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I guess I'm a bit confused on these two tools. Are they the same? Each one is really just a library right? Which is better, XNA or DarkGDK.NET? XNA looks to have some pretty limitless possibilities while DarkGDK.NET just looks to be the same language packed differently. How far off am I?

XNA is 100% free, but you must use C# with it and VS.NET 2005 Express. With XNA you will eventually be able to run your games on an Xbox 360 (with a cost of $100 a year), but it's free to sell the games on PC.

XNA was made by Microsoft, and DGDK.NET by Paul & TGC. With DGDK.NET you can use either VB or C# .NET and you can develop in the full version of VS .NET or even SharpDevelop (which is free). There are two different licenses for DGDK.NET, both of which cost money.

If there's anything else, just ask. I've used them both

XNA, in my opinion, is incredible. I've started to pick it up easily, and considering it is free the possibilities seem almost endless.

The question XNA Framework Vs Dark Game SDK .NET is the same as DirectX9 SDK Vs Dark Game SDK.

One's an engine, the other is an API.
If you want a simple framework engine for Managed Languages that utilises DirectX; then look at the DirectX framework Utility Toolkit. It's not quite an engine, but it does take away much of the common background coding - when combined with Managed DX Extensions, does provide a much easier I/O system.

Personally speaking, I'm not really that impressed with the Dark Game SDK. It's a library engine designed to be used in COFF capable languages in particular Visual C++, yet it is identical in use to DarkBASIC Professional.

The same is extended to the .NET version, given it's designed to be used purely in OO Languages; the fact it has a very limited namespace useage, and doesn't utilise classes for the languages capable of running it.. honestly makes it a little pointless.

Personally I would use a 3rd party engine like TorqueX or DXLib (http://www.gpwiki.org for more options) as they will provide you with a much better designed engine that will integrate with your code better.