With more and more Japanese companies looking to tap into the growing Chinese game market, this year's China Digital Entertainment Expo has attracted several major players from Japan including Konami, Sony Computer Entertainment and Sega.

Sega's booth featured stage appearances from veteran producers Ouji Hiroi and Yuu Suzuki. Hiroi won over the hearts of the Chinese audience by complimenting China for its beautiful women and delicious food. After a short Q&A session, Hiroi announced a major surprise: a Sakura Taisen-based online game. While the Sakura Taisen mastermind did not reveal any specifics regarding the game, he stressed the aspect of many users fighting against the forces of evil together. The PC-based MMORPG will initially be launched in mainland China and not in Japan.

Following Hiroi's presentation of the new Sakura Taisen game, Virtua Fighter and Shenmue mastermind Yuu Suzuki appeared on stage to talk about Shenmue Online. In addition to showing off a new trailer of the PC-based MMORPG, the producer revealed that by the time the open beta testing phase arrives, more than 150 quests will be available for users to tackle. Apparently the main characters of the first two games are also set to appear in Shenmue Online. Suzuki however did not mention a release date for the game, which was originally expected to be available in 2005.

• GameWatch