"I don't see why it's unnecessary for indie games to use normal mapped models. Normals maps, if done correctly, can add a lot of detail to a low poly model."
It's unnecessary because what an indie game looks like doesn't matter as much as you might think. It hardly matters at all in fact. Casual gamers have no taste when it comes to a game's graphics. (Within reason.) It's really only important that the game be fun.
Also, you can make a game look great without normal maps. 99% of what makes one game look great and another look crap is the skill of the artist, not the number of polygons he has to work with. Unless you have an artist that can really utilize all that extra detail, it will just go to waste. There are plenty of XBOX 360 games which look worse than games produced for the GameCube.
It's unnecessary because what an indie game looks like doesn't matter as much as you might think. It hardly matters at all in fact. Casual gamers have no taste when it comes to a game's graphics. (Within reason.) It's really only important that the game be fun.
Also, you can make a game look great without normal maps. 99% of what makes one game look great and another look crap is the skill of the artist, not the number of polygons he has to work with. Unless you have an artist that can really utilize all that extra detail, it will just go to waste. There are plenty of XBOX 360 games which look worse than games produced for the GameCube.