I recently received a copy of Fritz 8 at my doorstep and quickly fired it up to see what I would have to say about it.  Overall it has many of the same features that were available in Fritz 7. 

When you load up the software you are given a welcome screen, just like in Fritz 7, that allows you to select between online play and playing against a chess engine.  The program comes on two CD instead of one like in previous versions.  This is to allow for the high resolution maps for online play as well as multimedia comments.

One of the really great features in this new version is the introduction of the 3-D board.  I would really advise you to check out some screen shots of this new feature.  You can easily find some by searching for them on the net.  I would also advise you to check out http://www.chessbase.com/support/support.asp?pid=246 for some good technical information about this software.

Unfortunately I was never able to get my board to look anything like it does in the screen shots I found on the internet.  I tried messing around with all the options and put on the latest drivers with no real success.  I was never able to attain the 3-D graphics that they claim to offer.  It is possible that I am having a Direct-X issue or something is not compatible with my video card.  Either way you may want to check into the compatibility of this software with your video card before you purchase this software just for the 3-D graphics. 

There are some nice new drilling modes that allow you to practice your opening and endgame positions.  You can modify the databases that these modes use.  Also there are many positions that have been predefined by ChessBase but you can also add your own if you like.  The good thing is that you do not need ChessBase to do this for you.  Fritz 8 allows you to adjust these files fairly easy.  Also I discovered that when you use this function to adjust the moves you are given feedback right away for incorrect moves.  Although this is only for the opening and not the endgame training which was somewhat strange.  Either way it is important to be conscious of this.

This version of Fritz also supports multiple engine analysis in the deep position analysis function.  What this does is allow you to have multiple viewpoints from any ChessBase or Winboard compatible engine at your disposal.  It basically runs analysis on one engine after another in the order that you define.

The online play for this software is more or less the same as it was in the previous version with some minor changes.  You can block direct connections and also can automatically switch between 3-D and 2-D for bullet play.  I found that playing bullet with the new 3-D board was very annoying and somewhat tricky.  The software does mark the corresponding square that the mouse is currently over.  In the map functions you have a new satellite views and there is also new support for some pay services.  Playchess.com is free like in the past but you can now pay for some lessons if you want. 

The new 3-D board and the drilling features do give some good reasons to upgrade to this version.  If you do not have the previous version of Fritz then you may want to check it out if you are a serious chess player.  Also this software does offer some very high fun and entertainment.