

I almost want to say that the institute may no longer even consist of actual human beings (Dr. Zimmer being the prime reason for this theory), and that they have pulled a think tank with android bodies. If they go down this path, places like the memory den might lend more insight into what happened, and general computer diaries and old fashion dialogue will reveal more about what the Institute is all about.

With regards to Dr. Zimmer being an android (the component on his dead body), it's worth adding that the component was a complete after though and my theory is wrong. Considering that Emil, Todd, and Co. didn't really know what they wanted to do with FO after 3. The Boston/Institute setting was kind of sporadic so I don't know how far back their lore goes in relation to my theory.

This theory would actually hold up very well, in spite of Zimmer's apparent human origin. And it would certainly make the Institute far more dangerous. Perhaps the 'human element' had been removed over time as it was seen to be getting in the way. And who would strive to achieve technological perfection more than a collective of sentient machines.

But this then gets even more interesting when we consider the possible abduction of our pre-war family from the vault. What on earth would a machine want with pre-war human DNA, unless they were looking to engineer it into something more. Perhaps something of a hybrid.

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Etymology_of_pure_and_prime_humans

Either the institute have their own version of the FEV, or the lone survivor's son possesses a natural immunity to radiation which the Institute found out about when they screened the vaults in the local area.

I suspect that Todd and crew are probably sitting back and going what the heck did we start . ..

What I wanted to say before getting suspended was that there is the Lone Wanderer still around in the zone. He is also well known, people are talking about him. And consumers are going to ask (righfully) "why isn't my character there? His ending was open and I wanted him to go to Boston!".

Unless Bethesda decide that the LW was a psycho that released the FEV. In that case, he is a taboo.

Also, it would explain why there are super mutants around: the BoS didn't want to be exposed to the FEV and broke the containment zone. The super mutants, by survival instinct, moved away from ground zero. Their exodus must have been in numbers: if a few manage to go past Lyon, they wouldn't have survived 4 years in Boston, which has many more organized factions than the CW.

This is what I like to think, but in reality, bethesda is too stupid to think about reasons behind the super mutants in boston. They probably put them there because F*UCK YEAH SUPER MUTANTS HOW COOL IS THAT OOOOOOH SH*T KILL SUPERMUTANTS WITH THE MINIGUUUUUN!!!!!!

Why should he be mentioned in Fallout 4 when he wasn't in New Vegas? Four years is plenty time to head to the Mojave for some tanning and gambling

Because New Vegas is on the other side of the continent? Also, In Boston there are some of the factions we meet in the CW. Surely they know what was going on. Just like Marcus remembers the Chosen One. They can't avoid the issue, it's there. Either they give us a plausible reason for the lone wanderer disappearence, or they wrote a bad setting and a bad plot. Knowing bethesda, it's probably the second option. But one can hope that everybody in that horrible written place that is washington dc died, main character included.

assuming the game will take place shortly after fnv, i wonder if there'll be any references to caesar's army (to the west, in that case)

Bananas are yellow, taxis are yellow, there are many taxis in New York, New York is nicknamed The Big Apple, apples are red, red and yellow mix to make orange, oranges are orange:

Oranges confirmed in Fallout 4

Look also at one of the main properties of the FEV, in that it rendered the super mutants sterile. Not only could we expect the DNA of the child to have an effect on radiation resistance, but it would almost certainly allow for some kind of advanced cell regeneration. The ability to regenerate would therefore be highly desirable for the Institute, as this would bring them a step closer to achieving immortality, if that happens to be part of their overall agenda.

Note that this would apply even if they are in fact no longer human. Creating machines, or synthetic hybrids, that can actually reproduce or regenerate would be invaluable if this were the case.

Half life 3 confirmed.

the only group that may have been in FO3 (out of what we have seen ) is the BoS but they could be a different chapter, say MWBoS or even west coast that ran from the NCR when the war went bad for them

Cool speculations but all these dates, year and numerology theories seem like way too much thought on something insignificant. In the end, very few percentage of players will actually care about any of that and will be too busy enjoying the game.

Or the survivor has told his butler many times to not tell him time down to the second, which would get old fast. Then 200 years, is just that 200 years. I do not think they will mention Vegas since they did not make it right?, i think they will bring up f-3 etc as well as easter eggs from past games as well.

I think it does matter a little. Example, if the BOS we see in FO4 is from the CW then we will learn more of what has taken place in the CW after the events of 3. If the BOS is MWBOS, then I would wager Fallout 5 will take place in the Midwest.

Or maybe they are aware that some role-played that their Lone Wanderer character eventually moved out to the Mojave to become the Courier? That's what I did with mine.

But knowing Bethesda, they may just go out and say directly what the Lone Wanderer did after the events of FO3. That'll really mess up my role-playing. Oh well.

I do not put nearly the thought into this that some clearly do, however I think a timeline just slightly after 3 is plausible, as is a timeline that takes place a few years after the events of 3. The tech seems so much more advanced than what we saw in 3, so that seems to indicate some time has passed. Also, as someone rightfully pointed out in an earlier post, Todd Howard said "some events transpire" and then we emerge from the vault 200 years later. We have no clue how long the "events" take to transpire. It could be just a few hours, or a few days, or even a few weeks or months.

If we look at 3 and out time in the vault, we had several fade out moments where large amounts of time passed. It is possible that something similar occurs in our vault 111. It could be this:

We get lowered into the vault along with our spouse and child and the few survivors seen outside when the bomb drops. Once inside the vault we are asked to see the overseer where we are asked what our particular skills are, or take a "test" to determine our skills (or maybe perks since it appears skills may not be in game per se, based on our SPECIAL stats). Think GOAT but for grownups. We are then assigned a job, and maybe we have some interaction with our spouse to help set a emotional bond between us and our family. From there any number of things could occur, perhaps a "failure" of a critical life support system that forces us into the cryostasis pods, and that could occur a few days after going inside or a few months, and then we emerge from cryo to find ourselves in the empty vault.

Of course we would search the vault for our spouse and child, maybe finding them empty, or find them (gasp!) dead. If empty, searching some terminals inside the vault may give us clues about what happened to them, or that being frozen was the plan all along for Vault 111. Further searching will turn up our Pipboy and maybe a gun and some ammo, and maybe some security armor and I bet a bobble head and a skill book or two.

Now where this puts our timeline when we emerge is anyone's guess, but I would not be surprised if we emerge late in 2277, although the weather would indicate a warmer time of year than winter. It also would not surprise me to emerge a few years after the events of Fallout 3 and the Lone Wanderer. I do not factor Fallout: New Vegas into my equation simply because it is set out west and done by another publisher. It would not surprise me however to get an Obsidian developed New Vegas 2 or other such title by 2017 that furthers that story.

I think they would more than likely stick with canon and reference some of the events of the main quest in FO3, and possibly in NV. But like you I hope that they leave the rest open for 'interpretation'. If anything, they may possibly suggest 'rumours' of what happened next.

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Lone_Wanderer

I'm not sure where the wikia cites the information from, but under Legacy they note that the LW disappeared from the capital wasteland in 2297. Safe to say that whichever timeline they follow, we won't be seeing the LW at all.

That's from the Official Game Guide. I think it's canon, but I'm not sure.