News straight from Major Nelson’s blog:

I wanted to let you know that on April 15, 2010 Microsoft will discontinue Xbox LIVE service for original Xbox consoles and games, including Xbox 1 games playable on Xbox 360. Our first step in this process will be to turn off auto-renewals for those members who only use Xbox LIVE on a v1 Xbox. While I can’t comment on the specifics, this change will allow us to continue evolving the LIVE service with new features and experiences that fully harness the power of Xbox 360 and the Xbox LIVE community. We did not make this decision lightly, but after careful consideration and review we realize that this decision will allow us unprecedented flexibility for future features.

So, I guess this means that the 100 friends limit will finally be lifted… Microsoft previously stated that the original Xbox was the reason that the limit could not be removed. Only the future can tell what other features may come to light due to this move.

Also, it means that those copies of Ghost Recon that some of us still have for the original Xbox won’t work on-line anymore. A big shame as it was a great game. I was going to suggest a last meet up for old times, but that would be pointless as the voice communication was never fixed for people that played them on a 360!

Thoughts??

It’s been discussed in the forum before, but a few days ago saw the release of Left 4 Dead, styled as if it had come out on the NES back in the day (a ‘de-make’). It comes in at a paltry 19.5mb and is a standalone executable, no NES emulator needed, just a PC with a keyboard! You can play 2 player co-op (the creator tells why there is no 4-player co-op in the read me file) and the game has all the special infected. I bumped into a hunter which are surprisingly hard to kill! It’s very faithful to the original, there is even some of the music in there, all be-it with an ‘8-bit flair’. Awesome stuff… now hosted right here on The Muppet Clan website.

Click here to download the 8-bit Zombie goodness!!

Left 4 Dead - NES styleeeee!

Hi all. Just a quick update on the Muppet Meet in London this year. Gonzo, Animal and Demon met up for a few beers before having to go our separate ways at the tube. We re-visited ‘Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese’ which unfortunately was only open upstairs… was a shame because part of the appeal of that pub is the catacomb type cellar you can drink in. Still, the booze more than makes up for it. We then went on to crawl about 3 different pubs and drink many more beers… all in all a fun night, just a shame more people couldn’t make it. I hope Gunner and the Hitcher get well soon and that all the Muppets have a really good Christmas and New Year. See you on-line.

4 images have been posted in the ‘Muppet Meets’ section of the website. 1 is particularly grim, maybe don’t look at them if you feel ill or are eating!

In some very cool news it turns out that the cast of the orginal Left 4 Dead (Bill, Zoe, Francis and Louis) will be meeting up with the cast of Left 4 Dead 2 (Coach, Nick, Rochelle and Ellis) in an upcoming DLC for the 2nd game titled, ‘The Passing’.

President of marketing, Doug Lombardi has been noted as saying, “The Passing will become the most important campaign in the Left 4 Dead story, as all the survivors are being called together in one campaign.”

The Passing takes place right after the Dead Center campaign of L4D2. Set in a small town in rural Georgia, players assume the role of the L4D2 Survivors as they meet with the L4D1 characters. In addition to a new co-operative campaign and an all new narrative, “The Passing” will include new arenas for Survival, Versus and Scavenge modes and introduce a new co-operative challenge mode of play. The Passing will also include a new “uncommon common” zombie class, melee weapon, and firearm.

Look for Left 4 Dead 2: The Passing in early spring for the PC and Xbox 360. Pricing will be announced closer to launch says Valve. For more information, check out www.l4d.com.

Sounds really cool to me, had a look to see if I could find images or more news, but this is it for the moment. Stay tuned for more!

As of posting this you have to search manually for the expansion. For some reason, it costs 800 M$ points! No idea why, maybe it’s a glitch… but I figure you should get refunded if you buy it now and they lower it later, so I clicked download in a frantic panic!!

Wish I could play with you all on this one, but I doubt I will be able to. Who knows, maybe I will see someone on-line today!!