What happened to unmanaged DX, using Win32 and C++? Is it dead or dying? Will it lose support/development like MDX? Is XNA just a fad for hobbyists?
Top games these days are still made with unmanaged DX, right?
Managed DX pretty much died so for full DX access, you either need to stay with unmanaged C++ or use the hobbyist-but-very-popular SlimDX library, which is like a better version of Managed DX. XNA can be pretty good, it depends a lot what you're aiming for... but unless you're a professional game developer my advice is either: