Pardon us if we hadn't noticed this before, but in a recent Xbox365 article, a forumgoer noted this site, Gamertag Database, which at the time of this writing lists 8,701 Xbox Live gamertags worldwide.

In ways reminiscent of old-school Bungie fashion, the hunt is on.

Go.

Update: And it's done, by the crew on Subnova Hotline. Just type in .fortune as a Halo profile name, and you'll trigger the egg - a throwback to Bungie.net Myth play. Read through the whole messy process in the chat log here.

Noctavis has posted his early impressions of the Xbox Live service, having spent some time playing three games that utilize it: MechAssault, Unreal Championship, and Ghost Recon. Check it out.

Matt Soell at Bungie has put up a short summary of how the Halo Winter Season Tournament is progressing. So far 1,100 gamers have showed up at over 75 iGames centers. The next round begins on December 14. Thanks again to Louis Wu.

David Evil Otto Candland (formerly CandyMan) has put up a primer on various methods for making online nicknames over at the Seventh Column site. Thanks to Louis Wu at HBO for the warning.

Today marks the one year anniversary of the Xbox and Halo, as well as the launch date of Xbox Live. Watch later this weekend for a retrospective on the last year of Halo and a look at what we know so far about Halo 2.

I recently participated in the intitial qualifying match for the Halo Winter Season tournament. My team did fairly good, had fun, and dropped out, though we'll be trying again at the next qualifier. I've blogged my report of it, playing Team Slayer, 4 vs. 4 on Hang 'Em High.

Despite losing in the second match to Thugs n Rebels, Team Overkill still posted a description of their participation in the Halo Winter Season qualifier at Kings Games in Brooklyn, New York. Louis Wu had the story at HBO.

Team Overkill, via Louis Wu at HBO, has pointed out that the Halo Winter Season rules are now posted at iGames.

The Halo Winter Games, whose first qualifying match is this Saturday, has had its gametypes posted at the iGames site. Good to know if you're planning on competing.

Only a few weeks after the announcement, already the clamor is beginning for more information on Halo 2.

Matt dropped into the HBO forum to explain the need for secrecy and hint at a bit more...

And if that wasn't enough, it looks like the Halo Updates may make a return soon...

Frogblast is meaner than a junkyard dog. We swear. I mean, look-- Matt said so!

Seriously, though, this story by Matt in the HBO forum is definitely worth the read, I almost died laughing.

As if anyone thought otherwise, Xbox Canada's marketing manager Ryan Mugford has revealed an an interview with Game Nation that Halo will not be coming to the GameBoy Advance:

Mugford (still laughing) - Yeah, well unless you're getting different information than me, Halo is not coming out for the Game Boy Advance.

Abel - No, I know, I was teasing you.