It looks like the Wii's rather limited storage capacity isn't just a problem for "geeks and otaku" anymore. Talking to MTV multiplayer, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime stated that the company is now seeing it as a more mainstream problem:

From an Americas-centric perspective, here is the reality we see. We have a consumer base who loves virtual console. We have a userbase who really is enjoying WiiWare content. So for us really our challenge really is how do we satisfy all these consumers who are loving all of the product we make available on a download basis?

As we continue to have things, as you point out, like Mario Kart that has its own channel when you’re playing from an Internet perspective, we’re just making this challenge tougher and tougher. So in our view this is becoming much more of a mainstream problem, which is why we have a sense of urgency to solve it.

Apart from assuring Wii owners that Nintendo is "looking hard at the storage situation", Fils-Aime didn't give any specific ideas on how they'll tackle the Wii's storage problems. Of course, it would probably be easy enough to roll out a firmware update that allows the Wii to access files on a USB storage device, but taking Nintendo's views on piracy into account along with the current surge of Wii homebrew, it may take a while until we see anything concrete.

Keep checking back here on the QJ.NET Wii blog for more updates.