Interested in Game programming, where would I start (What programs, web sites, conventions, etc)

I would start with a book on DirectX.

 

Just my 2¢

"What the captain doesn't realize is that we've secretly replaced his Dilithium Crystals with new Folger's Crystals."

--Greg  http://parallel.tzo.com
 

Download all the Microsoft XNA toolkit items.
There are a bunch of samples on getting started with 2D and 3D.

It will force you to learn C# along the way, which is a marketable skill.

Lodlaiden

The doc walks in. The good news:"It's just Grumpy Old Man Syndrome." The bad news:"You're not even 30."

I would recommend making a mod for a game. I created mods for Quake 2 and 3 years ago following online tutorials. Great fun and learned a lot. The source code for those games is legally available online to create mods.

You may want to ask yourself what type of game your interested in making.

If you're interested in making a Zork clone, you would pursue it differently than a Oblivion type game.

My first game was a tic-tac-toe type game that I wrote more out of interest in basic AI than a particular type of game play.   

Going by what my li'l brother did a few years ago, I'd suggest the path SeadnaS mentioned.  Of course, you'll need to first learn the tools.

Think Automax stuff - 3dMax, Maya...  Of course, there are others you can look at as well.  Photoshop will end up being important if you go that route as well, apparently more than you might think.

And of course, just learning Blender would help get started:
http://www.blender.org/

Of course, as mentioned, it depends upon what kind of games you want to get into...   It ALSO depends upon which piece you want to be involved in.  If you want to work more with logic, then look at the programming - C#, Compiler, C++, php, etc.. depends upon the tool again... but the C languages seem to get involved with just about any type... maybe aside from Java games??

If you're talking the 3D Gaming market, then definitely the AutoDesk tools will be good to learn.  There's a LOT to those programs, more than I'd of ever thought.  You can also script all sorts of things in them.  3dMax has its own MaxScript, and Maya or another one uses php - I forget.

But...  Watch some videos, go to school if you can afford that, etc... but if you can make yourself do this:

1. PICK THE GAME TYPE .....AND.... THE PIECE OF THE GAME... that you want to work on.. you'll go farther and more quickly.

My younger brother talked to oodles of people already "in the industry" as well as those "trying to get in".  Of those trying to get in, he noticed one very big similarity:  All or most of them (who had been trying for years) had not gotten down to the nitty gritty - they had not picked a certain piece they wanted to look at.  After some time, he said... I think I can get a job with this stuff if I only narrow down my scope.... he did narrow down his scope.. less than 2 years, he's working for one of the bigger names in the industry.

If you want to maybe pick up some ideas from his work and all, you can look here:
http://www.3dfergy.com/

The images there are still his old stuff.  They keep him so busy at work, he really doesn't have time for much else, I think, and he of course can't share much if anything about upcoming releases.

For reference, he works at Red Storm Entertainment... they are the folks working on the Ghost Recon series of games... 1 came out not long ago, and I think the other is soon to come out... demoed at E3 and probably another event or two.  

By the way... if you've not seen it.. the new one, as demo'ed on the XBOX 360 with Kinect interface.. was the first time I've seen anything that REALLY made me want an XBOX 360.

The demo that I saw was where the guy was standing in front of the Kinect unit, and based on his hand movements and verbal commands did diff things:
1. Pulled apart his gun to customize it.. down to hundreds or thousands of parts - it's unreal how real it is...
2. shouldered the gun for the test range, game play and such... reloaded... etc..
3. Gave verbal commands for customizations of the gun... was able to move hand/finger around in air to swap parts in/out get detail, etc. for the gun..

Yeah, just the whole gun thing really got my attention.

Hmm... this search should get you to what I'm talking about.

Well, I gotta go.  Interesting field, but you can easily let yourself stay so shallow by not focusing on a little piece that you can't easily market your skills.