It's pretty rare that software is in short supply, but Japan is suffering a pretty serious shortage of Smash Bros. Brawl discs. This in turn means import shops got shorted on their orders, which means a lot of folks who wanted to use import copies to get the early scoop on the game got denied.
Wired's Game|Life was one such source, practically apologizing for its lack of promised Brawl coverage as a result of the shortage.
With today's developments, the disproportionate delay now makes sense: Nintendo planned to just squeeze out enough copies into Japan to get the game on shelves this month and technically hit their announced release date... but not nearly enough to fill demand.
This wouldn't fly in the U.S., so we get to wait (and wait and wait) until they've manufactured enough copies.
Game|Life seems to think the production shortage is the "real" reason for the Brawl delay, and I suspect that's dead-on. Nintendo's not letting Brawl hit the US until they've got plenty of copies for everyone.
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