TOKYO — The 2008 Tokyo Game Show, the largest video game show in the world, was to kick off Thursday, with thousands of video game developers, media and fans expected to descend on the Makuhari Messe convention center in Chiba.

Last year’s event drew a record crowd of 193,040 visitors. This year’s show promises to continue the East versus West battle as American console maker Microsoft struggles to try to get a solid foothold in the Japanese gaming market, traditionally dominated by Japanese rivals Nintendo and Sony.

Nintendo, keeping with its tradition, will not attend the show. However, other developers will show off games for the company’s hugely successful Wii and DS systems.

Sega, Konami, Capcom, Square Enix and Electronic Arts, along with hundreds of other companies from around the world, will showcase their products in the 581,000-square-foot convention hall.

While the show always features a few surprises, some of the titles confirmed to appear are "Resident Evil 5," "Fallout 3," "Mirror’s Edge," "Street Fighter IV," "LittleBigPlanet," "Fable II," "SOCOM: Confrontation" and "PlayStation Home."

The event is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday with no entry allowed after 4 p.m. Admission is 1,000 yen in advance and 1,200 yen the day of the show. Admission is free for children elementary-school age and younger. An admission application form must be turned in on the day of the event.

Visit the show’s Web site at http://tgs.cesa.or.jp/index.html for more information and to obtain the admission application form