Quick question: I''ve heard different things about whether DirectDraw is included in DirectX 8.0. Is it still possible to develop with DirectDraw using the 8.0 SDK? If not, what has replaced DDraw? Just thought I''d make sure before I dive into DX programming.

1. DirectDraw does not exist as part of DirectX 8.
2. Thanks to the magic of COM, it is possible to acquire and use DirectX 7 (or 6, or ...) devices from within DirectX 8. So yes, it is possible to use DirectDraw with the DirectX 8 SDK.

DirectX 8.0 documentation:
New Features in DirectX 8.0
Complete integration of DirectDraw and Direct3D
Microsoft DirectDraw® and Microsoft Direct3D® are merged into a single DirectX Graphics component. The application programming interface (API) has been extensively updated to make it even easier to use and to support the latest graphics hardware