So, what do you prefer: the Character Studio Biped with the Physique modifier or the 3dsmax bones with the Skin modifier?!? My opinion: Biped, because its easier to set up and it has many features which are easy to use. thanks

it's all apples and oranges my friend. the biped is a nice preset rig but unfortunatley isn't as robust as a lot of animators need it to be.

I usually use Biped for ease of setup (though freeform animation is the way to animate), but I don't bother with physique and use the skin modifier with the biped. I've used this for lots of comercial games - never met a game pipeline yet that use physique....

When I have a choice though, I use XSI or Maya :)

Biped with skin modifier, not physique. I love the parametric skeleton of biped, but the skin modifier is more powerful it seems than physique.