Source: America's leading sports magazine for the prepubescent athlete, Sports Illustrated for Kids.

　　The official story: See below.

　　What we heard: One of the hottest gaming scoops of the year may have been unearthed by the sports-magazine equivalent of Highlights for Children, Sports Illustrated for Kids. In a section of the magazine devoted to sports games, a side column sums up the forthcoming additions to the next-gen console family, the PlayStation 3 and the Nintendo Wii.

　　Much of the info is watered-down talk of the systems, with the only description of the PS3 reading "Wireless controllers and revved-up graphics designed to work on high-definition TVs." There was no mention of its very adult price tag, and there was only a brief summary of the potential of the Wii's controller with sports games.

　　However, the big news that had kids freaking out like a Pixy Stix sugar rush was a note about the console's release date, which was one of Nintendo's closely guarded secrets. The magazine claims the console will release on November 6, 11 days before the PS3's confirmed release date (which was also mentioned in the magazine).

　　Nintendo has gone on record to say that the Wii would be released in Q4 of 2006, in time for the holiday season. The November 6 date seems to fall in line with conventional wisdom, and getting a head start on the PS3 is a logical move for the company.

　　Of course, Nintendo wouldn't let a magazine that sits on the rack near Teen Beat spoil an official announcement, and had this to say about the report: "The launch date for Wii cited in the current issue of Sports Illustrated for Kids is based on speculation on the part of the magazine, and is not based on information from Nintendo. We remain committed to launch the remarkable Wii console in the fourth quarter of 2006."

　　Though SI for Kids is aimed at the little brothers and sisters of the world, it's still a member of the Sports Illustrated family and is presumably held to similar journalistic standards. They didn't pull the date out of thin air, and misinformation would face the wrath of millions of Internet-savvy preteens wondering where their Wii was on November 6 (please keep jokes to yourself).

　　Bogus or not bogus?: Officially? Bogus. Unofficially? The release date had to come from somewhere, but we won't know the truth until later this year. What do you think?