.fortune

A Halo: Combat Evolved .fortune message.

.fortune is an Easter egg in the Xbox version of Halo: Combat Evolved, as well as Halo 3, Halo: Reach, and Halo: The Master Chief Collection. In all cases, the egg causes a funny message to appear when ".fortune" is written somewhere, but the egg is more extensive in Halo: Combat Evolved. In Halo 3 and Halo: Reach, giving a map variant the description of ".fortune" will produce the phrase "My modem is on fire". In Halo: Combat Evolved, if the player creates a profile, renames an existing one, or creates a map name and names it ".fortune", a random fortune-cookie-like saying will appear on the screen.

The ".fortune" on the text box will then also instantly disappear. However, if the player places a symbol at the beginning (such as a left parenthesis) to make ".(fortune", and subsequently uses the arrows to move to and delete the parenthesis when finished, ".fortune" will remain, allowing the player to use it as a profile name if they so wish.

Activating the Easter egg in Halo: The Master Chief Collection unlocks the Mystery Achievement.

List of Fortune Quotes in Halo: Combat Evolved

All your hard work will eventually pay off^[1]
Everything lies in silence^[1]
If anything just cannot go wrong, it will anyway^[1] (The first of Murphy's Laws)
Nature always sides with the hidden flaw.^[1] (A subdivision of Murphy's Law)
Never wear your best pants when fighting for freedom.^[1]
Rest is good, but idleness is its brother.^[1]
Smile when you're ready.^[1]
You cannot fall off the floor.^[1] (Another Murphy's Law)
Your luck is about to change.^[1]
I like beans.^[1] (Rare)

Trivia

This joke was also present on Bungie.net's Myth metaserver.^[1]
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.^[1]
"My modem is on fire" is a reference to a notorious Unix error message "lp0 on fire".

Sources

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l halo.bungie.org: Halo Easter Eggs

v • d • e

List of Easter eggs in the Halo series

v • d • e Halo: Combat Evolved Easter eggs

.fortune • Birthdate on tank • DMM 2003 • Hellomyname Keyes • Hidden Marine • Hugging Elite • Jonesy • Moa statues • Megg • MRL • Multiplayer Options Spartan Captions • Pistol Kanji • Recorder chip warning • Rex • Siege of Madrigal • Thirsty Grunt • Three dead Grunts

v • d • e

Halo 2 Easter eggs

Battle Rifle-Plasma Rifle • Cairo Station console message• Cowardly Grunt • Face in Halo • Finding the holo-drone • Great Journey unused objects • Grunt with toys • HI BEN • Half-naked guy • Halo 2 skulls • Hidden gargoyle • Hippo in Halo • Jack o' lantern • Limited Collector's Edition Fan Creations • M on top of Coagulation • Main menu message • Megg • Messages on bomb • Outskirts announcements • Outskirts Energy Sword • Reversed messages • Rex • Rooster Teeth • Scarab Gun • Scorpion emblems • Sid • Siege of Madrigal • Soccer ball • Special dialogue Grunts • Why Am I Here • Zanzibar Easter eggs

v • d • e

Halo 3 Easter eggs

Boat on "The Storm" • Carved Letters in Sierra 117 • Cavemen • Chief EG-X • Chinese Food • Draft notice • Easter egg towers • Face on the Moon • Final Grunt • Half-naked guy • Halo music on High Ground • Happy Birthday, Lauren! • Jonesy • Lucky Loonie • Microsoft Sam • Missing person poster • Moa statues • Password-lacking Marine • Reversed messages • SABABWL • Sandbox warning • Secret Marine on The Covenant • Secret room on The Covenant • Siege of Madrigal • Man on Standoff • Suck it Fronk • Urinating Brute • Valhalla wall Easter egg • Windows logo

v • d • e Halo 3: ODST Easter eggs

Siege of Madrigal • Cavemen • Identification badge • License plate Easter eggs • Moa statues • New York Times Easter egg • Weapons card

v • d • e

Halo: Reach Easter eggs

BOB • Chief EG-X • Club Errera Easter egg • DAVE • Dreaming Grunt • Flyable Pelican and Phantom • Four Banshees on The Package • Grunt in a barrel • Hidden weapons on The Pillar of Autumn • John-117 in cryo • Moa statues • Newspaper Easter egg • Original map screenshot Easter egg • Usable Pelican turret • Radio conversations • Reach Racer • Shell-shocked Army trooper • Siege of Madrigal • Spartan dolls Easter egg • Strutting Jun and Emile • Thirteen dead Spartans • Tribute Room

v • d • e Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Easter eggs

Bulletin board • Hugging Elite • Keyboard emoticons

v • d • e Halo 4 Easter eggs

Collector's Edition • Dancing Grunts • Double Rainbow • Gravity Hammers on Shutdown • Hidden weapons caches on Forerunner • Incineration Cannons on Forerunner • Moa statues • Red vs. Blue • Secret Gravity Hammer on Midnight

v • d • e Halo 2: Anniversary Easter eggs

Beamish • BLAST soda cans • Grunt with toys • Hidden toys • Italy on Delta Halo

v • d • e Halo 5: Guardians Easter eggs

Flaming knives on Osiris • Floating Grunt • Halo Kart • Mr. Meeseeks box • Nutrition label • Olive the Pig • Sandworm • Soccer ball • Special weapons • Timmy the Whale • Toy Grunts • Universe article Easter egg • UNSC diver • Warzone Firefight Easter egg • Xbox One turret

v • d • e Halo Infinite Easter eggs

Craig • Giant sandwich • Hidden toys • Jens Hauch Memorial • Peanut the Space Gopher • Sandwich Idol • Xbox Easter egg

.fortune

List of Fortune Quotes in Halo: Combat Evolved

Trivia

Sources

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