Government to introduce compulsory ratings system for games

The government is to introduce a legally enforceable, cinema-style ratings system for videogames, according to a new report.

The lead story in Saturday's Guardian suggests that the new classification system would make it illegal to sell mature-rated games to minors, and is one proposal to come off the back of the Byron Report, due next month.

Ministers are also expected to announce advice on how parents can protect minors from harmful videogame, email and internet material, including keeping consoles and computers out of bedrooms and in view of other family members.

The Department for Children, School and Families and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport have already discussed the Byron review, says The Guardian, and that "Ministers are anxious to strike a balance between the entertainment, knowledge and pleasure children gain from highly profitable internet and computer games, as well as the dangers inherent in the unregulated world of the net and its overuse by children."

The reports also states that MP Julian Brazier is to bring forward a private members bill to give powers for a new body to appeal against decisions made by the BBFC on videogame and DVD classification.