To get a better perspective into the world of "pop" gaming, I suggest you guys pickup Masters of Doom... It chronicles the rise and fall of the two Johns (Romero and Carmack)... Pretty interesting read as it shows the 2 extremes in game creation (Go for tech, or go for design) and they both came away with rather lacklustre results.

So, don't rule out programming just yet, but at the same time, design is equally as important.

I'm not sure if this has been posted before, but Gamer's Hell Kurt Knudsen (I have no clue who he is) has written a journal on becoming a game developer.

Yeah, I kinda got that vibe after the second paragraph... Too obvious

Anyway, here's another game developer article... Not exactly related to development directly, but more towards marketting once you get your game finished.

How to use and abuse the gaming press and how they want to use and abuse you by Kieron Gillen

Just to clarify on the "Sweatshop: EA" sentiment, their disrespect for their workforce only applies to the more "trivial" development jobs like art designers, animators, writers, "meanial" coders, etc.

I'm not saying I support EA, but its not like they treat everyone under their employment like crap. The reason they do so to these ppl is because they're considered inconsequential byproducts of game development. In other words, not actually part of the workforce.

So, if you are indeed able to distinguish yourself in the field of game programming, then you'll unlikely not be lumped together with the rest of those poor sods. Then again, knowing how EA looks at innovation the same way, expect to lose your artistic license.

http://unity3d.com/

Its technically free for use for the PC, but if you want more features (Like for iPhone) or want to sell it commercially, it isn't. The biggest selling point is that all their games can run from within a web browser with just a plugin (Or none at all if you're using Chrome)

Its incredibly robust and allows you to make full 3D games easily with most of the stuff that other SDKs provide.