3D Studio Max, Maya, Lightwave, SoftImage and Cinema 4D all do the same stuff. There maybe slight diffrences, but the results are the same.
I think Max is genrally used in the video games industery and Maya genrally in the film industery. Saying that, they used Max at Blur.
I think each of the mentioned software has there strengths, but I hard Maya seems to be the all round best.
It's really a matter of prefrence.
But remember, these are tool, your the artist
Yeah, but no but yeah but no....