New Nintendo due Nov. 19

NEW YORK -- Nintendo Co. said its Wii game console will go on sale in the United States on Nov. 19 for $250, hoping that like its plucky game character Mario, it will be able to take on the gorillas of the market: Sony and Microsoft.

The Wii, which is about the size of a large paperback book, is both cheaper and smaller than Sony Corp.'s much-awaited PlayStation 3, which launches two days earlier with $500 and $600 models.

The Wii (pronounced ``wee") is the successor to Nintendo's GameCube, the third-best selling console of its generation after the PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox. The company hasn't been a market leader in consoles since the early 1990s.

Nintendo had promised to launch the Wii sometime in the last quarter of this year. By bringing it out on time, it's avoiding Sony's embarrassing PlayStation 3 delays.