DirectX, Managed DX, XNA, which one to use?

Question

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?

Answer 1

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/514872/comparison-between-xna-and-directx-c

... pretty much answers my question.

Answer 2

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:

1. Use XNA
2. Use whichever language C++/C# you know best, perhaps with SlimDX.