Ken Levine and Guillermo del Toro talk creativity and nerd culture

As part of the ongoing series of Irrational interviews and to celebrate Halloween, Bioshock's Ken Levine has spoken to Hellboy, Pan's Labyrinth and Blade 2 director Guillermo del Toro about the creation of monsters and artistic hunger.

"Imperfection is a goal we can all aspire too," film director Guillermo del Toro has told Ken Levine as part of Irrational's latest podcast.

Del Torro also explained how he finds societies expectations of being thin, wealthy, having a perfect smile and always being in a good mood to be "oppressive" and that he finds "monsters to be great liberators".

It's a concept that Levine himself is familiar with, having created a number of monsters himself.

"If you look at the Splicers in Bioshock or at the monsters in Pan's Labyrinth or Hell Boy, what's important is that you have to relate to them in some way," explained Irrational's frontman. "The monsters that are most powerful are the ones that have some relatable elements."

Speaking of the challenges of which projects to take on and which to say no to, Levine explained how passion is a key driver to creating success.

"When you start your career you're so hungry for anything ... and the first game I got to do was something that I was very passionate about but it very easily could have been something I was dispassionate about. I think what Guillermo is talking about is when you actually have to face two, three, four, or five years of something ... if you're not passionate about it, it's not going to be good and that's going to come across in the work."

Levine is currently working on BioShock Infinite which we can safely assume he is passionate about. It's due out for PC, PS3 and 360 in 2012.

Check out the full Irrational podcast for more from Levine and del Toro.