ok i dont know what you guys saw release date wise but i work at gamestop and i counted down to this game for about a month the release date never changed in our release database that i could see which was 9/3/09 with a street date of 9/4/09 which is the day i got it
and the game is sick =P

@Fantasia
its not a skill tree its more like a family tree of swords that you can advance down
but you did see ninjas on kites in can confirm that much