For me there are two tools which stand out ahead of everything else. Which one you would use depends a great deal on your budget and the type of game you want to develop.
TV3D is, without doubt, a commercial grade 3d engine at a budget price, and if you want an engine which suits any kind of game, and can be used at a high or low level ( write your own renderer, or have it done automatically like Blitz ) then I don't think there's anything under $5k which compares with it.
If you're looking to develop the sort of game which it suits ( IE: something which doesn't require custom tools ) and you're keen on something integrated ( not a programming language and a 3d engine as separates ) and assuming your budget can afford it, Unity looks amazing. I should probably leave Taumel to tell you about this because he's made a number of tech demos with it which are featured on the official Unity site. It's moderately expensive ( but well worth it if you're making a commercial game IMO ) and it does require a Mac ( to develop on only, it can produce Windows EXE's ) but if this is your sort of thing then I can't see anything which competes with this.
TV3D is, without doubt, a commercial grade 3d engine at a budget price, and if you want an engine which suits any kind of game, and can be used at a high or low level ( write your own renderer, or have it done automatically like Blitz ) then I don't think there's anything under $5k which compares with it.
If you're looking to develop the sort of game which it suits ( IE: something which doesn't require custom tools ) and you're keen on something integrated ( not a programming language and a 3d engine as separates ) and assuming your budget can afford it, Unity looks amazing. I should probably leave Taumel to tell you about this because he's made a number of tech demos with it which are featured on the official Unity site. It's moderately expensive ( but well worth it if you're making a commercial game IMO ) and it does require a Mac ( to develop on only, it can produce Windows EXE's ) but if this is your sort of thing then I can't see anything which competes with this.