i think this is very interesting and practical for fast rendering.
www.illuminatelabs.com/support/tutorial-folder/tutorials-turtle-3/reflective-occlusion/

its called reflection occlusion. i dont know exactly how it works but i think its similar to AO. the cone angle is just smaller. from what i understand you can make it looks like self-reflection one bounce.
i think this could be used for brushed metal,blurry metal,......

here is even an animation clip. i think it looks pretty good ans its faster then soft reflection
www.illuminatelabs.com/support/tutorial-folder/tutorials-turtle-3/reflective-occlusion/finalanim.mov

i guess this could be used in poser right? would it be hard to make ? i am so angry that i didnt find this faster and mentioned on this forum. maybe it would be inside poser 8.