China's first ever videogame expo set for January '04

The first ever videogame expo on mainland China has been scheduled to be held in Beijing next month, with a variety of conferences and lectures planned along with participation from several Japanese and Korean publishers.

Called ChinaJoy, the expo will be held at the Beijing Exhibition hall and the programme will include conferences on topics ranging from game development to the ever-pressing issue (especially in China) of piracy.

A final list of companies which will be participating in ChinaJoy has yet to be announced, but it's expected that Nintendo and Sony will make appearances, given that both companies are launching consoles in China this month, with the Nintendo iQue and the Sony PlayStation 2 rolling out ahead of the new year.