Isn't Visual Studio .NET (and its support for Smart Device project types, which VBP's Make VS.NET action supports) the successor to Embedded VC/VB? From what I can gather on the Windows Embedded web site [1], Platform Builder is used to build customized run-time images for Windows CE devices, whereas Visual Studio .NET and eMbedded Visual C++ are the application development options for developers targeting Windows CE-based devices.
[1]
http://msdn.microsoft.com/embedded/u...s/default.aspx