Konami shoots 'Gradius Arc' into core of Japanese trademark database

Konami has filed a Japanese trademark for something called "Gradius Arc." The "Gradius" part is easy enough to parse -- Konami's long-running series of horizontal shooters, last seen in the form of WiiWare's Gradius ReBirth -- but the "Arc" leads us to one particularly fanciful hypothesis.

"Arc" happens to be the frontrunner among rumored names for the PlayStation Motion Controller, having been mentioned by several developers and even trademarked by Sony. Could this be the first evidence of a motion-controlled Gradius game?

However, we shouldn't jump to (horrifying) conclusions based on the presence of a common word that happens to coincide with what a controller might be called. "Arc" could just be a subtitle for a Gradius game that you play with a controller like a sensible person.