Probably. Bethesda developped games aren't direct sequels, so since each game is its own contained narrative they do have to go over the important plot points. Thus the opening narration of each game talks about the Great War and the Vaults, so maybe the trailer is just introducing new players to the Fallout universe's setup.

But bethesda also make a point of showcasing new features with each release. For example in Skyrim: Dragons, dialogue without freezing the game, not having to repair items, and a return to hand-crafted rather than procedural game-world to name but a few. A great deal of emphasis was put into promoting all of the new ideas/elements through various trailers/footage in the early days. So it is perfectly feasible that pre-war gameplay (if it is a new feature) could be officially revealed at E3 as a first for the fallout series. Especially considering the fact that the war itself is the whole reason why any of the games exist. It would give quite a different perspective to the game compared to previous titles.

2 kinda falls flat since we clearly see that the family from the house are all outdoors when the nuke blows in the dramatic end parts of the trailer, so the likeness is either hints of another plot idea, or a classic case of reusing generic models, keep in mind the vault guy in the trailer is just Beth generic standin for our pc, just like the generic Dragonborn used in the Skyrim trailers.

I think the pre-War stuff is primarily for the sake of the trailer (but bear in mind they might also have a cinematic at the start of the game that uses it too), and perhaps a linear quest or two to put the assets to use. But I don't think we're going to get a significant main story line involving it. Maybe we'll get 20 minutes at the start of the game, kind of like in Fallout 3's vault, but that's it.

I mean first of all, they can't rebuild the entire world - they've obviously just dressed up a few key areas, so we're not gonna get an open world of it. Secondly, if you watch the trailer closely you can see that the houses appear not to be enter-able, lending further credence to the idea that it's more a look-but-don't-touch thing. The windows aren't transparent and are frequently boarded up, and the doors are closed. Contrast that with the post war footage when you can clearly see into those houses in the cul-de-sac; one is a classic Bethesda explorable world, whereas the other just seems cosmetic, with only enough detail to allow for a few cinematic shots or maybe a short quest.

And lastly: what could you possibly expect to do for more than 20 minutes in that world anyway? Different character, no progression, little to no combat, no open world... doesn't sound like something that'll be fun for more than half an hour. I can picture it being the opening to the game, but that's all.

Not gonna lie. The idea of playing a quasi-1950's housewife (presumably because sixist) adapting to the post-apocalyptic world appeals. Like a lot. Probably more than it should.

It does have that sort of... La Femme Nikita ring to it.

La Femme Ms Cleaver

I think this is closer to what I was trying to convey in my original post. If the start of the game is set in pre-war Boston then it will most likely be a very small and rather linear portion of the game-world as per the trailer. Several other games in both the Fallout and Elder Scrolls series have followed this pattern of a separate linear area for the tutorial, so it's not entirely inconceivable that this could be the case. It would also make a lot of sense if, for example, you turn out to be the only remaining inhabitant of vault 111 at the actual start of the game (after the tutorial) rather than just being immediately let loose into an open world without any kind of playable introduction.

Lol. Perhaps both parents from the trailer (or both potential player characters) have some kind of a military background. This has already been "suggested" from at least one source with regards to the choice of a male protagonist...

I'm sure we will get our linear tutorial, hopefully not as long and locked in as F3
I'm swaying towards the idea that if we get to play any "pre war" gameplay, it will be in the form of a VR simulation. I'm thinking of the "Memory Den" specifically

A very real possibility. Even if the game actually starts in a pre-war setting, the Memory Den could play a key role in recovering some kind of vital information from the past via a VR simulator. Would be very cool!

Because in the build up to E3, the internet is now fixated on Fallout 4.

Big reveals at E3 can easily get lost among other announcements.

I think you're reading too much into things.

I agree. Your post actually lines up with my thoughts on the trailer.

I don't think it's just for the trailer - the main reason being that all those pre-war scenes in the trailer are using in-game assets. There is no reason for them to make an in-game optimized asset for all those pre-war objects and textures UNLESS we, as the player, will get to play in those environments at some point during the game.

http://imageshack.com/a/img537/6338/3t93a3.jpg where I've pointed out just some of the proof that the assets are all in-game.

Now, it may be true that we will just be in the pre-war setting for the tutorial, but every indication is that those are environment we will be running around in. And if you look at the shot of everyone running down the street, you can also see that you CANNOT see into any of the windows. They all have closed curtains. This is further proof to me that the player is going to be making that run down the street themselves.

Pre-war scenes for the trailer (and possibly the game intro) could have also been made, not necessarily because the storyline time jumps, but because we could easily find ourselves in VR simulations again.

In this, the pre-war assets aren't simply created for the trailer. Though, even if they were, it was money well spent because it has people curious about the game.

I hope it isn't a search for the kid but the spouse. Search for the kid would be annoying and I don't trust the writing/VA to be any good.

This

The family in the trailer got nuked hard. They're ontop of the vault door at the last scene when the group sees the nuke go in the distance. If the force of the blast didn't kill them, they're ghouls.

We can see a dust cloud from the initial shock wave reach the vault, which would more than likely knock seven shades of shishkebab out of them, but may not be enough to actually kill them from that range. The "wall of fire" that follows would of course kill them as well as fallout from the mushroom cloud itself, IF they are still above ground when this happens. But there could probably be just enough time for them to get into the vault if they were able to access the lift (which they are standing on top of) during this scene. Would be a close call, but still possible.

Exactly, I've seen several people suggest they could make it inside. No chance!
If you are that close to ground zero, you see the flash (then nothing else for the rest of your very short life in reality) then you are vaporized, killed by the blast or the [censored] thrown about by it, or die from the extreme radiation. All of that happens in a couple of seconds.

I think that the pre-war segment is the tutorial. Perhaps even more. I would enjoy old world content -- we haven't truly gotten that, yet.

If the older leaks are true, the protagonist at the end of the trailer is probably the dad leaning over the cradle in the beginning.

This also depends on the yield of the actual bomb and how far away it is. Taking into account the scaling of the map, this could be further away than we think. They would never have time to get away from the blast on foot, but if they happened to be sitting on top of a lift that goes down into an underground vault designed to withstand a nuclear blast, and they acted fast enough, then they could possibly survive. Seems like a bit too much of a coincidence, or a bit too much of a wasted opportunity not to be the case.

I could see a pre-war VR sim tutorial of sorts.
A re-integration into the outside world orientation type of thing that Vault dwellers have to complete before heading outside.

Man, I dunno how much distance you would be able to get and still be in Boston.
The city proper is only 40 some odd square miles.

I actually believe gkk7z's theory that the player will either be the mother or the father depending on the gender they pick. If the leaked documents Kotaku got 6 months ago are true (and they have been on everything so far), then the player is in the military. Important enough that they are giving a briefing to other military personnel.

I believe the nuclear blast is going to be the LAST thing the player sees before waking up from cryostasis. (Nuclear explosions, even ones that close, are NOT immediately or guaranteed to be fatal. Read accounts from Hiroshama - and the blast we see in the trailer is a lot farther away than what people survived in Hiroshama. The nuke hits in Brighton, and Vault 111 is in Watertown in Whitney Hill Park. They are about 4 miles apart.) The family will collapse onto the elevator lift. The lift and the vault door at the bottom are both pressure sealed, so the elevator shaft works like an air-lock. If the people in Vault 111 ARE important military people and families (and they probably are, if chosen to be preserved in stasis), then it makes sense that the Vault security will lower the elevator shaft, go out in Rad-Suits, drag the survivors off the lift, re-seal it and vent the air in the shaft before opening the Vault door and injecting everyone with Radaway and putting them on ice. No real danger of radiation contamination for the vault.

The blast will be the reason the spouse, the kid, or both don't make it. They're radiation burns were too bad to save. The player isn't a ghoul because they've been on a slow-drip of Rad-Away on ice for 200 years. That's my theory.

That's simply not true. Again, look at the eye-witnesses and survivors from the only two nuclear attacks in real life. Lots of survivors, some of them very close. Many of them saw the flash and blast, and one doctor in Hiroshama watched the blast and flash happen from several miles away (the same distance our family on top of the vault appear to be from the blast) and was knocked off his feet and thrown across the room into the far wall from the blast wave, and survived with no need for treatment. One girl was driving a tram UNDERNEATH the blast, and remembers the flash, and suddenly the "world exploded and everything was on fire". She thought she had crashed the tram, but woke up in the wreckage, unharmed save for some burns and cuts. She never had radiation sickness, but many of her passengers died instantly or from radiation poisoning.

The drama of barely surviving a nuclear blast is going to be hard to pass up for a story-opening.

As nice a MacGuffin as the blast door lift sounds. We all know how long those damned pressure sealed blast doors take to open (and would have to transport them down and then close and seal again). I stand by "no chance". In the real world anyway

You have to admit, they look pretty much identical. If they're not the same person then they're definitely linked in some way. Lots of the previous "rumours" have now been validated by the trailer, such as a voice acted protagonist. Some of that initial information suggested that the protagonist had in fact been in cryostasis, which would suggest that he was actually alive before the bombs went off, and was then frozen inside the vault and then revived at a later time when the main game takes place.