At the risk of repeating an earlier story it seems that the New York Times leaked Wii info was pretty much bang on the money after all. But for the sake of 100% accuracy here’s what came out of the *Official* US announcement, as delivered by the ever-smiling Reggie Fils-Aime earlier on. We reckon he has good reason to grin too:

• The Wii will launch on November 19th, priced at £249.99. It’s going to “reshape the home entertainment and video game landscape...” too, reckons Reg.

• The launch pack includes one wireless Wii Remote, one Nunchuk (that’s how they’re spelling it) controller, and a copy of Wii Sports.

• Wii remotes can be bought separately for $39.99 (approx £21) and Nunchuks for just $19.99 (equivalent to a mere £10.60!)

• There will be 30 games available between launch and December 31st, including Zelda: Twilight Princess and the surprisingly cool Excite Truck.

• First party (ie Nintendo’s own) games will be priced at $49.99. Third party publishers are free to set their own prices.

• Gamers will have access to a library of over 530 Gamecube titles, downloadable via the Virtual Console from day one. Trust us there are some awesome ones too! More details about the Virtual Console and downloadable games will follow in the coming weeks.

• First party Virtual console games will be priced at a piffling $5 for an NES game, $8 for Super NES and $10 for N64 games. Presumably this is the price of Gamecube titles too, although this was not specified.

• Virtual Console games can be stored permanently using SD memory cards.

• Users with an internet connection will be able to access the “Wii Channel” menu. This works as a gateway to a variety of other entertainment content including web browsing, news, weather and digital image handling functions, as well as downloadable content management (via the “Wii Shop Channel) and the previously mentioned facility to create cool personal avatars that can be used in games like Wii Sports and Wario Ware: Smooth Moves.

• Nintendo will utilise a virtual cash system for buying content online. Similar to Microsoft Points in every way except much easier to understand - One Wii Point costs One Cent.

Fils-Aime went on to make all the usual noises about the Wii interface being intuitive and opening up gaming for hardcore gamers and newbies, young and old etc. But in a nutshell that’s pretty much the long and short of it.

Details still TBC include what sort of AV leads the unit will come bundled with (but don’t expect an RGB SCART lead in the box!) and specifics about how Nintendo will be able to prevent folks from illegally copying and trading their Virtual Console games.

This is all highly encouraging, though – particularly if Nintendo Europe is able to match (or even get close to) the keen pricing and killer timing of its US and Japanese counterparts. We’ve already gnawed our digits to the bone in anticipation of tomorrow’s big announcement! Check back shortly after midday for the full details.