With Tomonobu Itagaki's departure from Tecmo last year, the future of the Ninja Gaiden series is in limbo. The rights remain with Tecmo, and we're sure to get a sequel someday, but until then, ninja fans will have to rely on the upstart Ninja Blade, which launches April 7 on Xbox 360. 

The game is being developed by FromSoftware, the team behind the checkered Tenchu series, and published by Microsoft Game Studios. It follows the story of a silent-but-deadly ninja (I'm guessing) who's caught fighting a rapidly mutating virus that turns the citizens of Tokyo into an "infected monster horde." Sound familiar? We're thinking Resident Evil meets ninja hero, though I suspect the zombies will move at a more action-friendly speed here.

Luckily, interested gamers won't have to drop $60 to see if Ninja Blade is a good substitute: a downloadable demo of the mature rated game arrives March 9 on Xbox Live.