A New York Times article reveals today, hours before the official Nintendo Wii press-event in the USA, that Wii will launch on November 19th for $250 ($249.99 or 249.95).

Update:
Confirmed: Wii Launches November 19th with a price of $249.99

Looking at the December 2nd release date for the Nintendo Wii in Japan, I am not quite convinced that this information holds true.

Can Nintendo really afford to 'piss off' Japanese Nintendo fans by giving the US Nintendo fanboys and fangirls the Wii console nearly 2 weeks earlier?
The NY Times article (which is still not online, only in print available) also claims that the US Nintendo Wii will include the WiiSports game. Wii games will sell for $50 ($49.99, $49.95) and 25 Wii games are supposed to be available at launch. More details on GameSpot.

The Sony PS3 launches 2 days earlier on November 17th in the US.