: I could also see it as a, "we confused people too much with that Didact
: monologue at the end of Halo 4, so let's put a date on this one so people
: won't be confused" and it backfiring and causing the same confusion.
: :P

Never attribute to malice what can be attributed to fan confusion :P

(I absolutely think the date is there as a sop to lore fans who want to know when it took place, but they hid it partially to downplay it.)

Let's see in a year if we've got Catalog 2.0 running some disclaimers on stuff :P