Try SlimDX or SharpDX maybe? I am not sure if they have everything you need though, they are DirectX wrappers for the most part.

No, XNA is not dead. I suspect it will get at least 3-4 more years of life, at least.

I, for one, am viewing the lack of updates to the API as a Good Thing (no more broken code for dubious new "features").

3 yrs ago, I switched from C++/DirectX into C# / XNA. Yes, I still have the C++/DX engine/game codebase. But I'm not returning back to it.

I am sticking to XNA, since thanks to MonoGame I have an access to all platforms i could possibly have my games on. Yes, iOs and Android require some investment (Xamarin), but without Mac you can't really test your app anyway (i.e. using remote desktop - virtual macs), so it's not that big of a deal.

It remains to be seen how much of an indie support will the new XBOX get. Let's wait for that first, before burrying XNA...

monogame is written the exact same as XNA the only difference is how it handles resources. I had to use it recently for a competition and after a short while setting it up I had no problems with it.

After 2 hours of despair I decided that I'd try going to C++ and Direct X (I used them at school so I have some idea of what I'm doing). From what I've ready I can't do that with the new version of VSE; I have to pay to upgrade which I refuse to do unless I started actually making money from my hobby.

You don't need the Pro edition to do DirectX development. You only need the pro if you want all the new fancy game dev specific features that VS 2012 offers, but you can use the express without these additions just fine. I'm currently using Visual Studio Express for Windows 8 to develop a DirectX game and everything works great.

As others have already mentioned, you should definitely check out MonoGame.

...

You're talking as if Microsoft has deleted all copies of XNA from the earth, when all they've done is announced that it's reached maturity and won't be developed any further. D3D9 isn't being updated either, and it's still used to create games.

• You can keep using the existing versions of XNA.
• You can switch over to the open-source versions of XNA, like Monogame.
• You can use C# and D3D via SlimDX, etc.
• You can use C++ and D3D (for free; no you don't have to buy anything).

DON'T PANIC

I agree, I think it would have been a great idea for Microsoft to continue with XNA and integrate it with the new Windows 8 Metro/store etc, instead they did not, who knows why?

I think the final determination of Microsoft and indie game developers will be what they do with the NextBox. Ive already left XNA and have been using MonoGame and MonoGame only (I only use XNA to compile content once in a while). The Windows DirectX platform of MonoGame will probably release soon (the current released windows version uses OpenGL), you can already use a early version of it by downloading from the MonoGame github.

The DirectX MonoGame platform uses SharpDX and Direct3D11, they have already started expanding the API further than XNA (multiple window support, RenderTarget3D class, etc...)