UK Plans Gamer Crackdown

Big Brother is looking to land hard on the video game industry in the UK, the Guardian reports, as the government plans to rate games for violence and make it illegal to sell them to children. Government ministers are also considering measures to block kids' Internet access to unsuitable games, emails or sites, the paper reports.

Current age limits on games apply to only the 10% that show sex or "gross" violence. The only other ratings now available are voluntary, pan-European standards impossible to enforce, the Guardian says. Television psychologist Tanya Brown is scheduled to release a review—commissioned by Prime Minister Gordon Brown—of video game violence next month. (More video games stories.)