Coding a game?

Java is a good starting point. People are currently more interested in developing for the next thing of the generation and unfortunately smartphones and tablets have suddenly picked up on the popularity. And mindless users continue to think that these items will eventually rule out the good ole desktops, laptops, and consoles. Java is highly supported on phones and the likes, and a simple rip off of an idea from another free game could easily land you a lot of money. Look at angry birds, the concept had been seen for several million flash games, but people buy it.

C# is another good one, some consoles will run C# and most computers kept for macs will support it. You can easily code for this, and it doesn't require a complete compile as it's compiled on run time.

C++ is the industry standard, and can be the worst, or the best language to use in some cases, and it all depends on how it was compiled, how it was programed and more.

I'd suggest for you to make your own game engine to avoid the legal issues of others, and avoid a lot of expenses. It could take forever, but it will be worth it in the end. Besides, this will give you full control of the back end, and allow you to make an easier to understand scripting language for your own needs.

There's a good reason phones and tablets are picking up momentum. The target audience is not entirely the same as you have with traditional games, rather you might have very small children, busy grown ups etc. The games are closer to those old arcade games you (or your parents) played using quarters.

It's been quite a while since I played anything on a computer, not because the games are better on mobile devices, rather because the mobile device is always with me and the games allow me to have fun even if I only have 5-30 minutes of time.

I never really got into Angry birds my self, but I can see why it's popular. The game mechanics work very well, my daughter at under 3 was already able to play it after looking at his brother for a few minutes. It cost .79€ which does not feel like a huge amount of money, it's funny for children, sounds are great, they have continuously pushed out updates giving new levels to the people who bought it etc. It's not so popular because it's the best game in the world, rather because it's a good package for a good price and Rovio has continuously been adding content for free to the people who bought it (disclaimer, I have a lot of friends working for Rovio so I might be biased).