Comment by tinco

Were normal maps new in 2007? I feel I learned about normal maps in around 2005, as a high schooler just hobbying around in Maya. Did they maybe get a head start in PC games, or in raytracing? Maybe my memory is just mixing things up, Mario Galaxy did feel like a state of the art game when it came out although I wouldn't associate the cartoony style with normal maps, maybe that's part of why it doesn't have them.