Microsoft XNA
The Framework
"So, let's step back a little: what is XNA?
"The term XNA regroups all Microsoft's effort for game developers," says Julien Ellie, XNA Software Design Engineer at Microsoft. "It's a whole ecosystem made of services, tools and a community. XNA Game Studio Express is a key part of this offering and is a new and easier way to create games for PC and Xbox 360."
The basis of XNA as a whole is its framework. If you're not experienced in making games, that can be a difficult term to understand, so let's look at exactly what it means.
The framework, essentially, is a set of code development libraries that makes it easier to write a program - which in the case of XNA would be a game - and gives users a common ground and guarantee of common behaviors within the framework. It's easiest to think of it as a set of rules that govern how the program runs, and can be transferred easily between different target platforms, like PC and Xbox 360. The usage of the XNA framework also has the advantage of meaning that users can easily integrate tools such as Microsoft's XACT Audio Authoring Tool, amongst a quickly growing list of others.
Games that run within the framework are written using C#, an object oriented programming language developed by Microsoft that emphasizes simplicity for beginners, but also provides enough sophistication and functionality for high end users."
Help and support community
XNA has literally exploded within the gaming community and it is only when you start to search for tutorials that you realise how huge the support is. Below are just some of the useful links I am aware of and there are many more available with a simple Google search: