3D:
C++ and OpenGL using either GLUT or SDL for window creation

2D:
C++ and SDL
python and pygame

Linux:
For Python you can just use whatever editor you want, gedit or kate is good enough to get started. Alternatively, you can use Eclipse with Pydev.

For C++ I recommend Eclipse CDT.

Windows:
For Python, you can use whatever you want. The IDLE editor that is bundled with python is good enough to get started. Otherwise you can still use Eclipse and Pydev. Or Notepad++.

For C++ or C#, use Visual Studio Express Edition.

Do not touch Eclipse with a 20 foot pole. It's bloated crapware and only barely functional for anything but Java. If you're using it and like it, you've either never used a proper editor, or are just masochistic. Let me say this again: Steer clear of Eclipse.

...

As far as C++ is concerned:
Under Windows, I use Visual Studio Express, and the editing interface is far and away the best editor I've used for C++ on any platform, but I've found project management to be a bit of a hastle, and the debugging interface is downright primitive (to be blatant, I've found a gdb console more useful than the VS Express debugger). If you want to develop for gcc under Windows, you'll want something like dev-c++, but vc++ is honestly the better compiler under Windows.

Under Linux, I've used both Code::blocks and KDevelop, but I don't have much feedback here. I mostly use Code::blocks to cross compile code that I've written under Windows or OS X. I like the KDevelop interface a lot, but haven't used it on any large projects, largely because I haven't started any large projects completely under Linux. Also, I've used and enjoyed NetBeans for Ruby on Rails development, but no C/C++. That was a pretty good experience, but I don't remember too much of it.

Under OS X, you have the whole suite of XCode tools. The editor is decent, though not as nice as some of the others I've mentioned, but the OS X developer tools as a package are the best single IDE I've ever used, bar none. Project management and managing the build process are easy, managing libraries to link against is a breeze, and the graphical debugger is THE best debugging environment I've ever used. My biggest complaint about any other debugger I've used is that it isn't XCode. On top of that, you have a whole suite of profiling, leak monitoring, and other instrumentation tools for monitoring your program as it runs.

I've been wondering and googling, but I thought I'd ask here for some definitive answers.

What language(s) would one have to know to create a proper computer game? C++?
What sort of resources would one need? (compilers, tools, etc)

I've been thinking long and hard about it, and I feel I want to take a stab at making a computer game. I know it's a long and arduous effort but I feel that it'd be in my best interest to try.

The kind of game I'm thinking about making is a Turn Based Strategy type game (i.e. Fire Emblem).

On Windows, Notepad++ is a reasonable choice for a general purpose programming-friendly editor, though I don't find it as useful as Komodo when it comes to Python.

and the debugging interface is downright primitive (to be blatant, I've found a gdb console more useful than the VS Express debugger). If you want to develop for gcc under Windows, you'll want something like dev-c++, but vc++ is honestly the better compiler under Windows.

The C# language and CLR specifications are available and implemented on a variety of operating systems. Microsoft's own .NET implementation may limit you to Windows, Xbox 360 and Zune but Mono or related technologies (e.g. Unity3D) support Linux, Mac OS X the Wii, the iPhone and so on and so forth.

Eclipse CDT has the best code completion of any IDE I have ever used, including VS2005, VS2008, and VS2010 (all pro versions). Eclipse CDT is easily one of the best IDEs for C/C++. You're claim of it being bloated crapware suggests that you've only ever used an install that has had way too many plug-ins installed or you used an old version. Get just the Eclipse CDT version, and its *fantastic*. Its only real downfall is debugging.

Which you also clearly haven't done much of. If you think VS's debugging is poor, you suck at debugging. VS has the best debugger in the game. A truly fantastic debugger.

Although to be fair I haven't used XCode, but I highly doubt it is anywhere near as good as you claim. I'm guessing you just don't know VS's debugging interface very well.

What's wrong with the Visual Studio debugger?

The code completion may very well be fantastic. I wouldn't know about that, any time I've ever used Eclipse I've given up in disgust before I wrote enough code that code completion was relevant. I've given it 3 or 4 chances over the last half decade on both Linux and Windows, and every experience with it has been a nightmare.

For starters, the data+thread inspection and code stepping interfaces are freaking retarded (or in the case of thread debugging, entirely absent from VS Express). I know full well that neither of you develop for OS X, so you don't know what you're missing out on, but the XCode debugger does exactly what I want it to, exactly how I expect it would to, and I taught myself how to use it in less than an hour. In Visual Studio after I went through the shenanigans to connect to the Microsoft symbol server, I was stuck with the stupid breakpoints/stepping interface and DataTips (which appear to be a lobotomized version of XCode's data inspection facilities, lacking the dedicated window and tree view of an entire file's variables that make it possible to work quickly.

I didn't think VS Express's debugger was any different from Pro's, but thread debugging is there and stepping works fine. You also get the immediate window, which is *awesome*

This would say differently: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/w15yf86f.aspx

Does Vista Ultimate come with Visual Studio Pro? If so I'm going to be installing that off my discs straightaway.