.fortune

In the Xbox version of Halo: Combat Evolved, if you create a profile, rename an existing one, or create a map name and name it ".fortune" (Dot located with shift on), a random saying will appear on the screen.

The ".fortune" on the text box will then also instantly disappear, thus rendering ".fortune" an impossible account name. However, if you place a symbol at the beginning (Such as a left parenthesis) to make ".(fortune", and subsequently use the arrows to move to and delete the parenthesis when finished, ".fortune" will remain, allowing you to use it as a profile name.

Also, in Halo 3 and Halo Reach, if you set the description of a map variant to ".fortune", it will instead change to say "My modem is on fire."

List of Fortune Quotes

• All your hard work will eventually pay off
• Everything lies in silence
• If anything just cannot go wrong, it will anyway (The first of Murphy's Laws)
• Nature always sides with the hidden flaw. (A subdivision of Murphy's Law)
• Never wear your best pants when fighting for freedom.
• Rest is good, but idleness is its brother.
• Don't wear your best pants in war. (Rare)
• Smile when you're ready.
• You cannot fall off the floor. (Another Murphy's Law)
• Your luck is about to change.
• Sorry, this fortune is temporarily out of order. (Rare)
• I like beans. (Rare)
• SoB dawg! (Extremely Rare)

Trivia

• This joke was also present on Bungie.net's Myth metaserver.
• The Easter egg is similar to the fortune command found on most Unix-compatible operating systems. Like the fortune command in Unix, the Halo: Combat Evolved egg draws a random quote from a database, albeit much smaller in size than the lists accompanying most fortune implementations.
• Half-Life's "Haiku" console command has a similar result, but with three random lines instead of one.