VIDEO game consoles with motion controls like the Nintendo Wii could have a greater impact on players and need new rules, says a Government minister.

Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Conner said a new generation of consumer electronics products were challenging the existing classification system.

"Computer game manufacturers encourage users to put down their control pads and participate physically in a game through motion-sensing technology," he said.

"These interactive features are set to increase the impact of the material being enjoyed by consumers.

"We need to consider how increased interactivity will impact on children and what this means for content regulation."

Mr O'Conner also named 3D televisions and DVDs that let people change viewing angles as technologies with "potential for greater interactivity".

The minister was speaking at a conference in Sydney on the impacts of violent and sexualised media on children, run by the Australian Council on Children and the Media and Macquarie University.

Among the speakers at the event was violent video game critic Professor Craig Anderson of the Iowa State University Centre for the Study of Violence.

Professor Anderson, who owns a Wii, said greater research was needed into the effects of motion controllers.

"There are good theoretical reasons for thinking that would be true in at least two different ways," he told news.com.au of the potential for greater impact.

"We know that immersion and involvement improves learning — learning of beliefs, attitudes, expectancies as well as skills.

"To the extent that practising the actual motions of killing in different ways actually improves someone's skill, you sort of have to ask yourself: 'Do we want a generation of people who know how to kill people with knives and swords and guns?'"

"You want your military to be able to do certain things, certain very unpleasant things. That's why we have a military.

"But do you want ten-year-olds to be able to do that?"

Debate around the impact of violent media on children has flared up in recent weeks after a Government call for input on an R18+ classification for games that received around 60,000 submissions.

Mr O'Conner said it was a "staggering" response and showed the degree of public interest in the debate. He also said it was up to those campaigning for an R18+ classification to prove why one should be introduced.

"While the Government does not presently have a view about whether an R18+ classification is necessary, I believe it is incumbent on those who want to change... to present convincing arguments," he said.

Australia currently does not have an adult rating for games. Titles that exceed an MA15+ rating must be refused classification and banned from sale.