I guess when I asked for the significance, I meant along the lines of, "Is the average gamer going to see a noticeable difference?" Is this really anything to get worked up about or make a console choice on. I understand what it means behind the scenes essentially, I just don't think it changes much outside that.
Honestly? I bet its less than nothing.
Procedural texturing, just never caught on because of the fact it requires its own skill and effort to do, and the 'AaaaaAAaAaaaa' publisher houses aint got time for dat when churning out their factory line Homogenous slop. And now that both ms and sony's systems have gigantic ram pools, there is no reason to be smart and trim, when you have the luxery of being lazy and sloppy, and its easier and faster and an entry level skill.
If they DID use it, it would be impossible for a normal human to notice. On average a substance material weighs in at about 19-20kb. Thats a lot of texture tiles when you fill up 12Mb. No way anyone would be able to discern another 2Mb ehile playing a game, its like a needle in a haystack.
Nintendo is pretty much the only major company that actually uses procedural textures. Well, theres shin en, but like i said major...
Both link between worlds and 3dworld use procedurally generated detail maps for bump textures.