When Sega started its Sega Ages series years ago on the PlayStation 2, the first game was Phantasy Star. Its genre, listed on the side of the box, was "The RPG."

Well watch out Yuji Naka! Jaleco's got its own "The RPG" on the way!

The troubled publisher's bizarre countdown struck zero today. Visit the Jaleco corporate site to see the Jaleco headquarters explode. You'll then be redirected to a page for the first in what appears to be a series of "Jaleco Revival" projects.

The tentative name for this project is "the: rpg." I don't know if there's any significance to the colon in the name.

According to the page, the new project is "an RPG for users, by users." The page states that the game has yet to be born, nor has it been "painted in any particular color."

A bit more disturbing, the page states "We're not sure if we'll be able to release it."

The world setting area of the site gets a little bit more specific. The game takes place in a world plagued with advancing destruction. The main character is born and raised as a mage in a city that's surrounded by dungeons and cut off from the rest of the world. People of the town make use of magic power to explore the dungeons. However, these areas are also home to unknown monsters.

The page ends with a warning: "The world setting has a great chance of changing without warning."

Really, the only thing the page will settle on is that the game is an RPG.

True to the "by uses for users" motto, Jaleco is holding a monster design contest at the site. The winner of the contest, as voted on by readers of the site, will get their design in the game -- assuming the game is released, of course.

But that's not all! The winner will also appear in the game's credits, get invited to a night out drinking with the staff, and also be registered as a lifetime honorary employee of Jaleco. This includes the perk of getting an original business card. The winner also gets two copies of "the: RPG" and five secret tickets.

Second place, while apparently not getting his design in the game, will get an original cos play outfit, a copy of "the: RPG," and a "Pandora's Box" containing a bunch of Jaleco games (according to the fine print, this cannot be returned). Second place also get three secret tickets.

Third place gets a different box contianing Jaleco's game (this one also cannot be returned), a set of 13 Jaleco Original year 2009 greeting card towels, and two secret tickets.

Ranks four through thirty will get just one secret ticket.

What do those secret tickets do? According to the fine print, it's a secret.

There's a hint at the site that this might be a low spec game of some form -- possibly DS, mobile, or even PSP. The contest fine print says that the illustration from the user will be turned into pixel art by the Jaleco staff. That probably rules out a PS3 or Xbox 360 game. Unless Jaleco is rad enough to make a high resolution sprite game.

You can see the current rankings at the rankings page. You have 22 days to submit your favorite penis-shaped monster.

The "Jaleco Revival Project," according to the page, has been started to revive the Jaleco brand. "You're the only person who can save us from this danger," says the page, in reference to the danger of Jaleco being destroyed like in the flash that opens up the page.