Media data protection

1. An apparatus comprising:

one or more processors;

memory;

a media including game content that includes at least an executable file and a data file, the data file including content for use by the executable file during run-time execution of the executable file; and

a data protection portion including:

a file system alteration checking portion, stored in the memory and executable on one or more processors, that protects the apparatus from modification of the game content by determining whether the game content has been modified, and

a file signature checking portion for checking whether a file signature of the data file is as expected for media that has not been modified, the file signature checking portion being called during run-time execution of the executable file and after the executable file initiates access of the data file, and

if the game content has been modified, then the use of the data file within the apparatus fails.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the media includes a removable media that is removable from the apparatus.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the removable media includes an optical disk.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the removable media includes a digital video disk.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus includes a game console.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the data protection portion includes a media type checking portion for checking whether a type of the media is as expected for media that has not been copied.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the media type checking portion reduces the possibility of copying the game content from a pressed disk to an end user writable disk.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a signature check is performed on files as they are accessed.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the data protection portion checks the contents of a file as it is opened.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the file system alteration checking portion allows sector level validation rather than file level validation.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the game content is stored in a game console specific format.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the media content includes non-game content.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the non-game content is stored in a non-game console specific format.

14. A method comprising:

providing a media comprising media content, wherein the media content comprises game content, which includes at least an executable file and a data file, the data file including content for use by the executable file during run-time execution of the executable file; and

examining the data file for modifications, the examining comprising:

comparing an actual signature of the data file with an expected signature of the data file, the comparing initiated during run-time execution of the executable file and after the executable file initiates access of the data file; and enabling access to the data file based on the examining.

15. A method as recited in claim 14 , wherein the media content including game content is stored in a modified Universal Disk Format (UDF), the game content within the media content is stored in a different format and the modified UDF references location of the game content on the media.

16. A method as recited in claim 14 , wherein the media content includes non-game content and game content, and wherein the non-game content may be accessed by either a game console or a non-game console.

17. A method as recited in claim 14 , wherein the comparing further comprises:

checking an actual signature of the executable file in the media content with an expected signature of the executable file; and

confirming an actual signature of a cluster of sectors in the media containing the media content with an expected signature of the cluster of sectors.

18. A computer storage media comprising computer-readable instructions for implementing the computerized method of:

verifying whether a provided media comprising media content conforms to a stored media type definition, the media content including content for use by an executable file during run-time execution of the executable file;

examining the media content for alterations in format and content of files within the media content based on an actual and an expected signature of the media content, the examining initiated during run-time execution of the executable file and after the executable file initiates access of the media content; and

accessing the media content of the provided media if the provided media conforms to the stored media type definition and if the actual signature of the content matches the expected signature of the content.

19. A computer storage media as recited in claim 18 , wherein the examining further comprises:

identifying a cluster of sectors of the provided media containing the media content; and

comparing an actual signature for the cluster of sectors with an expected signature for the cluster of sectors.

20. A computer storage media comprising computer-readable instructions for implementing the computerized method of:

verifying authenticity of a provided media based on media type definition stored in game console executable files in the provided media;

matching actual signatures of the game console executable files with expected signatures of the game console executable files if the authenticity of the provided media is verified;

executing the game console executable files if the actual signatures match the expected signatures;

requesting game content data files to be loaded by the game console executable files and during run-time execution thereof, the game content data files including content for use by the game console executable files;

comparing actual signatures of the game content data files with expected signatures of the game content data files before the game content data files are loaded; and

launching game content on the provided media if the actual signatures of the game content data files match the expected signatures of the game content data files.

21. A computer storage media as recited in claim 20 , wherein the comparing comprises checking whether actual signatures of clusters of sectors containing the game content data files match expected signatures of the clusters of sectors.