This generation (so far) I've been seeing that the 360 usually ends up getting the #1 WW sales game for a week, then falls down the chart. The wii, on the other hand, keeps selling and selling and selling.... How exactly does a game become an evergreen title like so many wii games?

If the game is make by Nintendo then is evergreen, pretty easy to understand

Two things contribute to this. One is that Nintendo has first party games that have a huge appeal with the kind of people who buy their systems.

The other is that hardcore players tend to be very aware of what is coming out and are very motivated to get it ASAP; casuals might not know of a game, might not know when its coming out or just may not be in a hurry to buy it, regardless of how much they like it.

Related to both of these is that the wii is a party system, and many games are benefactors of one wii owner experiencing it at another's place.

Haha.

For those that don't know, Rol is almost always sarcastic.

To those who actually believe the above, please explain Brain Age and Nintendogs. Or why Mario Sunshine and Galaxy haven't been as "evergreen" as NSMB or any of the Mario Kart games.

Here's a clue: Smash Melee was more "evergreen" than Smash Brawl is shaping up to be. Even Brain Age 2 did more up front sales, and is currently selling less, than Brain Age 1. Halo 1 was a "legs" title, but Halo 2 and 3 did the vast majority of sales up front. GTAIII was certainly a legs title, but each successive GTA less so, leading up to GTAIV which has basically fallen off the charts already. Guitar Hero 1 relied entirely on "legs," GH2 less so, and GH3 had huge up front sales.

Eventually, with a limited built-in audience, and with a lot of games competing for their dollars, sustaining high sales over time becomes impossible. A title with an unlimited audience and no competition will be "evergreen."

Probably why Carnival Games is still doing so well. It targeted a specfic ninche and has yet to be challenged in it.

Many games for the HD consoles tend to be overhyped (GTAIV) and receive inflated review scores. So most people buy it week 1. Most of the sales of these games are also to die hard fans of the series who have been waiting years (or in the case of Madden and FIFA 12 months) for the game to be released and are there on day 1 to get the game. But then they play it and discover it wasn't the second coming of Christ they were led to believe it was. So they tell their friends not to bother and many of them sell the game so there are many copies available second hand (which don't count towards sales).

Evergreen games on the other hand have very positive word of mouth and also have another huge advantage. They are on systems that are selling double what their competitors are selling each week so they have a rapidly expanding user base to sell to (of course this second point doesn't explain why Melee was one of the Gamecubes top selling games from the day it was released to the day they stopped making Gamecubes, it just had super positive word of mouth).