The GTA series began in 1998. It was crude, but innovative. Players are in control of a character completing various jobs, which include murder amongst other things. The series began to grow by word of mouth because of its open-ended nature. It's considered a virtual sandbox, allowing players to explore freely, killing or not.
It would be released on various consoles, including the Sega Dreamcast, Sony Playstation, PC, and even the Game Boy Color. A sequel, along with an expansion pack to the original (which added new stages and missions), was released. It wasn't until Grand Theft Auto III on the Playstation 2 that parents and congress began to make their voices heard.
GTA III was a fully 3-D expansion on the concept. The gore and violence were far more realistic with a new viewpoint. Where the original version were played from a top down perspective, GTA III dropped players down to street level, just behind their character. They were free to do as they wished, whether that was shooting and killing, performing car stunts, racing, putting out fires (after stealing a fire truck), or just exploring.
The game's missions were the section of the game that caused the most controversy. As a hitman, players were required to kill to advance. The games M rating was debated as the title became hard to find due to sales expectations set too low. It was banned in multiple countries, while those that allowed it could barely keep out of gamer's hands.
It would share a sequel in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, set in the 1980s. Most of the media attention and gameplay aspects were no different from III. The third and most recent sequel, San Andreas, could very well change the landscape of video games forever.