HD Universe

The Grand Theft Auto IV Era refers to a current and ongoing canonical era of Grand Theft Auto games. These games are grouped together mainly because they have interlinking characters, storylines, and locations, specifically GTA IV's rendition of Liberty City and the state of Alderney. This is also known as the fourth generation of GTA games released from 2008 to present.

Grand Theft Auto IV
Grand Theft Auto IV (2008) is set in Liberty City in 2008. It was the first GTA game to be released simultaneously for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles. In August 2008, Rockstar announced that they were going to publish GTA IV for PC. GTA IV's game engine is the Rockstar Advanced Game Engine (also known as RAGE) used in Rockstar Games presents Table Tennis and the Euphoria physics engine.

The game once again takes place in a redesigned Liberty City that very closely resembles New York City, much more than previous renditions. The game takes place in 2008 and the protagonist is Niko Bellic, a 30 year old from Serbia.

Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City
These are the episode that are available in Episodes from Liberty City. Both The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony were also released on a single disc - Episodes From Liberty City. Unlike the individual episodes, this doesn't require the original GTA IV game. This was released on the same day as The Ballad of Gay Tony on 29th October 2009.

Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned
The Lost and Damned (2009) is the first of two confirmed DLC packs for GTA IV. TLAD requires a full version of GTA IV to run and is exclusive to the Xbox 360. It cannot be purchased in stores, only downloaded via Xbox Live.

TLAD's storyline runs alongside the main GTA IV storyline and the protagonist is Johnny Klebitz, Vice President of the Alderney Chapter of The Lost Brotherhood. TLAD takes place in 2008, just like GTA IV.

Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony
The Ballad of Gay Tony (2009) is the second of two confirmed DLC's. It is also the last DLC of GTA IV.

TBOGT's storyline also runs along the main GTA IV storyline. The protagonist is Luis Fernando Lopez. The story in TBOGT is that Gay Tony is losing his proprietorship in his clubs, owing him many people.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (2009) is set in the same Liberty City as GTA IV, but in 2009, one year later. It is the first Grand Theft Auto game to be released on the Nintendo DS, and was announced at the E3 Nintendo Press Conference on July 15, 2008. This game has several new features, such as touch screen mini-games.

The game focuses on the Triads, and protagonist Huang Lee, the twenty-five year old nephew of Lee Family head Wu Lee. CW takes place in 2009.