Academagia Released

marko2te sends word of a game called Academagia. It seems to be primarily a "whimsical" adventure game with some RPG overtones and clearly inspired by Harry Potter. Official site here and a snip from the description:

Academagia: The Making of Mages is a whimsical fantasy life simulation and role-playing game set at the renowned Academy of Magic in the rich and dangerous city of Mineta. As a newly arrived teenager in a strange, vast school, you'll embark on adventures great and small, train your familiar, make friends (and enemies!), and master the shining arts and subtle laws of spell-casting.
Day by day, you'll attend classes, build skills, compete for the glory of your College, and explore the history and powers of an ancient world of flying islands and fallen empires. What you choose to do - whether it be to create a new magical item, to butter up your instructors, or to duel with your bitterest rivals - will ultimately determine how your character evolves throughout the school year. With many secret skills to uncover and hundreds of unique actions to learn and bonuses to collect, character specialization is unprecedented in its breadth. You can explore the campus, research in the many libraries, help your friends, visit exotic merchants or cast powerful spells: the choice is yours!
But beware! There are more dangers than just detention, and frightening secrets wait in the long forgotten sections of the University…

• Interact with over 80 Students
• Maneuver through more than 800 possible Random Events
• Set out upon any of over 100 Adventures
• Explore hundreds of Skills
• Cast Spells from the five Pillars of Magic, or learn the Forbidden Arts
• Add new effects to existing Spells as you master the vocabulary of Magic
• Discover and visit mysterious castles, ruins, shops and secret hide-outs
• Teach, train and adventure with a Familiar from one of dozens of species

Enjoy nearly endless replayability and scope

More information.

Certainly looks "whimsical"! I love how the thumbnails on the site take 60 seconds to display. Brings me back to the mid-90's.

…intended for audiences ages 9+.

holy cow!

i dont think a 9 year old is capable to fully comprehend this game!

You sure about that? I remember tackling Kings Quest when I was about that age. Loved every minute of that silly game.

Plus, you ever seen a first grader play Counter Strike? Some of them are insanely good at that stupid game. You'll know shame when you have to teach those same kids who for an hour took you out with nothing but headshots. Damn kids catch on quick.

I started playing crpgs and adventure games when I was 7 so depending on the child they may have no problem.

Looks quite interesting to me.
But I'm not playing everydays' games anyway.

hmm..$25 on GamersGate. I think I'll try the demo. There's some screenshots there.