Everyone on this website will certainly remember the name 'Stepto' aka Stephen Toulouse mainly for his reputation as the 'BanHammer' on the Xbox Live enforcement team. He was the one responsible for so many of you being banned from Xbox Live for being naughty boys and girls! Toulouse has worked for Microsoft since 1994 in various roles and became head of the Xbox Live enforcement team in August 2007 where he quickly gained the nickname of the 'Banhammer'. On February 3, 2012 Stephen announced his departure from Microsoft stating that.. "This is a positive thing. I have nothing but confidence in the future of Microsoft and specifically Xbox and Xbox LIVE ..." Toulouse is now returning to Microsoft as the Director of Community Engagement at Black Tusk Studios, a studio owned by Microsoft which is currently working on the next Gears of War project. The Banhammer readily admits he has "Been in hiding" for the past couple of years, but has been "shadowing the Gears forums and looking at people’s thoughts." says Toulouse "I don’t just want us to make the best next generation Gears of War game ever, I want to make sure that everyone playing the game today feels just as good today and down the road in their investment into our amazing world as we do." Toulouse is now looking for feedback, he wants you guys to flood him with your feedback in fact, you can find Toulouse now that he is finally out of hiding at any of these places to bombard him with questions: Stepto@microsoft.com Stepto@stepto.com twitter.com/Stepto @GearsofWar @BlackTuskStudio.
