I've been programming in C++ for a year now(C for about half of it). I want to learn a new langauge and come back to C++ if I see a need to. I want to use a language that's good for Game Programming.

(I don't want to start a flame war). Is C# more productive than C++ in terms of game programming when not using Visual C# .net(I need a free compiler not sure which one yet). I heard it's like Java, are the languages similar? I guess what I'm asking is, what's an easy language that is more productive than C++ for Game Development for the most part I might make a few apps with it.

I've articles regarding the 3 but I still can't choose. Any useful article link regarding this questions will be helpful.
Thir is really importatn to me.

Thanks in advance for any help I might recieve.