I haven't had any issues at work with DirectX and VS2012 - everything seems to work well.

For me the biggest day-to-day difference between 2010 and 2012 is the speed at which intellisense works; VS2012 is so much faster when working with large projects.

VS2012 also has better support for C++11 (as far as I'm aware).

Or, install both! They run just fine side-by-side.

The biggest change that you need to know going in about the express versions, is that 2012 is the first time that they are organized around particular plattorms, rather than particular languages -- you used to get Visual C++ Express, Visual C# Express, etc. -- now, you get Visual Studio Express for Windows Desktop, Visual Studio Express for Windows 8 (store apps), Visual Studio Express for Windows Phone, etc. You get all the languages you could want for each platform, and you can install multiple platform-specific SKUs side-by-side just fine (they'll even share common components, so you aren't wasting disk space).

VS2012 has a lot to offer over VS2010, even in its Express forms.

That's right Dave. The VS2012 express SKUs don't include the graphics diagnostics tools, but then again VS2010 didn't have them at all. If someone really wants them today, they have to buy a non-Express version of VS2012.

Express does give up some features -- mostly ones which are only of regular use to enterprise developers or large teams of commercial developers.