3 cities: LA, Seattle, NYC
From
article at Bungie -- 12 cities: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Boston, Dallas, Washington DC, Atlanta, Detroit, Miami, Seattle.
Previous SOTA Rallies -- 6 (reported) cities: New York City, London, Vancouver, Chicago , San Francisco, Boston.
Correlation: ALL major cities, population-wise, hence a large possibility of being noticed and a large populous to market to.
Now, another tie-in... the
SOTA Membership Application states that membership review is following a new lunar cycle. The ONLY New Moon left before the release of Halo 3 occurs on September 11th/12th (depending on your TZ). We have no reason to believe that the Membership Application will not be used at some point in the ARG -- in fact, we have every reason to believe that it will be used (because it exists and even specifies when it will be used).
I think we are in for more SOTA "rallies", possibly taking place 8/16/2007 in the 3 specified cities (which fit the MO). Along with this will be an membership application submission period, with review taking place around September 12th/13th and notification sometime soon thereafter. Frankie even stated there will be "some antics [they] may plan around the launch of Halo 3"... sounds to me like a launch party. And "recruiting for SOTA" would be a great in-game way to learn who should be a part of it and who played a large role in Iris. Frankie recruited OOG with his "Are you the world's biggest Halo fan?" segment of the 7/20 WWU. His WWU states that his criteria are "a one paragraph explanation of why you’re the most loyal Halo fan from your region..., Anecdotes, links, even (very small) photos are welcome proofs that you’re the hardest of the hardcore..." and that "jumbo emails will be rejected, and make sure you include a way for us to contact you efficiently and quickly." Look at what is on the SOTA form: Your name, Email address, How you heard about SOTA, Other ET groups/interests, What unique skills you have to help search for extra-terrestrials. Sounds like an in-game version of Frankie's requests to me.
Yes, it's speculation, but signs seem to point that way. Those who are serious about Iris may want to start updating their SOTA resumes.