Systems and methods for delivering content over a network

A content distribution system configured for allowing at least one primary user of an account to set up access controls for one or more non-primary users of the account on a user-specific basis, said system comprising:

• a client application that receives one or more access control instructions from a primary user, the access control instructions including at least one access control and an identification of a non-primary user, the access control instructions being applicable to the non-primary user;
• and
• a memory configured for storing the access control instructions with the identification of the non-primary user,
• wherein the access controls are a time restriction.

A content distribution system configured for automatically identifying content units to be updated and updating the content units, said system comprising:

• an end-user computing device having stored thereon content comprised of content units for various content types, the content types including games, metadata, media content, and software programs;
• one or more servers in communication with said end-user computing device over a network said one or more servers storing at least one updated content unit for distribution to said end-user computing device and an updating module;
• and
• an updating module, said updating module configured for comparing at least one content unit stored on said end-user computing device to a representative updated content unit stored on said one or more servers and identifying whether the content unit on said end-user computing device matches the representative updated content unit stored on said one or more servers,
• wherein said updating module is further configured for distributing updated content units to said end-user computing device in incremental units, the incremental units being selected from the group consisting of a data block of a selected optimal size, a group of data blocks, a group of selected files, and a directory tree of files.

A content distribution system comprising:

• a client application for managing content and presenting the content on an end-user computing device, said client application configured to implement a unified virtual disk volume scheme on the end-user computing device;
• and
• one or more servers, wherein data is transferred from said one or more servers to the end-user computing device and stored using the unified virtual disk volume scheme,
• wherein the virtual disk volume scheme includes an arbitrary set of encrypted viral disk volumes implemented on the end-user computing device, the encrypted virtual disk volumes configured to store data of a specific type and secure the data from unauthorized access, and the content type being selected from a group consisting of games, software programs, metadata, and media content.

A system for securing a software program between uses, said system comprising:

• a memory including a software program, the software program stored in said memory in a plurality of content units, each content unit comprising a subset of the software program;
• and
• a processing element configured for analyzing the content units to identify critical content units of the software program and causing at least one of the critical content units to become inoperable when the software program is not in use,
• wherein the critical content units include content units that are required for running at least a portion of the software program.

A system for securing a software program between uses comprising:

• a software program divided into a plurality of content units, each content unit comprising a subset of the software program, said software program comprising a plurality of non-critical content units and a plurality of critical content units, wherein the critical content units are required for operating at least a portion of the software program;
• a memory for storing said software program;
• and
• a processing element configured for removing or corrupting at least one of the critical content units stored in said memory when said software program is not in use,
• wherein, in response to a subsequent request to use said software program, the processing element identifies at least one of the critical content units that was one of removed or corrupted and corrects the critical content unit.

A game delivery system for saving game play progress for one or more users in response to the users pausing or terminating game play, said system configured for:

• receiving instructions from a user to pause or terminate game play for a game;
• in response to receiving the instructions, associating a game play progress point corresponding to play progress in the game with an identification of the user;
• and
• storing the game play progress point and the identification of the user in a memory.

A game delivery system that allows a user to select from a plurality of games and receive delivery of at least one of the plurality of games via a network, the plurality of games including a first set of game software stored in a format able to be executed on one or more arcade game systems, a second set of game software stored in a format able to be executed on a video game console systems, a third set of game software stored in a format able to be executed on a personal computer, and a fourth set of game software stored in a format able to be executed on a general computing device, said system comprising:

• an asset server that stores software game code associated with said plurality of games;
• a host server that directs said asset server to deliver one of said plurality of games to an end-user computing device associated with said user in response to a request from said user;
• and
• a client application that resides on said end-user computing device and is configured to display a list of available games and to accept from said user said request to play a game,
• wherein:
• said one delivered game is delivered via said network to the end-user computing device;
• said client application is configured to transmit said request to said host server and to receive said software game code from said asset server in response to said request;
• and
• said client application comprises a plurality of game players, at least one of said game players including an emulator that is configured to translate original platform machine code blocks to functionally equivalent blocks of compiled instruction set code on a target platform.

A content distribution system configured for allowing a system administrator to set up access controls for one or more content publishers on a publisher-specific basis, said system comprising:

• a client application that receives one or more access control instructions from the system administrator, the access control instructions including at least one access control and an identification of a content publisher, the access control instructions being applicable to the content publisher;
• and
• a memory configured for storing the access control instructions with the identification of the content publisher,
• wherein the access controls allow the content publisher to preview the content provided by the content publisher and prevent the content publisher from previewing content provided by another content publisher.