Stephen Toulouse joins Black Tusk Studios' Gears of War team

Stephen Toulouse had worked with Microsoft for 17 consecutive years before he left in February 2012 for "complex and personal" reasons, eventually landing at third-party peripheral creator GAEMS in July of that year. A recent episode of the Major Nelson Radio podcast notes that Toulouse was at one point also at HBO Code Labs, with "was" serving as the key word: Toulouse has now left that position to serve as Black Tusk Studios' Director of Community Engagement for the Gears of War series.

Toulouse explains his return a bit further on his blog, stressing that he's a "gamer first and foremost," and that Black Tusk's request to help with a series that Toulouse is personally passionate about was too good to pass up. Toulouse tweeted about his new title as well, describing his role on the team as "key in coordinating gamer feedback into future titles as well as keeping things fun and exciting with existing ones."

If you think that's an open invitation to message Toulouse with your hopes for the Gear franchise, well ... it kind of is. Toulouse's blog asks fans to reach out to the Gears of War and Black Tusk Twitter accounts, or to his personal handle. Emails are also welcomed at stepto (at) stepto (dot) com. Whichever channel you use, Toulouse hopes to hear about "everything you like, dislike, want, don't want and hope for" concerning the Gears universe, and while he can't promise a response to every single one, Toulouse adds that "all thoughts will be entertained."