Well, if Wii is outpacing/matching PS2, but there was no equivalent to DS + PSP when PS2 launched, then that's a pretty strong argument that Japan's relevance towards gaming (and gaming's relevance in Japan) is growing.
I think we're just seeing a spell of reletively poor Wii sales, and nothing more. Compared to the 1+2+3+4 combo of Brain Training + NSMB + Animal Crossing + Pokemon that DS had in Japan, Wii has only had the first strike with Wii Sports, which is almost a year old. Mario Galaxy doesn't look like it will be the 2 for Japan, but Wii Fit might.
So maybe Japan won't be as important towards the Wii's success as it was toward's the DS's. But Japan is still a trendsetter.
"[Our former customers] are unable to find software which they WANT to play."
"The way to solve this problem lies in how to communicate what kind of games [they CAN play]."
Satoru Iwata, Nintendo President. Only slightly paraphrased.
