Graphics questions

Hey guys, I'm sure you get hundreds of posts like this all the time, but I could use some advice before I try learning to make video games.


1) I'm trying to pick between OpenGL and DirectX. Anything that might sway my decision one way or the other?

2)If I pick OpenGL, should I use GLSL or Nvidia CG? Which yields better results graphics wise? Which has more cross-platform capability? Which is easier?

3) If I pick OpenGL, do I learn OpenGL ES or just straight OpenGL? To be honest, my interests are more towards developing for consoles and handheld consoles rather than for PC. Do I need to learn OpenGL before OpenGL ES? How similar are they?

4) How long would you say it takes to fully learn OpenGL or DirectX? I mean really know either of them and be able to create quality work. What about HLSL, GLSL, or CG?

(Note, I'm a very very inexperienced programmer. Like a beginner, really. I've had a year with C++ and that's about it. I'm just trying to figure this out before I spend time learning something potentially useless.)

1) Easy: OpenGL. See >>2
2) Are you serious? If you even need to mention "cross-platform capability", you use GLSL.
3) OpenGL ES is a heavily reduced version of classic OpenGL, which in turn became the basis for later OpenGL revisions. I don't know about consoles, but pretty much all portable devices use ES. If I were you, I wouldn't want to get too familiar with immediate mode and other classic (or `deprecated', if you wish) features, because you're going to have to do without them in ES.
4) With OpenGL ES and strict OpenGL 4, not that long, although the learning curve is very steep now that the fixed function pipeline is gone.