A legally enforceable cinema-style classification system is to be introduced for video games in an effort to keep children from playing damaging games unsuitable for their age, the Guardian has learned.

Under the proposals, it would be illegal for shops to sell classified games to a child below the recommended age. At present only games showing sex or “gross” violence to humans or animals require age limits. That leaves up to 90 per cent of games on the market, many of which portray weapons, martial arts and extreme combat, free from statutory labelling. Ministers are also expected to advise parents to keep computers and games consoles away from children’s bedrooms as much as possible, and ask them to play games in living rooms or kitchens facing outward so caretakers can see what is being played. Blocking mechanisms to protect children from seeing unsuitable games, emails or internet sites are also to be recommended. Discussions have already been held with internet service providers to see if an agreement on a standardised filter can be reached.

A review of violence and video games has been commissioned by Gordon Brown from the former television psychologist Tanya Byron.

She is officially due to report next month, but education and culture ministers have a sense of the report’s direction. She has previously said she would examine the current classification system to see if it is confusing for parents.

The report’s contents, which include a lengthy review of the literature on the impact of video games on children, has been discussed between the Department for Children, Schools and Families and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Under the Video Recordings Act, most games are exempt from the British Board of Film Classification and only lose this exemption if they depict, to any significant extent, gross violence against humans or animals. A new British Standards Institution specification proposed by Ofcom, the communications regulator, and the industry is expected to allow filtering products.