Nintendo has announced the information gamers have been waiting for the longest to learn; the pricing and date of the Wii console launch. The Wii console will launch on November 19 for a price of $249.99. The console will come with five sports titles, called Wii sports as well as the Wii remote and nunchuk accessory.

Between launch day and Dec. 31, Wii owners will enjoy a robust lineup of 30 software titles, with selections for everyone from video game veterans to newcomers. Some top Nintendo launch titles include Wii Sports, a compilation of tennis, baseball, golf, bowling and boxing; The Legend of Zelda(R): Twilight Princess; and EXCITE TRUCK(TM). While publishers are free to set their own prices for games, first-party Nintendo titles will have an MSRP of $49.99. Wii’s self-loading media bay also can play the entire library of more than 530 Nintendo GameCube(TM) titles from day one.

It was announced that the Wii will launch in Japan on December 2. While the console price of the Wii has been speculated at $250 for quite some time, the launch date will place it squarely two days after the PS3 launch in the US. It will be very interesting to see how this whole situation plays out. We’ll be back with more details.