Method and apparatus for searching replay data

1. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program for use with a computer simulation, the computer program adapted to cause a processor based system to execute steps comprising:

generating metadata that corresponds to replay data, wherein the replay data is generated in response to an execution of the computer simulation, and wherein the metadata includes textual descriptions of one or more events that occurred during the execution of the computer simulation;

storing the generated metadata in a searchable text file;

receiving a search request comprising a description of a game event;

searching for replay data matching the description of the game event using an index created from crawling through a plurality of searchable text files comprising the textual descriptions of one or more events;

generating a result set comprising one or more replay data having metadata that satisfies the search request;

receiving a selection of one or more of the metadata of the result set;

retrieving the replay data corresponding to the selected one or more metadata; and

playing back the retrieved replay data;

wherein the textual descriptions of one or more events are at least partially generated during the execution of the computer simulation; and

wherein the computer simulation comprises a computer game.

2. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1 wherein the receiving a search request comprises receiving a user selection of a search option, wherein the search option is one of a plurality of search options displayed to the user by a playback device.

3. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1 further adapted to cause a processor to execute steps comprising:

retrieving replay data corresponding to each of the one or more metadata of the result set from the database; and

playing back the retrieved replay data.

4. The computer readable storage medium of claim 3 , wherein the playing back of the retrieved replay data comprises aggregating the replay data to create a clip, and playing back the clip.

5. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the generating the metadata comprises generating a textual description for each of the one or more events of the computer simulation.

6. A method for use with a computer simulation, comprising:

generating, with a processor based apparatus, metadata that corresponds to replay data, wherein the replay data is generated in response to an execution of the computer simulation, and wherein the metadata includes textual descriptions of one or more events that occurred during the execution of the computer simulation;

storing the generated metadata in a searchable text file;

receiving a search request comprising a description of a game event;

searching for replay data matching the description of the game event using an index created from crawling through a plurality of searchable text files comprising the textual descriptions of one or more events;

generating a result set comprising one or more replay data having metadata that satisfies the search request;

receiving a selection of one or more of the metadata of the result set;

retrieving the replay data corresponding to the selected one or more metadata; and

playing back the retrieved replay data;

wherein the textual descriptions of one or more events are at least partially generated during the execution of the computer simulation; and

wherein the computer simulation comprises a computer game.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:

associating a frame number with the metadata, wherein the frame number corresponds to a location of the replay data corresponding to the metadata; and

wherein the storing the generated metadata further comprises storing the frame number with the generated metadata.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the receiving a search request comprises receiving a user selection of a search option, wherein the search option is one of a plurality of search options displayed to the user by a playback device.

9. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:

retrieving replay data corresponding to each of the one or more metadata of the result set from the database; and

playing back the retrieved replay data.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the playing back of the retrieved replay data comprises aggregating the replay data to create a clip, and playing back the clip.

11. The method of claim 6 , further comprising displaying the result set in a text format.

12. The method of claim 6 , wherein the generating the metadata comprises generating a textual description for each of the one or more events of the computer simulation.

13. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:

generating and storing a second metadata corresponding to the replay data in a binary file along with the searchable text file;

wherein the second metadata comprises information regarding the replay data and provides an alternative method of searching for the replay data.

14. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor based system that includes a processor and a memory,

wherein the processor based system is configured to:

generate metadata that corresponds to replay data;

store the generated metadata in a searchable text file;

receive a search request comprising a description of a game event;

search for replay data matching the description of the game event using an index created from crawling through a plurality of searchable text files comprising the textual descriptions of one or more events;

generate a result set comprising one or more replay data having metadata that satisfies the search request; and

receive a selection of one or more of the metadata of the result set;

retrieve the replay data corresponding to the selected one or more metadata; and

play back the retrieved replay data

wherein the replay data is generated in response to an execution of a computer simulation, and

wherein the metadata includes textual descriptions of one or more events that occurred during the execution of the computer simulation;

wherein the textual descriptions of one or more events are at least partially generated during the execution of the computer simulation; and

wherein the computer simulation comprises a computer game.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the processor based system is further configured to:

retrieve replay data corresponding to each of the one or more metadata of the result set from the database; and

play back the retrieved replay data.