Price is only a single factor in what motivates people to buy something. The fact that the Wii is cheaper in Japan than elsewhere doesn't matter; the lack of Wii Sports as a lure for anybody who looks at the package at a glance is a drop in the system's instant value appeal. It still amazes me that they thought it was a good idea to keep the system's price down in Japan by not including their killer app that got people interested in the system in the first place.
There is the argument that the Wii should have the same sort of innate appeal of the DS in Japan, but there's a few good reasons why it doesn't. On top of the DS having had its non-traditional features highlighted endlessly for their usefulness in other arenas besides gaming (especially the Brain Training series does this), the Wii doesn't have the same instant value advantages as the DS (such as portability and handwriting-centric intuitiveness). It is still very intuitive compared to any other console, but without many applications out there to get the non-gaming crowd into it (Wii Fit was a good start at getting the system its own Brain Training equivalent, but it's clearly not sparked quite the same level of interest), it's left a bit high-and-dry.
Sky Render - Sanity is for the weak.
