> Well VB is still in there, so technically software houses might start highering
> VB programmers for XBox 2 games.

ROTFL. Maybe we'll see another game like MYST, on XBox2/XNA platforms, written in VBScript, and tied to a licensed 3D engine. (UnrealEngine2 runs on XBox and PS2, I'm sure that they will do an XBox2 port when the time comes and dev SDKs are available.)

> There have been many debates on C# vs VB.NET, both languages have most of the
> same pro's and con's. The major differences I can make out are:
>
> 1) VB.NET tends to require more typing as it's more wordy.
> 2) VB.NET programmers get paid less than C# programmers.
>
> smf

I just really hope this whole "managed code" trend doesn't push "real" C/C++ programmers into a tiny niche, kind of like ASM programmers these days. (If they're good and smart, they'll end up writing RSP microcode like Sardu, or something.)

I just had another crazy idea, kind of related to that MYST comment above, and thinking about scripting languages and how Crack.Com's "Abuse" side-scroller, actually ran the AI and event code in their own LISP interpreter. (That game engine was so far ahead of its time, it wasn't funny, IMHO.)
Anyways, imagine a giant interconnected "grid" of Xbox2 or PS3 machines, with a dynamic/persistant world-state, in which changes that occured at one node could cause the entire group-world-dynamic to change, kind of like a "butterfly effect" sort of thing. It wouldn't have to be limited to MMORPG games either, it could even be applied to FPSs. Although, I would love to see a combination of those genres, like being able to "portal" between servers, and kick the crap out of the inhabitants with your custom-designed player-avatars and weapons, and basically travel around inside a wired world, "kicking some ass". (Most current online FPS games, have plenty of different levels/worlds to visit, but the player has to manually connect and disconnect to different servers, thus interrupting the "illusion" of the game-world, for lack of a better term. If the worlds could be "continuous", it would be a lot better for the suspension of disbelief.)

Maybe this whole .Net/XNA/managed-code thing will bring the level of platform-portability to enable this sort of distributed-game-engine development. The only downside to it is.. well, MS is behind it. :|