2K pres: fewer triple-A games this year

2K president Christoph Hartmann reckons this Christmas season could see fewer amazing games released than last year's.

"I think this holiday season is a little bit lighter in triple-A games than last year. It's actually a good holiday to put something out," Hartmann told GameSpot after the publisher announced Borderlands' 23rd October release date.

Hartmann further explained that the decision to push Mafia II, Red Dead Redemption and BioShock 2 into 2010 was taken in order to ensure they all come out tiptop.

"I think it has nothing to do with the release window," he said of the delays. "It's that the quality bar goes higher and higher. Ultimately, to be commercially successful, you need a triple-A product. And everyone knows pushing a product out the door just isn't going to get you there, so they're going to do the right thing."

He said Borderlands could be "one of the big surprises of the year". You can see whether we agree in our hands-on preview next week.

Finally, Hartmann also took the David Reeves Award for elaborate metaphors as he tried to explain the company's strategy in recent times.

"Three or four years ago, we had a little seed. We put it out in the field and wanted to grow an apple tree," he began.

"We had two nice apples there with The Darkness and BioShock. Then there was the apple called Civilization, which was a little bit of an import.

"But now the tree's going to blossom. It's going to have more and more fruits, and I think you'll see that. Borderlands is going to be one of those perfect apples on there."

Fruity.