Teeing off with Tiger! Graphics look damn good and crisp. It looks like they brought back the Green grid plane that makes it easy to track the lie. Also it seems there is a power bar that allows you to track the power of your putting stroke. Nice.

Some great shots to showcase the new one to one ratio swing. You can now stop mid swing, or for example, at the top of your back swing. Reminds me of Golf 101 class! The chip/flop shot looks fixed as well. However that ability to stop on that back stroke to control your power does concerns me on the realism factor, but I guess the choice is up to the player.

Finally the new party mode with mini games for all to play. The ball tug, where players can influence the flight path of golf shots looks fun.

I am going to get it for sure! Now I just have to wait for that PAL translation to get done. BAH!

I know we last reported that Hank Haney was going to be in Tiger Woods PGA 09, but we had no information on the swing mechanics for the game.

Fret no more! I’m please to report to you that IGN’s has a great write up on this nagging issue in their recent hands-on preview of Tiger Woods PGA 09.

We’ve got some great news to report, though. EA has gone back do the drawing board with Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 for Wii and the end result is a game of golf that feels both much more tailored to the Big N’s platform and more polished than it ever has before. You will notice this newfound presentational finesse from the moment the game boots complete with a new interface overhauled with pointer-ready menus, and even better, enhanced in-game graphics. And when you pick up the remote to drive the ball, you’re going to see Tiger’s swing move at a one-to-one ratio with your own — finally.

I wonder why it took EA that long to fine tune the swing mechanics?

The major improvements to this year’s game aren’t accidental. While EA Redwood Shores handled previous iterations of PGA Tour on Wii, Florida-based Tiburon took over duties for 09, erecting a 30-man team dedicated to the Nintendo version. “We decided to move development over to Tiburon mainly because the 360 and PS3 versions of the game are made here,” explains Greg Rinaldi, development manager, Tiburon. “It’s really just one big Tiger team now. One big family, you could say. Although the Wii team is kind of split off a little bit. We do share a little bit with the other guys, but we’re pretty much separate because we want to treat the Wii title as its own thing. It’s got its own set of plusses and challenges.”

Ah it looks like Tiger Woods 08 was a just place holder, until they got their act together and have the new team up and running and firing on all pistons.

More of Tiburon’s take on the swing:

The team at Tiburon took a hard look at the previous Woods titles and decided that they really needed some work, starting, of course, with the swing mechanics, the most important element of any videogame golf experience. “That’s the backbone of the game, the swing. It’s something that we took a really hard look at this year because if that’s not right, the rest of the game falls apart. We took a look at what was done in the past and we felt that it needed some serious overhaul, so we basically almost rewrote the whole thing from scratch this year. And we’ve created a real one-to-one relationship between the Wii remote and the actual golfer’s swing on-screen,” Rinaldi says. “So you’ll notice that as soon as you engage the swing by pointing the remote down and holding the B button, as soon as you start to pull back on the Wii remote, your golfer will do the same. That allows you to really dial in the power percentage that you want. You know, you can actually try to find, well, where’s 80 percent of my backswing? Where’s 100 percent of my backswing? You’ll still have to worry about pacing and the speed of your swing because we’re trying to replicate a real golf swing. Part of it is your backswing and part of it is your pacing. But if you can time it and get the feel of it, you’ll really be able to nail it. It does have a little bit of a learning curve, but once you get over that, it just feels so good. It feels so natural. And we’re having a blast playing it here.”

Not only that the system allows you to Draw AND Fade!

Take your standing position. Twist the Wii remote left and inward to add draw, pull back the controller and make your swing. If you’ve done it correctly, the ball will curve to the left. To add fade, twist the controller outward and make your swing. Done. And combined with the one-to-one system, you’ve got one of the most realistic golfing sims available.

Hmm not the way a real golfer does it, but it is a lot better that the previous titles and the other “kiddy” golf games out there.

Thankfully, there is another alternative. You can manually set draw and fade with the Wii remote when you preview your shots. Hold the A button and the camera will sweep over the course and toward the area at which your ball will land.

Well you can’t beat them all? As long as you have the ability to control the power and pacing of the swing, that is good enough for me. Especially in regard to that horror Chip shot bug in Tiger Woods 07.

In normal swing mode, it’s very difficult to accidentally add draw or fade. Your drives will usually fly straight unless you really slice them. And you can manually add draw and fade at the lie. In advanced mode, your swings are measured more precisely and every nuance could reflect positively or negatively on your drive. In other words, it’s extremely easy to flub a shot if your swing is not absolutely straight, but it’s also much easier to add draw and fade without really twisting your remote inward or outward. In advanced mode, you aren’t able to manually add draw and fade at the lie — it’s an option made specifically for purists who don’t want any traditional assistance.

Finally, some difference in the two modes. I could never tell what they did in the earlier Tiger Woods PGA versions. They both played out the same for me.

On the opposite end of the spectrum is the All-Play control option — a setup very clearly created for videogame novices. Rinaldi often cites younger brothers and grandparents, not to mention kids, as the prime candidates for the control configuration, which can be accessed in-game at any time.

I think this is a big one, not only will it cater to many types of players, but the ability to switch it on the fly is powerful, and people can just jump on and off the game anytime even playing with different settings. This increases the group game play experience element by leaps and bounds.

Well all the rest of the bells and whistles are there, a quick stroke game or a full blown PGA career, Tiger Challenges, the ability to jump right into the FedEx Cup, and of cause Hank giving you tips and tutorials in the fully developed club tuner.

However let wrap up this discussion with one last big news, we not are able to run a flight of 4 players ONLINE!

Woods returns to Wii this year, though, with full online play. Not just one against one, but four-player simultaneous play online. “We brought online Tiger to the Wii for the first time this year. It’s something I know people have been asking for and we’re really excited about it. We decided to bring in simultaneous online play. The reason we decided to go that direction is because an online match with four people and 18 holes can take, you know, three hours. So we decided to go the other way and allow people to play all at the same time and it allows you to get through 18 holes in the same amount of time with four people as it would with one person,” explains Rinaldi. “The cool part about that is that you actually still see the other players. You can see their shot arcs, you can see where they are, you can see their score, so it feels like you’re all playing together, but you’re not waiting for them to take their turn. You’re not watching somebody setting up their shot. You’re just playing through. It’s much more of a real-time experience.”

Honestly, I did not quite get how this co-playing would pan out, I supposed you dont have to worry about the slower players, and you just get to play your own game. Regardless it is a good first step, and I can see the potential there.

In conclusion, I am looking forward to this version of this game franchise, and will be doing a full review when I get is. So do stay tune to WiiGolf.net for the latest in Wii Golf action!

Do check out the full article at: IGN

A BIG Thanks to WiiGolf.net reader Spikel for the heads up!

Its not unexpected that very early in the preview IGN wrote:

We’ve had a chance to go a few rounds with Tiger Woods 08, and while a few things have been changed for the better, it’s extremely obvious that this is only a few versions more than “last year’s” effort.

Check out the rest of the game mechanics and I’m glad they tried to improve it in 08.

After putting about three hours of solid play time into Tiger Woods 08 we’ve come to a very similar initial impression as we did with the last game; it works, but it’s not all there. Tiger Woods 08 uses better swing tracking, has more in-depth tutorials, and is an all-around better game of golf than it was last year, but it’s still plagued with a few Wii-mote issues, and they really hurt the experience.

For starters, the hook and slice manipulation has been changed for the better – at least a little bit – and you’ll no longer worry about hitting straight shots only to have the ball rocket to the right in a gigantic slice, splashing into a pond or hitting “out of bounds” sections. When you hit straight, Tiger Woods 08 knows it, and rewards you for it. As another solid upgrade to last year’s effort we’re finding that swing tempo and power are factored into the equation far more.

Rather than having the player auto-swing once you begin to move (as found in the standard control in 07) this year’s effort plays more like last year’s “advanced” setting, having the club actually attempt to track you in a 1:1 manner. Along those same lines, swing speed is far more of a factor this year, as you’ll need to master not only how well you time your shots, but how powerful the snap of your swing can deliver. It’s a nice touch, and it makes Tiger Woods 08 feel like true golf.”

Fantastic! That is good to hear that tempo and speed is coming back into play. I never liked the fact that its not based on the character’s ability and in game “experience” that gives you the distance in a drive.

Where the game is a bit of a pain in the ass, however, is in its hook/slice manipulation. Any golfer knows that while beginning players work to eliminate troublesome hook/slice shots, advanced players use the manipulation of those shots to their advantage. If a group of trees are off to the right, accompanying a dogleg to the right far and beyond those trees, you’ll need to aim slightly left, slice hard to the right, and avoid the trees with some seriously skill-based shots. In Tiger Woods 08 that’s still the case, but managing to get the hook/slice to register consistently can still be a bit touchy.

In fact, we spent a full hour of our initial playthrough simply hitting balls, checking out what works within the swing, and what doesn’t. The game wants you to manipulate your shot based on your wrist rotation, particularly at the beginning of your swing. The best way to do it is center your hand, twist your wrist as if opening a door, pull the B trigger, and rip your shot, taking careful notice that your hand continues to be tweaked to either direction consistently throughout the shot. On the slice (both in left hand and in right hand golfers) this is an easy task, and we have had literally no trouble using consistent slice to our advantage on the course.

God that is shocking! How is twisting the wrist hooking or slicing in real golf? As we have to golf ball to move left or right over, I rather Wii-remote measured the hook or slice it based on the swing plane as I think that is more accurate to a real life.

The bottom line is this: Tiger Woods 08 has made it simpler to hit straight, and a breeze to manipulate and control slice shots, but hooks are a real learning experience, and difficult to a fault in our opinion.

Actually that is good enough in my opinion, you can play the game better if you did not have to worry about fad or draw all the time. After that its about focusing on Green Skills, where to me I think this is one of the best use of this game.

While the swing mechanic is obviously the “make or break” point in these games, it’s also important to note that from what we’ve played thus far Tiger Woods is also a hit and miss throughout the rest of the game’s offerings. The issue with grabbing the aiming circle and moving it around with the Wii-mote’s IR is still there, and the graphics have seen literally no update in our eyes since 07, but there are a few cool new additions to the game as well.

Everywhere you look are more modes, more options, and refined general gameplay. Tiger Woods 08 uses a “confidence” system across all platforms this year, factoring your character’s skill level, difficulty of the shot, and previous success with a given situation to determine a confidence level. The better your player’s confidence, the better chance he has of nailing any given shot.

Along with the confidence meter is a new “preview putt” system, that essentially takes the place of the extremely simple to use system that was in previous games which actually zoomed in, showed your line, and followed the would-be shot directly to the cup. This makes putting more difficult, but also more rewarding, and now that putting actually works with the Wii-mote nicely (still a few oddities, but overall it’s a better experience from what we’re seeing thus far) it makes Tiger Woods 08 a better overall greens game.

Nice to see some additional features. But honestly the current version was complex enough and I’m not looking forward for more options or modes. However I am interested to experience the new putting system, as its one of my favourite shots in golf and I’m not too bad at it as well. The other issue is the chipping bug (also one of my favourite shots), and unfortunately I’ve seen nothing about it being fixed in this version.

We’re still pretty early on in Tiger Woods 08, having only briefly checked out the mini-games and quick play modes, with the full-blown Career Mode and multiplayer challenges still waiting, but thus far our general consensus is that Tiger Woods 08 still falls under some of its 07 issues, and is by no means a perfect golf game. At the same time, a few of the core changes are for the better, as long as Wii owners understand the very serious disclaimer that Tiger Woods 08 looks exactly like 07, falls under some of the same traps as 07, and includes no Wi-Fi support or PS2-supported “ESPN Integration,” which is a definite downside. Madden, Live, and FIFA all ship with full Wi-Fi this year, and we’re baffled that Tiger Woods is again getting the shaft. Still, the core game is improved from what we can tell, so hardcore golf fanatics still may want to keep this one in the “maybe” section of your wishlist.

Yep thats about my conclusion as well, it will likely go into my “maybe” section. Check out the full review and additional images and video here.

According to Game Spot, the development of 08 will be moved to their EA’s Florida studio. Electronic Arts (EA) indicated that even though the developer will be new, the game will unlikely be vastly different. The focus for Tiger Woods 08 will be more towards the “customization and community aspects of the game”. Game Spot’s Aaron Thomas correctly guesses that this might mean more focus on the “Creation Tool”. According to EA this means an incorporation of their new “photo face” technology where you can capture your image and create a golfer in your likeness. Apparently the system is advance enough that if you also include a side profile it can create a model of you that can even talk!

On the community aspect, EA via their “gamernet” will allow you to upload and share your finest golfing moments for the world to see. Not only that you are supposed to able to try to better such moments, gaining points in the process. Sad to say there is nothing at this moment that takes advantage of the WiiConnect for live man to man golf play or 4 man flights. That’s pretty sad to me as this implies only a slight update to the existing game, as well as a major aspect of Nintendo Wii’s ability has not been taken advantage of.

Here are more details of new game play that will be included in Tiger Woods 08:

There will be three new courses (TPC Boston, Cog Hill, and Westchester), which brings the total number of courses to 15. Each course has been reworked and features more realistic terrain thanks to the use of normal mapping. We noticed improved shadows and ground textures, as well. Sadly, it doesn’t sound as if EA’s focus on customization will carry over to a true course creator, but you’ll still be able to create your own “dream 18″ using existing holes. We also noticed a new meter in the top right corner of the screen that seemed to indicate you can add draw to the ball by pressing the left bumper and make the ball fade by pressing the right bumper.

All in all, Game Spot seems bullish on this game, but honestly I’ll probably not bother with it and stick with my current Tiger Woods 07. Personally I don’t really need for my golfer to look exactly like me and the graphics at this current level are good enough. Other than the possibility of on-line match play, I would have hoped there would be news that they would tidy up and improve the swing mechanics of Tiger Woods 07 as well as clean up the so called “phantom swing” problem the game currently has.