Graphics Programming was the only course I took.
I purchased the Graphics Programming with DX9 course a few years back. It's definitely great quality, and when you say the forum is "dead', know that those few people are the people that wrote the actual book and the code (I talked to Adam Hoult directly about my questions on the forums).
You need to be motivated though, that course is not easy. I ended up taking the mid term and getting ~74%. I haven't taken the final yet because I migrated to Linux shortly after the midterm, which makes DX pretty much useless when compared to OpenGL.
The video presentations aren't really anything new, just a repeat of the book. The book explains thoroughly and well.
The website/courses look like they've been updated since I was participating, so I'm not sure what the changes have done.
The price is better, I got one course at $212, so the $99 for all of them is a good deal.
If you're not interested (really interested) in graphics programming, you probably shouldn't get the course (note that I can't speak for the animation, AI etc. courses).
If you are a fairly comfortable C++ programmer, I'd recommend you get Game Coding Complete as it teaches good principles and the structure for a well made game engine. Other than that, code tons of games, read tons of articles about coding those games better, and try new techniques out. Read everything you can get about game development, whether they are articles (hint: GameDev.net ), blogs, paper books (try places like Goodwill/DI for cheap computer textbooks, I have 10+ that have saved me hundreds), or even digital books (there's a 300+ game dev book collection circling around, and if you're OK with piracy, then get it). Your goal is to improve, so always be thinking of ways to learn more and improve your skills.
Experience is definitely the most important thing you can get, and the only price of it is time. Finish your projects, make new projects frequently (#1GAM has been great for me), and make sure you learn something from every project/push yourself. Experience will help you judge the scale of projects you can take on, but in the beginning, keep it small!
Goodness, I kind of lost control there. Oh well, hope that helps!