Nintendo trademarks 3DSWare and 3DSPlay

That sound at the door? That's the future knocking. The 3DS is here, and it's here to stay.

Oh, it also brought friends.

3DS isn't a formal name, huh? Apparently someone didn't get the memo. Nintendo recently decided to patent just about everything under the sun involving the letters "D" and "S," much to the chagrin of a bunch of Chinese rip-off artists, we're sure.

Among those patents - which include DS Sound, DS Name Card, DS Magazine, DSMovie, DSCamera, and DSCinema - are 3DSWare and 3DSPlay. 3DSWare, we assume, is like DSiWare - only 3D. Huh? What's that? Captain Obvious, you say? Is that, like, a cereal or something?

3DSPlay, meanwhile, has no obvious DSiquivalent. Thankfully, odds are, we'll find out a whole lot more at E3, which is a little less than a month away.

Thanks, Siliconera.