Sega teases ... something ... called 'Project RINGO'

Alright folks, we're going to be straight with you: We have no idea what this is. Sega of Japan has dropped an almost teaser/maybe ARG, definitely confusing and certainly ambiguous flash animation on its website under the moniker "Project RINGO" (its capitalization, not ours). Aside from the notably monochromatic 2D image in the animation, the text "What happens? ... next_2.24" appears at the end, and source code is provided for a Flash doodad you'll find after the break. We're guessing the "2.24" reference is a countdown to the 24th of February. Oh and that Flash doodad after the break? It's an equation ending with the numbers "247" -- as in 24/7.

We don't know much else, but we can speculate:

-Is Sega making an iPhone game? "Ringo" = "Apple" in Japanese. "Project Apple" could be a game for the iPhone we've ever heard of or seen. You'll presumably play it 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and undoubtedly be picking apples.

-Will "Project RINGO" finally unveil Sonic the Hedgehog creator Yuji Naka's platformer from Sega subsidiary (and Naka's company) Prope? Speaking with Gamasutra at last year's Tokyo Game Show, Naka said, "At Prope, we're actually actually planning on making a game like Sonic right now." That was four months ago.

-Is Sega making a game about NiGHTS and Sonic having a child who juggles apples and likes club music? Clearly the most likely choice.

Join in the speculation fun yourself in the comments!

[Via SegaOnline.nl]