The release date and final price for Nintendo's upcoming Wii system have finally been announced for North & South America - though not by Nintendo. The New York Times beat Nintendo to the punch by breaking the story this morning, both online and in print. Nintendo of Japan was able to reveal their details themselves today.

The Wii system bundle will be available for purchase in North and South America on November 19th for $250 U.S., Japan on December 3rd for ¥25,000 (about $215 U.S.). The European release date and price will be announced on Friday. The U.S. bundle, which comes in only one variation, will include a Wii system, a system stand, one controller set (one Wii-mote, one nunchuck, one sensor bar and one sensor bar stand), the necessary power and video cables AND a copy of Wii Sports (not included in the Japanese bundle).

25-30 titles will be available for the Wii before the year ends, none of which will cost over $49.99. A leaked release list includes the following games at launch (though this is hardly a finalized list):

• Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
  
• Excite Truck
  
• Rayman Raving Rabbits
  
• Red Steel
  
• Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2
  
• GT Pro Series
  
• Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
  
• Tony Hawk Downhill Jam
  
• Metal Slug Anthology
  
• Cars
  
• The Ant Bully
  
• Rampage: Total Destruction ($29.99)
  
• Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy
  
• Shrek's Smash 'n' Crash ($39.99)
  
• Rapala Stories ($39.99)
  
• Avatar: The Last Airbender
  
• Spongebob Squarepants: Creature from the Krusty Krab
  
• Call of Duty 3
  
• Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
  
• Madden NFL 2007
  
• Need For Speed: Carbon
  
• Trauma Center: Second Opinion
  
• Happy Feet
  
• Open Season
  
• Monster 4X4: World Circuit
  
• Far Cry: Vengeance
  
• Blazing Angels

To go along with that, 30 classic games will be available for download via the Virtual Console service - priced between $5 and $10 - that include games from the Donkey Kong, Mario and Zelda series. From a screenshot on the New York Times article (shown above), in what appears to be menu seen upon booting up the system, is the title screens for the original Mario Bros., Super Mario World, Super Mario 64 and Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, so I'd say you can confirm those - not that those choices should come as a surprise.

On top of all that, the New York Times and Nintendo have also confirmed previously unknown features for the system. These include Nintendo's hope "to make the Wii a living-room centerpiece" by including the ability to display photographs uploaded by users through the Wii, an easy-to-use channel for news and weather (as seen in the photo above) as well as the ability to surf the internet. That's not all: according to IGN.com, there will also be a channel dubbed the "Mii Channel," where users will create custom avatars that can travel with you via the internal memory of the Wii-mote. Hopefully this is part of an Xbox Live achievement point system - though that's just speculation and hope on my part!

Check back here later today for more Wii breaking news as it rocks our worlds!

*News provided by Male Pattern Radness and Dexter (I combined our info Dexter - hope that's okay with you!).