The XNA Framework is taking a lot of what was Managed DirectX and moving it to the XNA Framework. Managed DirectX has decent barrier to entry and is used by indie games today. If you’re unfamiliar with MDX I would highly recommend checking out TheZBuffer
http://www.thezbuffer.com/ and Coding4Fun
http://msdn.microsoft.com/coding4fun...t/default.aspx there is plenty of info there on writing games in Managed code.
As far as the release of books and documentation in general this is something we’re still working on so I couldn’t really give you a definitive answer, but we know it’s going to be very important to provide first-class documentation for the XNA Framework.
CD Replication We also know that a few prospective book authors are looking at authoring books for the XNA Framework, but we don’t have any firm commitments or timelines as of yet.
Finally David Weller has some information about the XNA Framework which you can read about here
http://letskilldave.com/archive/2006...2E002E00_.aspx
On a personal note, as somebody who has been in the game development industry for a while, I would strongly encourage you to pursue a college education. The game development industry is a very competitive industry and far more game projects fail than succeed. Likewise, it’s very competitive getting a job in the game development industry should you decide that the Indie approach is not right for you. Of course I believe there is a ton of opportunity and the
www.mythreal.co.uk game development industry is a truly great place to be, but I would never suggest that somebody skip college because there’s just too high of a chance that you’ll be left struggling without any other options. And besides – the right college education will definitely improve your chances for success in any industry, including the game development industry.