The creator of the original Grand Theft Auto (GTA) is celebrating its cultural impact two decades on.

Abertay University will host a free discussion panel event with Dave Jones on November 25 to mark the finale to a year-long programme of 20 Years of Games celebrations.

The panel will feature Jones among a group of industry experts who will look back at two decades worth of achievements and what's still to come.

Jones, who was instrumental in setting up the first games degrees at Abertay, said the mainstream acceptance of GTA shows the incredible pace of evolution.

The latest incarnation of GTA is the fastest selling entertainment release ever to reach $1bn.

Jones, whose Regent Games studio is still based in Dundee, said: "I still think GTA is the one game that shows how far the industry has come, and what it went through was a phase of acceptance of the medium in the same way as music and movies had to.

"Initially all games were for kids and because of the technology people weren't thinking of the graphics and story.

"But then equilibrium was reached where games became like any other form of entertainment and we now we accept it."

Despite the exponential growth of the games industry since the release of GTA in October 1997, Jones still believes there is unlimited potential as unexpected new markets continue to emerge.

He said: "Games touch everybody's lives and even though we've been doing it for what seems like a lifetime I still think we are in the very early days - particularly in terms of technology.

"We like to think we create these stylised virtual worlds, but in some ways we are still in the stone-age and the limitations of technology can block the ideas we have."