Nintendo, the company that has long ignored the appeal of online gaming, has reportedly patented several new online technologies. The patents are specifically for peripherals optimized for communicating game data across the Internet. What does this mean? Nintendo has long claimed that gamers do not want the ability to play games online. For years Nintendo has stood firm that online gaming wasn’t important, even in the face of highly successful online gaming systems from its competitors: Sony and Microsoft.

It is unclear what the existence of these new patents means but the obvious would point to Nintendo planning to jump into the online gaming market. Better late than never, boys.