What is Super Mario Galaxy using to create this effect?

[ERP]

The performance cost of EMBM has more to do with the nature of the texture reads and there effect on the texture cache than the logic involved. On GC this is largely not an issue, since you upload large chunks of texture to the EDRAM.

I'd also not call it superior. It's a hack/approximation which can look good with the right datasets.

 

[Squeak]

I'd also not call it superior. It's a hack/approximation which can look good with the right datasets.

How is it more of a hack/approximation than normal mapping?
They both use essentially the same idea only implemented in a different way (using a map to perturb/select channels of a light/reflection).

 

[Squachy]

The performance cost of EMBM has more to do with the nature of the texture reads and there effect on the texture cache than the logic involved. On GC this is largely not an issue, since you upload large chunks of texture to the EDRAM.

I'd also not call it superior. It's a hack/approximation which can look good with the right datasets.

So technically we'd be able to see 360/PS3 type graphics if someone utilized EMBM on the Wii to its potential, as opposed to math calculations to simulate shader effects?
Since the Wii pretty much addressed most of the GC's shortcomings......

Didnt someone say Wii was a multitexturing machine (As in can do lots of multitexture or something)?

If i sound like a complete moron than i apologize since i hardly know anything about how 3d stuff works.

 

[I.S.T.]

GF4 avoided it because it was a budget card. I don't know whether it really couldn't do it, or it was just a feature "adjustment" to make the big brother seem worth the money, but most GPUs after that time had programmable shaders that could be made to do it.

?

The GF4MX was an enhanced GF2MX. The GF2MX was built from the ground up(IIRC, anyway) and did not include EMBM.

 

[Mobius1aic]

More devs should go for EMBM instead of other more "fancy" effects. Case in point: Super Mario Sunshine. The water in that game looks fantastic, even without reflections built into the water shader, it looks great, unlike other games that sport an over-glassy look like Far Cry on Xbox.