The eighth annual ChinaJoy (aka China Digital Entertainment Expo & Conference), China’s annual gaming conference on a par with E3, opened to the public yesterday at the Shanghai New International Expo Center.

According to show sponsors, the goal of the conference is to “strengthen domestic game supervision, actively regulate the markets of electronics and Internet publications, rigorously fight against piracy in order to encourage and support legal game products, and establish a platform for the comprehensive development of Chinese electronics products… While showing the new products and technologies, the exhibition aims to be the window of presenting industrial policies, accessing to market information, and absorbing global opinions and suggestion in order to play a positive role in the development.”

ChinaJoy regularly attracts digital media and gaming companies from Europe, North America, Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

The conference, running until Sunday, August 1, is ground zeo for anyone with a gaming interest in China, from the players to the play makers interested in checking out the new future of Chinese gaming -- and probably the game girls as well.

Although games are the highlight of the conference, the annual ChinaJoy cosplay competition (short for "costume play") is also a highlight worth noting.