In 1999, two expansions were released: Grand Theft Auto: London, 1969 and Grand Theft Auto: London, 1961. This was deliberately contrived by the game's publishers: they hired the notorious tabloid publicist Max Clifford to create a furor in the media, which resulted in a huge demand for the game. Still, the game was a massive success, almost entirely on the basis of the controversy it generated. Ironically, the first game wasn't all that gruesome - simple blotches of red on the pavement marked your kills, and the detail regarding damage to your current car was not high. All the while, the player had to keep from losing all his lives, as well as keeping out of the clutches of the police. The missions included such noble exploits as robberies, assassinations, drug-running, kidnappings, and blowing up buildings. It wasn't necessary to complete or even accept these missions (which could be done in whatever order the player wished), but doing so was worth a lot of money, and raised the amount of money the lesser activities were worth.

The main source of income, though, was by accepting missions from a faceless, voiceless criminal boss, by either answering certain phones or getting into certain cars. The lowest-paying activity was damaging cars by fender-benders or by shooting them more money was earned by stealing cars, destroying cars, and running down pedestrians more still by selling the stolen cars down at the docks and by killing police officers. The game offered an overhead view of a city, through which your character could walk or drive the basic objective was to gain enough points - or rather, in the context of the game, earn enough money - to progress to the next level. Called Grand Theft Auto, it allowed the player to take the role of a ruthless criminal working his way up the ladder of organised crime. In 1997, when controversy was still running high over the 'immoral' content of games such as Doom, Mortal Kombat, and Carmageddon, Scottish games studio DMA (of Lemmings fame) came out with a game to top them all. Lyrics from the first game's Signature Song, ' Grand Theft Auto' by Craig Conner

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