Security system for video game system with hard disk drive and internet access capability

A video game system for executing a video game program and generating game play graphics for display on a user's display comprising:

• a game processing system for executing a video game program and generating game play graphics on a user's display;
• communications circuitry, coupled in use to said game processing system and to a user's communications network, for linking said game processing system to a server;
• a writeable mass storage device coupled in use to said game processing system for storing at least graphics data loaded therein;
• a mass storage device controller for controlling access to said writeable mass storage device, and for generating a game request packet and transmitting the game request packet in encrypted form to server.

A video game system for executing a video game program and generating game play graphics for display on a user's display comprising:

• a game processing system for executing any one of a plurality of video game programs selected by a user;
• communications circuitry, coupled in use to said game processing system and to a user's communications network, for linking said game processing system to a server;
• a writeable mass storage device coupled in use to said game processing system for storing at least graphics data loaded therein,
• a mass storage device controller for controlling access to said writeable mass storage device by determining the areas of the mass storage device to which a game selected by a user is permitted to access.

A method of securely operating a video game system having a game processing system for executing a video game program and for accessing the Internet, said video game system including a mass storage device, comprising the steps of:

• requesting by a user a video game to be downloaded for storage on said mass storage device;
• transmitting an encrypted game request to a server which uniquely identifies said mass storage device, said request being generated by a mass storage device controller associated with said mass storage device;
• and
• downloading said game program in ecrypted form via the Internet to the video game system so as to define the areas of said mass storage device that said game program has permission to access;
• and
• writing said downloaded game program to said mass storage device.

An emulator for emulating on one computing system a video game system of a different hardware configuration than said one computing system, said emulator being operable to simulate a video game system including the following elements:

• a game processing system for executing a video game program and generating game play graphics;
• communications circuitry, coupled in use to said game processing system and to a user's communications network, for linking said game processing system to a server;
• a writeable mass storage device coupled in use to said game processing system for storing at least graphics data loaded therein;
• a mass storage device controller for defining partitions in said mass storage device in response to encrypted commands received from said server.

An emulator for emulating on one computing system a video game system of a different hardware configuration than said one computing system, said emulator being operable to simulate a video game system including the following elements:

• a game processing system for executing a video game program and generating game play graphics;
• communications circuitry, coupled in use to said game processing system and to a user's communications network, for linking said game processing system to a server;
• a writeable mass storage device coupled in use to said game processing system for storing at least graphics data loaded therein;
• a mass storage device controller for controlling access to said writeable mass storage device, and for generating a game request packet and transmitting the game request packet in encrypted form to server.

A method of emulating by a computing system having a first mass storage device, a video game system having a game processing system for executing a video game program and for accessing the Internet and having a second mass storage device, comprising the steps of:

• requesting by a user a video game to be downloaded;
• emulating the transmission of an encrypted game request by a mass storage device controller associated with said second mass storage device of said game processing system to a server which uniquely identifies said second mass storage device,
• downloading said game program in encrypted form via the Internet to the video game system so as to define the areas of said second mass storage device that said game program has permission to access in response to the transmission of an emulated encrypted game request;
• and
• writing said downloaded game program to said first mass storage device associated with the computing device performing the emulation.