OK. So I am a beginner at programming and know the basics of it. I dont know any programming languages yet and so I want to start with either C++ or C#. I want to start programming simple games and then work my way up to more advanced but i cant decide whether to start with C++ or C# to do that. Which one should i choose?

For beginning, I'd say go with C#. Both share very similar syntax, but C# generally is a little easier to work with because it doesn't utilize pointers (well, you can, but generally you don't). Once you learn one, picking up the other shouldn't be that hard to do. Plus to use XNA Game Studio, you have to use C#. If you go with C++, you'll want to either learn OpenGL or DirectX for your graphics stuff, both of which are harder to get started with than XNA Game Studio, in my opinion. And I did start with OpenGL (and tried DirectX for a short while).

I would highly recommend you start with C#.  You will be able to write simple games and move up to more complex games using C#.  You would not need to move to C++ to write more complex games as they can also be written in C#.  In fact, for more complexity, I would suggest digging into the High Level Shader Language (HLSL) -- a programming language that is used for graphics cards.  Fortunately, the XNA Game Studio (which currently only supports C#) has a BasicEffect which allows you to get going really quickly without needing to learn HLSL right away.  So I would say, learn C# and .NET in general ... then learn the XNA Framework and finally learn HLSL.

Hope this helps,

Chad

It depends what your general goals are.  If all you want to do is play around with game ideas, then C# is probably sufficient.  On the other hand, if you want to become a well-rounded programmer then you should eventually learn a wide range of languages, including C++, Java, LISP/Scheme, Python, Perl, etc..  Learning new languages is always a good exercise, and playing with low-level languages (C/C++), functional languages (LISP/Scheme), and other variants will help you in many, many ways.

I would definitely start off with an easier language like C#, and then move on depending on your goals.