LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, “THE HAMMER” IS IN THE BUILDING.

NOTE: This is resurfaced from my first blog at our WWEgames website. This will be the only blog that I resurface. The rest of the blogs here will be about me, and making our games better. Personal conversations with all of you.

For starters, damn I missed all of you. It feels like it’s been forever since I’ve been here, but in reality, it’s only been two months. Now, I’ve learned that when you love something as much as I love this, two months can feel like two years, and that’s what happened here. Before the countdown, follow me on Twitter. Why? Because I'm awesome, and can help you. (Twitter: @stephensonmc) Now, begin the countdown...

Last August, I left WWE Games to pursue another opportunity. It was very hard for me, as I left knowing that a piece of me was dying. A big piece. The WWE and games had been engrained in the fabric of my DNA since birth practically, and was mostly responsible for my career. I knew that when I left it would hurt, but I couldn’t have predicted the overwhelming response from you guys. Your reaction to my departure caught me off guard, and I instantly felt guilty for letting all of you guys down. Including those internally who counted on me to be there alongside them. With that said, that’s not the reason why I’m coming back (well, maybe a small part).

For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Marcus Stephenson, and I was a Designer and Community Manager on WWE Games. Most recently, as a Community Manager, I partnered with THQ_Tank to form the most electrifying tag team in this business. We’ll no doubt pickup right where we left off, but to keep this in line with WWE ’12, we’re taking things over the top (one of my favorite movies, by the way), and making it all BIGGER, BADDER, and BETTER (sorry for the cheese)!

What does this mean, though? More than ever, your feedback will be directly impacting the development of future WWE Games. I’ll personally be assisting the design team with development going forward, and that can only mean good things for all of you. There’s no doubt that the design team listens to what you’re saying before making decisions on the games, but we want to take that to another level. We believe that WWE ’12 is a reflection of what you guys want. That can only get better. Know that when you’re talking to me, you’re talking to a Community Manager who is engrained in the design. That’s the way we’re doing things here at THQ. Community matters here, and I don’t mean to butter all of you up, but think of my return as a prime example of what THQ_Tank, Cory, and the rest of the staff here think about all of you. We have the most passionate fans in the world, and we’re using that asset to our advantage.

Now, it’s time to do your part. I’m not saying that you haven’t been already, but like I said, we want to do things “BBB” going forward. You know where we are: @stephensonmc, @THQ_Tank, @RealCoryLedesma. If you have feedback, we want to hear it. Sure, we’ll be on our official forums regularly (CLICK HERE FOR OUR OFFICIAL FORUMS), but if you want answers quickly, our Twitter accounts are up throughout the day, so hit us up there!

Thanks for the warm welcome, everyone. I know I made the right choice in coming back. Cory, thanks for bugging me on Twitter about the WNBA. Tank, we need to come up with a finisher for some of these fools who get out of line.

It’s clobberin’ time!

- Marcus “The Hammer” Stephenson (@stephensonmc)