Blender now has a rock solid .b3d exporter (thanks to Diego aka GaNDaLF) and in my opinion is the perfect partner with blitz for media generation. New developments already in svn branches of Blender include automatic armature creation and skinning using heat bone techniques which automatically rig and weight a mesh to an armature and in my tests produce fantastic results for models imported into blitz.
I'd second that. Animation in blender is a snap compared to other animators. So, get involved, forget about pirate copies of 3D Studio Max, and maybe even support the Blender Foundation by pre-purchasing a DVD of the film or game.
Bought the manual (its worth it), does that count :P