Team Ninja proved itself to be masters of misdirection and obfuscation earlier this year. While most of the world had its eyes on Ninja Gaiden Sigma for the PlayStation 3 or Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword for the Nintendo DS, Tomonobu Itagaki's studio was quietly plugging away at a follow-up proper to 2004's celebrated Xbox action adventure Ninja Gaiden.
Ninja Gaiden II may have made it all the way to retail without being spotted by a single soul, were it not for a handful of screens inadvertently posted to Microsoft's Japanese Web site in September. Thus outed, Itagaki and co. have been far more forthcoming with updates on Ryu Hayabusa's exploits, and Microsoft said today that "exclusive Ninja Gaiden II content" will surface on Xbox Live on April 15, with a demo for the game emerging from the shadows in May.
Details on what, exactly, the demo would feature were not given. However, for more on what Ninja Gaiden II might offer in anticipation of its June 3 release on the Xbox 360, check out GameSpot's recent coverage.