Mario Galaxy loading?

Question

Super Mario Galaxy experiences virtually no loading time, I heard a long time ago that this is because when Mario flies between planets within a level the game is loading the next few planets at this point. It doesn't load everything at the start.

For reference, this is an example of flying between planets: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Lkk9uM6xQDU#t=123s

I'd like to use a similar technique for a game I'm writing for my final year of my Degree. I do however want to write about it, so does anyone know what this technique may be called and also any other applications using it?

Answer 1

Just after posting this I found exactly what I was looking for with plenty of other examples :) http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DynamicLoading