Nintendo has always been the innovator, trying to one-up the competition with new, never-before-seen features. Though some of these innovations do not always work for the company, the Japanese brand seems to be keen on sticking to its plan. The rumored patent for its Nintendo NX is a proof of that.

Nintendo revealed that they will start phasing out their current console, Wii U, as they will replace it with a new console by 2016. Details about the system, codenamed NX, have been very limited and titles have yet to line up for it just yet, though fans are expecting a new "Mario," "Legend of Zelda," and "Metroid Prime" titles to surface.

The only thing certain at the moment is that the new hardware will not be Android-based, as previously reported. If the patent filed in February proves to be of the NX, then another detail can be confirmed and that is the new console will no longer be utilizing discs.

The Sony PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Xbox 360 are starting to move away from disc use by having some of its titles, AAA games included, available for download, on top of being sold via discs. Nintendo looks like the first console to want to veer away totally from the use of discs.

In the patent filed on Feb. 10 of this year, the "stationary game apparatus" obviously lacked a disc drive. There is, however, a card slot, which suggests that physical copies might still be possible, albeit in SD memory card form.

A summary of the game system read, "An example system includes an internal hard disk drive storing a program and/or data, a communication unit transmitting/receiving a program and/or data via a network, and a processor executing a program stored in the hard disk drive to perform game processing. The example system is not provided with an optical disk drive for reading out a program and/or data from an optical disk."

Most still remain a huge question mark. Nintendo is really doing a good job keeping their NX under lock and key. Keep at this page for further updates on the upcoming next-generation console.