In-game fur, how do? HOW DO!?

Alright, noob time.

Guys, I gotta know.. HOW IS THIS FUR TECHNIQUE DONE!?

I've seen it in Galaxy..

On the Gamecube..

The Original Xbox..

And especially in Sonic Unleashed. (PS3/Xbox 360)

I'm trying to achieve this effect in both Unity and UDK, and from the above images, this should totally be doable. What I think is happening, based on these images, is it's offsetting a diffuse map on the model several times both outward from the model and then(maybe) translated to appear groomed. It is also decreasing the power of the diffuse map the further it is rendered from the source to simulate the fur getting thinner the further from the model. There also seems to be some kind of delay applied to make the strands appear to be waving. (See the Starfox Adventures Main Menu vid, especially on Fox's tail) Speaking of Fox's tail, sometimes it seems that the furthest points, when moved too far away from the model, fade away. Then, more bumps fade in, equidistant, to compensate.

This is the best thread I've found on this technique, and it seems I'm on the right track: http://www.elysiun.com/forum/showthread.php?302407-How-to-create-fur-for-in-game-character

I have also found an attempt at doing this through a material in UDK, but it doesn't seem to be doing what is going on in the above images:

Perhaps this sort of technique has to be applied beforehand in a program like Maya/Blender/3DS Max?

Here is the Werehog's model from Sonic Unleashed(PS3/Xbox 360):

Notice the complete lack of his end white tufts (these can be seen in the image below)

Ooh! This is interesting! Notice how the white tufts are offsetting in the direction of that odd round ring-like bit between his hands and his forearm. It must be a specific material applied to those faces!

This is gonna drive me insane until I figure it out. If ya have any idea how to make this happen, ping me! I'll upload a tutorial vid of how it's done when I figure it out!