i do have to admit that blender is awsome for game programing but i dont realy like their 3d editor program a friend of mine recomended anim8or its a great program that is extreamly easy to use and is quite powerful and the file types can be inported into blender so check it out http://www.anim8or.com/ they just came out with a beta for the next version its a little buggy but its worth it
ya i use alot of visual basic but im learning c++ iv programed a few games in vb but there nothing realy amiazing theres one where you click on falling sprites befor they hit the botem ot the screen and it keeps score and stuff but other than that im trying to learn how to do more 3d programing in vb i found a great 3d engin for vb 6.0 called 3dstate its great im trying to get my friend to make me some bsp maps so i can inport them it is going to be a realy doom like game but hey its a start