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Ninja Gaiden II demo stalking XBL

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.

Category: Bulletin
Posted by TomM_GScom, Mar 27, 2008 11:19 am PT   119 Comments

Comments

smerlus

Posted Mar 27, 2008 11:31 am PT

whoa... great news

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  • 19 of 21 users agree
dabomb691

Posted Mar 27, 2008 11:32 am PT

Cannot. Wait. For this game omfguahwdiauhdwlkah

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  • 27 of 31 users agree
reckeweg

Posted Mar 27, 2008 11:33 am PT

Awesome can't wait to download it

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  • 16 of 17 users agree
beedouk

Posted Mar 27, 2008 11:36 am PT

see this is one of the reasons i got back into console gaming

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  • 17 of 20 users agree
shaggyaz

Posted Mar 27, 2008 11:41 am PT

HELL YEAH!!!

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  • 17 of 20 users agree
rufnek69

Posted Mar 27, 2008 11:41 am PT

ohh nice. Love Ninjas. Way better than boring pirates.

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  • 27 of 32 users agree
Zuul13

Posted Mar 27, 2008 11:42 am PT

w00tz!

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  • 8 of 15 users agree
Sandro909

Posted Mar 27, 2008 11:47 am PT

Why would they announce a demo if they aren't going to give a date?

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  • 12 of 17 users agree
Agreb91

Posted Mar 27, 2008 11:49 am PT

Awesome. I will check this out!

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  • 10 of 11 users agree
SuperSTi5

Posted Mar 27, 2008 11:49 am PT

Nice, I just hope the demo is earlier in May, it would be silly if it was later because it is so close to the actual game.

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  • 7 of 12 users agree
Food_Nipple

Posted Mar 27, 2008 11:51 am PT

kick ass

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  • 10 of 11 users agree
jcloverboy

Posted Mar 27, 2008 11:56 am PT

great demo - but were talking only a couple weeks b4 the game is out.

I'll give it a spin but I won't want to ruin the game that'll be out in the first week of June.

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  • 6 of 7 users agree
tomamagic

Posted Mar 27, 2008 11:58 am PT

The answer to DMC4 . . .hope it delivers and more!

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  • 12 of 15 users agree
HumanTorch101

Posted Mar 27, 2008 12:00 pm PT

I now have a reason to complete Ninja Gaiden Black that i got from the Xbox Originals. I just need to draw myself away from CoD4 to do it which will be very tough.

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  • 7 of 7 users agree
football_legend

Posted Mar 27, 2008 12:00 pm PT

Never been a fan of hack and slash games as I didn't play NG. But I know what this game means to alot of gamers, so I am willing to give the demo a try. Who knows, it might change my preference.

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  • 10 of 15 users agree
Lightchaos

Posted Mar 27, 2008 12:02 pm PT

Ninja Gaiden II will be great! Can't wait to try the demo!

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  • 8 of 11 users agree
VenomRitual

Posted Mar 27, 2008 12:02 pm PT

hope it'll be good.

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  • 2 of 2 users agree
jimmyand360

Posted Mar 27, 2008 12:07 pm PT

Loved Ninja Gaiden Black. I can't wait to play the demo.

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  • 4 of 5 users agree
INFAMOUSHAVOC

Posted Mar 27, 2008 12:07 pm PT

Ryu back and in 1080p slashing away

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  • 4 of 6 users agree
SilverArrows

Posted Mar 27, 2008 12:08 pm PT

Ninja Gaiden .... best action game of all time. No pressure to raise the bar again for Team Ninja

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  • 6 of 8 users agree
prioritymail

Posted Mar 27, 2008 12:13 pm PT

This game is looking to be one of the stand-outs this year, cant wait to try the demo!

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  • 8 of 9 users agree
paul52181

Posted Mar 27, 2008 12:13 pm PT

I think it's cool that they're releasing a demo, but for me...I won't even bother. It's such a highly anticipated game for me that I don't wanna ruin the experience with a demo. I'm 100% sure that I'm getting it, so I don't need any further convincing.

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  • 7 of 7 users agree
chief_527

Posted Mar 27, 2008 12:14 pm PT

I can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  • 5 of 5 users agree
Thornscar

Posted Mar 27, 2008 12:25 pm PT

Microsoft always has the best games, and heres another one of its aces.

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  • 12 of 17 users agree
splinter-OP

Posted Mar 27, 2008 12:25 pm PT

Sweet!

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  • 3 of 4 users agree
virtual_ninja

Posted Mar 27, 2008 12:26 pm PT

Yes sire, NGII is a candidate for GOTY, its good to own a xbox360.

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  • 8 of 12 users agree
omarguy01

Posted Mar 27, 2008 12:26 pm PT

sweet! cant wait

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  • 2 of 3 users agree
AzelKosMos

Posted Mar 27, 2008 12:32 pm PT

I would have loved if that made it to store shelves without anyone knowing about it

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  • 7 of 8 users agree
peeweeshift

Posted Mar 27, 2008 12:36 pm PT

Lol I had marked the dragon sword release on my calendar earlier this month in anticipation thinking it was NG2. Then I found out I had gotten them mixed up and June 2nd was the release date. It saddened me that I wouldn't have NG action on my 360 for a while so I replayed the originals and dragon sword. Thankfully this demo is coming so it can quench my thirst

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  • 3 of 3 users agree
stevenk4k5

Posted Mar 27, 2008 12:39 pm PT

Yesssss! Ryu is back and ready to kick some major freakin' ASS! I can't wait for this game! The first Ninja Gaiden was my favorite XBOX game and I have high hopes that this one will live up to it's predecessor.

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  • 5 of 5 users agree
suicidal_T_H

Posted Mar 27, 2008 12:39 pm PT

I don't need to get the demo b/c I know I'm going to get this game when it comes out.

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  • 5 of 5 users agree
re4leonkennedy

Posted Mar 27, 2008 12:41 pm PT

Can't wait for the demo.

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  • 3 of 3 users agree
re4leonkennedy

Posted Mar 27, 2008 12:42 pm PT

[This message was deleted at the request of the original poster]

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  • 0 of 0 users agree
nelfer320

Posted Mar 27, 2008 12:45 pm PT

Awesome I can't wait!!!

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  • 3 of 3 users agree
IRoxxorUrSoxxor

Posted Mar 27, 2008 12:48 pm PT

CUE MASSIVE EXCITEMENT.

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  • 3 of 4 users agree
LivingDeadNinja

Posted Mar 27, 2008 12:52 pm PT

Yeah, announce a demo with no date. And release it just before the actual game comes out, while it's announced 2 months earlier. That sucks, i thought it would mean a demo was coming out soon.

I mean a demo for this isn't needed, since the game is a must buy simply put. That demo would have been useful simply to have fun, but being released so close to the game is lame. By then i'll just be counting days before the game release...

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  • 4 of 4 users agree
Lance_Kalzas

Posted Mar 27, 2008 12:53 pm PT

For those who didn't see a date, the demo releases on April 15th. It's at the bottom of the article.

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  • 4 of 11 users agree
H2Painguin

Posted Mar 27, 2008 12:59 pm PT

God this game is going to be awesome.

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  • 2 of 3 users agree
NachoPSN

Posted Mar 27, 2008 1:02 pm PT

NOT COOL. I thought u meant it was on now...

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  • 3 of 5 users agree
Dill-Man

Posted Mar 27, 2008 1:04 pm PT

Aw cmon Gamespot, be nice with your titles, I thought you meant now

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  • 3 of 3 users agree
hotdork70minus1

Posted Mar 27, 2008 1:07 pm PT

The original Ninja Gaiden on Xbox was absolutely insane ! From footage i've seen so far...this will be just as amazing. God of War and Devil May Cry are awsome but Ninja Gaiden is freakin Ninja Gaiden !

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  • 4 of 6 users agree
Chief_Kuuni

Posted Mar 27, 2008 1:09 pm PT

sounds good here, can't wait to play

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  • 2 of 2 users agree
x-2tha-z

Posted Mar 27, 2008 1:15 pm PT

I can't wait for the demo. I'll play it constantly once I've downloaded it. Well until the full game launches anyway.

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  • 0 of 0 users agree
Pyro77

Posted Mar 27, 2008 1:15 pm PT

Give me a break man, my fingers fingers and pride didn't recover from the first one =(.

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  • 7 of 7 users agree
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