Kudo Tsunoda, the former head of the now closed EA Chicago studio (think Fight Night Round 3 and Def Jam Icon), has taken up a position within Microsoft’s Xbox division. According to a Microsoft staffer, Tsunoda has taken the title General Manager and is the project lead on an upcoming Gears of War title.

As if Jeff Bell’s confirmation — when commenting on the famous “Mad World” Gears of War commercial (YouTube) in November 2006, Bell told GameDaily that the goal of the ad was to “establish Marcus Fenix as the hero of the Gears of War trilogy” — wasn’t enough, we now have another little hint that a follow-up for one of the most successful Xbox 360 games is indeed coming. And with the success of the first game in mind, Microsoft would be foolish outright stupid not to establish Gears of War as one of the biggest franchises for the 360.

The upcoming Game Developers Conference next month, where Microsoft and Epic have the two biggest floor spaces by the way, seems like a likely place for the announcement of the second game to take place…