3DMAX is currently the standard for the game making industry
MAYA and XSI are currently the standard for the movie industry.

The other programs are hobbiest programs.
Although Lightwave and Cinema4D are catching up to the big guys with each new release. Shade is another hobbiest program. It's based in Japan and only now been ported to english. I haven't used it myself. But I hear it's just another hobbiest program that will do good things. But doesn't have the MAX and MAYA depth of tools and plug-ins.

Message edited on: 04/12/2005 09:32