Accelerometers are all the rage these days, with Apple's iPod Touch leading the way. Incidentally, the iPod Touch has also touted itself as a gaming platform, which has to rankle Nintendo, which sells the most popular platform in the portable gaming market, the Nintendo DS. Nintendo also was first to the market with a touchscreen device too, let's remember.

Oh, and then there's the Nintendo Wii, of course, which uses both an accelerometer as well as a motion-sensing device.

So it's really no surprise that Nintendo has patented a "direction" card for the Nintendo DS, according to Siliconera, which translated the Japanese patent application. It's important to note that the patent covers the "DS Houi Sensor Card," with "Houi" meaning "direction". To me, that doesn't necessarily specify either an accelerometer or motion-sensing device. Either, however, promises a new generation of oddly bobbing, bouncing gamers on the go.