The 1996 sign in Die Rise.

[TheRealMistyBriarton]

Though it's highly probable that the "Since 1996" just refers to Treyarch, there are many other things that point towards the date of the map being played at least after the year 2000. Firstly -

Jin Mao Tower

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jin_Mao_Tower

Construction started - 1994

Completed - 1999

Along with the Oriental Pearl Tower, it is part of the Pudong skyline. Its height was surpassed on September 14, 2007 by the Shanghai World Financial Center which is next to the building. The Shanghai Tower, a 128-story building located next to these two buildings and now under construction, will be even taller.

In-Game Image - Notice where the light is shining on the right, that is the Jin Mao Tower, next to the Shanghai World Financial Center. The Oriental Pearl Tower is also shown.

There are soldiers wearing the SDC uniforms, the hi-tech fridge & more than likely the name "Great Leap Forward". There is probably a few other things aswell.

You can go around in circles forever trying to pinpoint a map date, I think it's impossible & I think it's part of the story. Everything is mixed & merged together. There are serious issues with the zombies timeline.

The only date I would take for canon is Verruckt, because it states the date when you start the game.

I completely discount the SDC soldiers as proof it takes place post 1960, as they just reused models already in the game for the Zombies, that is my belief.

[TheBSZombie]

I've always entertained the idea that we go forward in time at the beginning of Moon. Then whilst we're up there, we're in 2025, or whatever this post 1996 time is.

There is no possible way Moon can take place in 2025, Nuketown debunks this as Nuketown has to take place in the 1960's, due to the fact above ground Nuclear Testing was banned after the 1960's, and Tranzit takes place shortly after Nuketown.

Its 2025, nuclear testing could be in unbanned, they might not have been testing nukes, they may have just not been listening to the ban. Russia had missiles that could destroy earth on moon, we couldn't test above ground missiles?

[PINNAZ]

I completely discount the SDC soldiers as proof it takes place post 1960, as they just reused models already in the game for the Zombies, that is my belief.

That's kind of saying " there are only 4 or 5 Zombies in each map, the rest are reused textures?"

The picture of the Pudong skyline shows that it's not 1960, but there are too many contradictions to be accurate.

Round & round & round we go. No-one can prove a date

[Rissole25]

I've always been under the assumption that from Call of the Dead onwards it's been 2011. So I believe the rockets hit in 2011, and TranZit, Die Rise and Buried take place in 2025. SDC easily could've been formed before 2025, as there is nothing to suggest in the Campaign it was formed that year. In fact, I'd say there's reason to suggest the SDC had been around for a while. I'd have to play through the Campaign again to see the exact conservations, but yeah.

[TheRealMistyBriarton]

I've always entertained the idea that we go forward in time at the beginning of Moon. Then whilst we're up there, we're in 2025, or whatever this post 1996 time is.

There is no possible way Moon can take place in 2025, Nuketown debunks this as Nuketown has to take place in the 1960's, due to the fact above ground Nuclear Testing was banned after the 1960's, and Tranzit takes place shortly after Nuketown.

Its 2025, nuclear testing could be in unbanned, they might not have been testing nukes, they may have just not been listening to the ban. Russia had missiles that could destroy earth on moon, we couldn't test above ground missiles?

I refuse to believe that the maps take place in 2025...

and most of all, Tranzit has to take place right after Moon because Richtofen always mentions at the beginning of the game about "just getting used to the Aether"

[Stop Mocking Me0]

I've always entertained the idea that we go forward in time at the beginning of Moon. Then whilst we're up there, we're in 2025, or whatever this post 1996 time is.

There is no possible way Moon can take place in 2025, Nuketown debunks this as Nuketown has to take place in the 1960's, due to the fact above ground Nuclear Testing was banned after the 1960's, and Tranzit takes place shortly after Nuketown.

Why send in the CIA and CDC to scout a planned nuclear test sight? I'd just send in the CDC if anything... But the CIA makes it look more like this nuclear disaster was not planned and is mear coincidence that this reaction happened in nuke town...

[TheRealMistyBriarton]

I've always entertained the idea that we go forward in time at the beginning of Moon. Then whilst we're up there, we're in 2025, or whatever this post 1996 time is.

There is no possible way Moon can take place in 2025, Nuketown debunks this as Nuketown has to take place in the 1960's, due to the fact above ground Nuclear Testing was banned after the 1960's, and Tranzit takes place shortly after Nuketown.

Why send in the CIA and CDC to scout a planned nuclear test sight? I'd just send in the CDC if anything... But the CIA makes it look more like this nuclear disaster was not planned and is mear coincidence that this reaction happened in nuke town...

You do bring up a good point, but I think that was just for gameplay purposes.

[ETEl2NAL407]

The impact of the missiles creating such destruction on one side would cause earthquakes that would still greatly damage the other side. That is what I have been saying. That destruction would make it so people on the other side of the earth could not go back to their regular lives because the damage is so great, and that combined with zombies would not allow for more things to be built.

You must also understand that Asia also gets stuff from us like they give to us, we are co-dependent, so things would be chaotic not just in the western hemisphere in terms of resources. Theoretically they could come back from it, but the chances are slim. This isn't just one side of the earth. It is still on a global scale. It's nothing like 9/11, so stop making such a silly comparison.

Also, the blasts were pretty damn big, I'm pretty sure it's bigger than a simple nuclear blast.

You may not think it's past 2025, but yeah, there is sufficient evidence to say it is. More so that it being in the 60s.

Sure, it may take a few days after the initial shock for life to continue. Earthquakes are a possibility, but Asian countries have been dealing with them for centuries. Japanese architecture is known for it's ability to withstand an earthquake. See this article.

No government is just going to give up after devastation, regardless if their biggest trading partner is out of commission. They have contingency plans. Immediately, such plans would have been enacted and every effort to make life continue would have been made in countries not directly affected by the blasts.

The missiles, though quite a remarkable disaster in history, would not shut down life on the planet. They would make it quite difficult, but not impossible. As I've stated before, the fallout would cause the worst damage, but we don't see evidence of fallout in Die Rise...We only see floating rocks and debris and obvious signs of damage to the buildings.

Now, look at the skies in the western hemisphere maps. They're black, cloudy, thick with fog. This is fallout. There's potentially a haze of radiation or dust from the impact of the missiles and it's clouding up the atmosphere. The fact that this is not the case on Die Rise is a clear indication that not much time has elapsed from TranZit to Die Rise, but time has elapsed from Moon...Rocks don't take orbit like that immediatley.

So, to me, there is a gap in time from when the missiles hit, to when we actually play as the N4. Long enough time for fallout to occur in the close vicinity of the blasts, long enough for jettisoned rock to find an orbit and move around the planet, but not enough time for the atmosphere to carry the fallout across the globe. This does make sense that one would happen prior to the other. Whereas fallout is a slow process, affected by rain, storms, and the electromagnetic field of the Earth (of which could have been altered, but I really don't want to analyze that: too much work), the orbiting debris is affected mostly by the gravity of the Earth and their initial velocity at the time they're blasted away.

So, if 9/11 is a silly comparison...What about the Tsunami in Indonesia? Hurricane Katrina? Pearl Harbor? The Holocaust? Regardless of what disaster you reference, natural or man-made, life proves that it will survive and this includes construction.

[Stop Mocking Me0]

Dude... You can not compare the destruction of the earth and the dawn of the undead to a natural disaster or manmade horror...

The earth is gone... most people are dead, those who aren't are fighting for their lives... You saw the clips of misty and co. when they had the flashbacks of their fighting: Zombies everywhere... Zombies do tend to stop production of perfume and other Chinese goods.... They've run to find a haven, a safe place... Not a good deal.... Many were unfortunate and became the undead. Pity, but true.

There are zombies on top of s skyscraper on the opposite side of the earth as the nukes hit! The damage is pretty devastating to both sides!

If i had to say, Tranzit would have taken place a few week, or months, after nuketown/moon, Die rise takes place directly after tranzit. And buried takes place a few months or so after Die Rise.

All of this happening past 1996.

[ETEl2NAL407]

Dude... You can not compare the destruction of the earth and the dawn of the undead to a natural disaster or manmade horror...

The earth is gone... most people are dead, those who aren't are fighting for their lives... You saw the clips of misty and co. when they had the flashbacks of their fighting: Zombies everywhere... Zombies do tend to stop production of perfume and other Chinese goods.... They've run to find a haven, a safe place... Not a good deal.... Many were unfortunate and became the undead. Pity, but true.

There are zombies on top of s skyscraper on the opposite side of the earth as the nukes hit! The damage is pretty devastating to both sides!

If i had to say, Tranzit would have taken place a few week, or months, after nuketown/moon, Die rise takes place directly after tranzit. And buried takes place a few months or so after Die Rise.

All of this happening past 1996.

I refuse to believe that. What evidence do you have that Zombies are present on skyscrapers in Die Rise as the nukes hit?

[GRILL]

Round & round & round we go. No-one can prove a date

actually PINNAZ, IMO, you've come the closest to proving the date seeing as you've actually provided evidence.

I refuse to believe that the maps take place in 2025...

and most of all, Tranzit has to take place right after Moon because Richtofen always mentions at the beginning of the game about "just getting used to the Aether"

Just because you "refuse" to believe something doesn't mean you've disproven anything. It actually comes off a bit as bias because, most theorists who are aiming to prove something, are open to both sides and consider all of the information. PINNAZ provided you with several examples of evidence supporting the theory that Die Rise takes place after 1996 - and all you can argue back is about used textures for SDC soldiers? What about the Jin Mao tower? What about the Shanghai World Financial Center? What about the fridge that tells you weather conditions, traffic hazards, and other advanced features?

Again, this is not to dissuade theory conversation - I simply am saying that to make such a statement as "Die Rise didn't happen post 1996 and I'm here to prove it" requires proof. Just that fact that 3arc started up in 1996 is not enough to refute in-game evidence, which we have mountains of.

I'm not saying that we are right either. No body knows! PINNAZ said it best "round and round we go - nobody can prove a date". But I have to acknowledge his efforts because he actually did provide evidence.

[MysteryMachineX]

Open your eyes Misty. You're blinded.

The entire world was blown up at the same time. This means that any data found in Nuketown, Green Run, Great Leap Forward, and Resolution 1295 details the world as it was before the nukes hit. All of those maps also, besides Nuketown, detail the post-apocalyptic scenario layered on top of that. Therefore, Nuketown, Green Run, Great Leap Forward, and Resolution 1295 all contain data that can pinpoint WHEN the world was blown up.

Now here is one point of logic. If I have a camera from 1910 and a camera from 1920, what time am I in? The answer is 1920 or beyond. If I have a camera from 1910 and a camera from 111049250, what time am I in? 111049250 or beyond. If you have an object from the past and an object from the future, you MUST be residing within the future. The one and only exception was if you took the camera from 111049250 back in time to present day. However, entire cities cannot be taken back in time, so that point is moot.

1. TranZit has a sentient, emotional, artificial intelligence with a computer brain and a GPS navigational system.

2. Marlton wears a watch from the 1970's.

3. Marlton is very much aware of how the 2020's guns work.

4. TranZit's Power Facility houses technology that visually appears to be similar to that of the 2020's

5. Die Rise contains the Jin Mao Tower, dating from 1998

6. Die Rise has a poster that says "Since 1996".

7. "Since" in posters is used to indicate a long time since, such as Macy's or the Farmer's Almanac

8. Flatscreen monitors appear in the first room in Die Rise.

9. Jumping Jacks are "evolved" descendants of the Gas Zombies.

10. The zombies in Die Rise are wearing unique SDC outfits fit with logos.

11. A poster in Die Rise depicts a man that looks like Tian Zhao from the SDC.

12. Die Rise is in China, Province 22, a division incorporating Shanghai the hasn't existed yet.

13. Die Rise contains a multicolor LED fridge with radio, weather, and traffic.

14. Die Rise has an International Zombie Center.

15. Guns in all these levels are futuristic.

16. Ray Guns and Sliqufiers appear in Studio.

17. Nuketown loading screen depicts a nuclear spacecraft, currently existing only in theory.

18. Buried contains a modern-day mining operation.

19. Buried's intro depicts Broken Arrow as a skyscraper in a big city with a sidewalk and taxi; modern.

20. TranZit, Die Rise, and Buried contains digital NavCards.

21. Samuel and Misty say "I put the F U in future!" and "This is the future", respectively.

22. Reasoning that these maps are post-2025 prevents ALL non-TimeBomb-related paradoxes.

[ETEl2NAL407]

This is a very convincing argument.

I would only speculate that at some point, arriving in 2025+ from the 40's or 10's, or 90's, or 60's, etc.., they did travel forward in time. If so, time travel is possible and it would be foolish to rule it out of the story at any given point.

...However

because MMX makes such a good case, I can also speculate that instead of traveling time, our O4 put themselves into a cryogenic slumber (directly referenced technology via the tanks on the stage at Kino), so they aged slowly...They wanted to give the world decades of zombie slaughter, whole generations of humans cleansed of the infection either through saving or damnation at the hands of these elite warriors. Pretty cool, if you think of it like that...

[Stop Mocking Me0]

Dude... You can not compare the destruction of the earth and the dawn of the undead to a natural disaster or manmade horror...

The earth is gone... most people are dead, those who aren't are fighting for their lives... You saw the clips of misty and co. when they had the flashbacks of their fighting: Zombies everywhere... Zombies do tend to stop production of perfume and other Chinese goods.... They've run to find a haven, a safe place... Not a good deal.... Many were unfortunate and became the undead. Pity, but true.

There are zombies on top of s skyscraper on the opposite side of the earth as the nukes hit! The damage is pretty devastating to both sides!

If i had to say, Tranzit would have taken place a few week, or months, after nuketown/moon, Die rise takes place directly after tranzit. And buried takes place a few months or so after Die Rise.

All of this happening past 1996.

I refuse to believe that. What evidence do you have that Zombies are present on skyscrapers in Die Rise as the nukes hit?

They probably weren't, but they came shortly after....

[EvilHERONeos]

On the debate of that it's just a reference to themselves and that companies usually don't do that, look at the 2000's Spider-Man games. Activision in sky, and Spider-Man 2, if you put your name as HCRAYERT, you get a bunch of bonuses.

However, yes, Moon and NTZ take place at the same time. It's time, however, depends on whether you believe just when Moon takes place. For one sole reason that if they wanted to do all the time travel, Richofy could've just as easily made the O4 teleport to the Moon way before Sam even got there and things would've been different. So what I believe is that Call Of The Dead happens in 2011, then they go to Shang, then they go to Moon. Then Nuketown happens, with Marlton being in the bunker out of time traveling himself. Because hell, maybe he might be a missing link somewhere in the storyline. Maybe he's the Mexican that was supposedly killed. He has Hispanic facial features, in my opinion. Or maybe he's the mystery man in the portrait, teleporting right behind the O4. He's smart. He could rewire/figure it out eventually. That would also explain why he knows so much about guns. Because he's been following their footsteps. And that after all this time, he sees that Moon is getting ready to happen and hides in Nuketown bunker because maybe that's his only safe haven. And him spending all the time killing zombies would explain why he's so scared of germs. That he's fought so much, that he's become paranoid. I dunno. Just a suggestion.

[RdJokr]

On the debate of that it's just a reference to themselves and that companies usually don't do that, look at the 2000's Spider-Man games. Activision in sky, and Spider-Man 2, if you put your name as HCRAYERT, you get a bunch of bonuses.

However, yes, Moon and NTZ take place at the same time. It's time, however, depends on whether you believe just when Moon takes place. For one sole reason that if they wanted to do all the time travel, Richofy could've just as easily made the O4 teleport to the Moon way before Sam even got there and things would've been different. So what I believe is that Call Of The Dead happens in 2011, then they go to Shang, then they go to Moon. Then Nuketown happens, with Marlton being in the bunker out of time traveling himself. Because hell, maybe he might be a missing link somewhere in the storyline. Maybe he's the Mexican that was supposedly killed. He has Hispanic facial features, in my opinion. Or maybe he's the mystery man in the portrait, teleporting right behind the O4. He's smart. He could rewire/figure it out eventually. That would also explain why he knows so much about guns. Because he's been following their footsteps. And that after all this time, he sees that Moon is getting ready to happen and hides in Nuketown bunker because maybe that's his only safe haven. And him spending all the time killing zombies would explain why he's so scared of germs. That he's fought so much, that he's become paranoid. I dunno. Just a suggestion.

I don't see how anyone could've survived after their guts and spleen fell out of their stomach... You have some crazy theory my friend.

[feedthemachine94]

Even without the 1996 sign, there's other things that point out it takes place later than that.