Ninja Gaiden Sigma 360-bound?

What we heard: With game press outlets in virtually every language but Esperanto, often things get lost in translation. Case in point: this week's rumor that Ninja Gaiden Sigma, the revamped and PS3-bound version of Ninja Gaiden Black, is coming to the Xbox 360.

The rumor got the most exposure on the widely ready NeoGAF forums, which sourced an article on the Japanese-language site GDEX--in which the only words in English were "PS3," "Ninja Gaiden," and "Xbox 360," followed by a "?". (NOTE: The title of the thread has since been changed.)

Obviously, that means that the PS3 version of Nina Gaiden Sigma is coming to the Xbox 360, right? In short, no. The GDEX story links in turn to an article on the German site Xboxfront, which bears the title "'Ninja Gaiden Sigma' nicht für Xbox 360." Auf Deutsch, that means "'Ninja Gaiden Sigma [is] not for the Xbox 360."

"Now it's official," reads the article. "The action title Ninja Gaiden Sigma, which was first announced at this year's Tokyo Game Show by Tecom, is staying PS3-exclusive...reports [Japanese magazine] Famitsu Xbox 360." The Xboxfront/Famitsu article goes on to say that Team Ninja head Tomonobu Itagaki will return his focus of development to the Xbox 360 in the future.

The official story: Tecmo reps did not respond to requests for comment. However, Itagaki himself professed his Xbox 360 loyalty in an interview on GameTrailers.com, in which he talked about how he has little to do with Sigma, which is being produced by his Team Ninja associate Yousuke Hayashi.

"People who are supporters of Xbox should view this as a good thing," he said. "What I've done is pass the baton over to someone else. I can focus even more of my attention on making new games for the Xbox 360. ... My home base is the Xbox 360, and I'm going to continue to make games [for it] at the same pace, if not faster."

As for which games, Itagaki would only say that after he finishes Dead or Alive Xtreme 2, "my next game is going to be what everyone's expecting."

Bogus or not bogus?: One sarcastic NeoGAF poster put it best: "A Japanese site reporting about a German site reporting about an article in a Japanese magazine? Makes sense." Bogus.