BioShock and BioShock 2 are just $4.99 USD each today via Steam, part of 2K Games' four-day-long sale. Both are totally worth it if you've somehow not played a BioShock game before.

Gearbox Software's Randy Pitchford does a delightful job of explaining the need for a game to "hook" the player. It can be heard on the latest instalment of the always-excellent Irrational Interviews podcast.

Art book or golden gun? Poster or multiplayer skin? In today's Speak-Up on Kotaku, commenter Monsieur.Froid wants to know why some people prefer in-game collector's edition prizes to tangible swag. What's your poison?

Why do so many people prefer in-game baubles rather than real world items when they order collector's editions?

I went into GameStop today and there were four guys (looked to be around 18/19) fuming about the Killzone 3 collector's edition because it came with, "Some shit-faced helmet for kids and not a better weapon or cool armour."

I preordered RDR (nothing special, just a preorder) and I got a free soundtrack for the game. I also got a new costume to unlock. My friends don't seem to care about the soundtrack, but the costume? All the rage.

Bioshock 2? Again, numerous people were upset that there were only 2 special characters for the multiplayer, seemingly ignoring the fact that it came in a rather nice looking box, 3 posters (with hidden messages in invisible ink), a vinyl soundtrack, an art book AND another soundtrack of the previous game on CD.

What's become of these people?

About Speak-Up on Kotaku: Our readers have a lot to say, and sometimes what they have to say has nothing to do with the stories we run. That's why we have that little box on the front page of Kotaku. You know, the one with "Got something to say?" written in it? That's the place to post anecdotes, photos, game tips and hints, and anything you want to share with Kotaku at large. Just make sure to include #speakup in your comment so we can find it. Every weekday we'll pull one of the best #speakup posts we can find and highlight it here.

Meagan VanBurkleo, who we've seen before as the Princess of Persia, returns to wow us again with a day spent as Mad Moxxi, a maniacal star of Gearbox's shooter Borderlands.

If you haven't played the game before, Mad Moxxi is like Tina Turner in Mad Max 3. Only less terrifying.

While the pictures are great, it's also interesting reading the accompanying blog post to find out just how much work goes into a costume like this. Some people like to make all their own stuff, but in this case, nearly every little item had to be sourced, not sewn.

Cosplay Feature: Mad Moxxi [meaganvanburkleo][thanks MSJ!]

The bodies of dead little boys, the impact of extinction, the vicious torture of two of video game's least likable characters and hundreds of death by spike... these are, strangely, my most memorable video game moments of 2010.

Some of them are even my favorites, despite how gloomy and violent they were. It's a good thing my personal list of great video game moments from last year includes at least one choreographed dance number.

Note: This list is not ranked. There are some spoilers below, including some that discuss the endings of Red Dead Redemption, Bayonetta and BioShock 2.

The Benefits of Civilization (Red Dead Redemption) It's already been discussed by Kotaku's own Luke Plunkett, who ranked this moment as one of his 2010 favorites, but rarely have I been so surprised by video game music. Red Dead Redemption's soundtrack switch from minimal Western moodiness to Jamie Lidell's "Compass" during John Marston's ride home to his ranch altered my expectations about the power of video game music. Little did I know, at the time, that I was due for so much more from this game, including a change of perspective on how a game should end.

The Birth of the Conservationist Movement (Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare) Two worthy moments in the same game? Sort of. Red Dead Redemption's zombie-filled expansion, Undead Nightmare, featured a surprising, unsettling, even saddening run in with a species on the brink of extinction—the Sasquatch—that could have (or should have) been great comic relief, but instead wound up being... touching?

Potential For Anything (VVVVVV) Magnus Pålsson's wonderful soundtrack to Terry Cavanagh's thrilling VVVVVV is rich with great, catchy tunes. And I'll cop to not fully remembering at what point during VVVVVV the song "Potential For Anything" kicks in, but I do remember it as a moment that I stopped playing to start listening. Had I made good on my threat to write a list of my favorite video game music from 2010, this song would have been near the top of that list.

The Message To Yourself (BioShock 2: Minerva's Den) After playing through BioShock and BioShock 2 within the same two weeks, I'd effectively burned myself out on Rapture in short order. When the expansion Minerva's Den arrived, I approached it with a grumble. Stupid Little Sisters. Stupid Big Daddies. I'm sick of 'em! But Minerva's Den's story unravels—and finally concludes—in such a refreshing way, thanks to the last words of Charles Porter, that Rapture was redeemed in a third, once again plot-twisting visit.

The Lost Boys (Limbo) The horror of Limbo reaches a zenith early when the boy meets the game's other inhabitants. In a world already fraught with danger and gloom, the other lost boys who show you nothing but cruelty makes this world a sadder place. Worse was the realization that to survive the trip through Limbo, you would have to debase yourself to their level—and use their corpses as video game devices, platforms.

Strangling A Man Naked (Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days) Not to say that this was a favorite moment, but it certainly was memorable, even when we knew about Kane & Lynch 2's excessive nudity well in advance. Suffering from the pain of hundreds of small cuts—not to mention the brutal killing of a loved one—anti-heroes Kane and Lynch travel through a Shanghai hell bloody, beaten and completely naked, ratcheting up the abrasion of this unsavory adventure to its maximum.

Whatever Ending This Was (Bayonetta) In this carnival ride game brimming with ridiculous moments, from riding motorcycles into space to fighting monolithic bosses with angel wings and tentacles for tongues, it was Bayonetta's bizarre stack of endings that culminated in a three and a half minute-long dance sequence that managed to stand out.

The Betrayal of Kerrigan (StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty) Is it cheating to use a pre-rendered cut scene? Even if it is, Blizzard's retelling of a key StarCraft event in this beautifully rendered short helped to ground me in the universe's fiction in a powerful way. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty ended on a similarly vivid way, a turn of events that wouldn't have had the same impact if it weren't for this gorgeous flashback.

Those were my favorite video game moments of 2010. Throughout the week, we'll be publishing the favorite moments of other writers on the Kotaku team. And at week's end, we'll want you to sound off.

Italian-Americans wanted Mafia II banned because they said it portrayed offensive ethnic stereotypes. A European Parliament member wants it banned because it trivializes mob murders. I have a better strategy: STFU about banning bad games, and they'll eventually fade away.

Sonia Alfano, the MP in question, also is president of Italy's association for the families of Mafia victims. "It really, really hurts," Alfano, recently said in an interview. "We can't allow this to happen, our wounds are still too fresh." Her father was murdered by the mob. It doesn't matter that it was 18 years ago, her wounds will always be fresh.

No offense to Alfano or anyone hurt by organized crime; this is still another one of those arguments where someone assumes their victim status gives them the authority to say what is and isn't appropriate for the rest of society. We deal with that a lot in video games. The fact Mafia II was released in August and this concerns a game most people have already rented or returned smacks of a publicity grab.

Bloomberg has a longer and more thorough story whose net effect is to intellectualize whining.

Mafia Victim Families Fight Increasing Violence, Brutality in Video Games [Bloomberg via GamePolitics]

Freelance artist and game designer Anjin Anhut shares some thoughts (and neat comparison charts) on what size means for video game's creatures great and small .

Feeling And Understanding

While "make it big" seems to be the obvious approach, there is more to consider and to achieve by structuring the sizes of protagonists, enemies, items and environmental elements in a clever way. The basic conventional concept of size representing power can be an awesome tool to help players instinctively understand a game situation and also trigger the desired emotional reaction. Let's check out some ways how this is achieved.

The conventional idea of bigger=stronger is not manmade, it is based in nature. A common defense mechanism for many animals is to appear bigger. Some four-legged animals stand up and birds spread their feathers to provide a bigger silhouette and hopefully appear to be too dangerous to attack for their opponents and predators. Also large horns, antlers, tusks, manes or overall physique often help establish the status of the dominate male in herds, packs and animal families.

Man comes into play when tackling the idea from the physics side and cultural side. From a physics perspective, it is roughly understandable that large objects easily move small objects, but not vice versa. You know, like your body can easily be crushed by a tank. But the tank can't be crushed by your body. (I would like to see the Myth Busters disprove that one.) Anyway, culturally the analogy of size and strength is commonly used in narration and language. For example: "Why don't you pick on someone your own size?", which basically means "why don't you pick on someone as strong as yourself?".

Stacking Doll Food Chain

To start with the simplest and clearest form of the idea, let's have a look at stacking dolls. Using the engulfing/swallowing as representation for all sorts of dominance, it helps to illustrate a simple concept. Whatever is bigger than me, is superior in strength, power to me. Everything smaller is inferior in those regards. One could also extract that idea from the principle of food chains, where it is usually the bigger animal eating the smaller one. But there are so many exceptions to the principle there, that I rather came up with the very consistent stacking dolls analogy.

The stacking doll model takes nothing into account, except size itself. No weapons, no superpowers or other factors. Some factors, we will explore later.

Organize By Size

The stacking doll analogy can be applied in various forms to various games. Structuring entities by size to help the player instinctively understand strength relations is quite effective and already used well. In professional chess several conventions assign relative values to the pieces regarding their offensive qualities on the board. This represents the strength of the pieces in the imaginary combat situation depicted in a round of chess. Various sources assign values like this: pawn=1/knight=3/bishop=3/rook=5/queen=9 (king not included, since he is not mend to join the battle). This hierarchy is roughly represented by the size relations of traditional chess pieces.

In Gears of War 1+2 it becomes also quite obvious that relative size is used to hint at relative offensive power or level of threat. While most enemy creatures actual offensive power is determined by the weapon they are carrying, the physical appearance of the enemy is always matched. Except boss-like enemies, unarmed creatures are smaller than the Gears (human soldiers). Enemies with equal weapons to the Gears (sniper rifles, shotguns, assault rifles) are human-sized. Slightly more powerful weapons and special abilities (Torque-Bow, summoning Tickers) are used by enemies either slightly bigger than Gears (Kantors) or by enemies with the same size, that wear big hats to appear bigger (Theron Guards). The really heavy weapons are held by so called Boomers, which are big in size and have a massive physical appearance.

Please note that the difference in size of all those enemy creatures is not a logical consequence of the weight or usability of the weapons they are handling. Making the physique and weapon power of the Locusts match in size is just a visual cue for the player. Gears can pick up and use all of the weapons described above and do not need to vary in size to do so.

Huge Threat

So, keeping the stacking dolls in mind, let's have a look at how the player characters from Bioshock 1 and 2 are ranking amongst the other characters and creatures from the respective games. Please note, that the mannequin is just a stand-in for the faceless protagonist from Bioshock 1. We can clearly see, that in both line-ups, the Little Sisters are way smaller than the player characters, which perfectly suits the concept of them being at the player's mercy. Also in Bioshock 1 the enemy creatures are either the same size or noticeably bigger than the player character, successfully providing a sense of threat.

In Bioshock 2, the player is the biggest stacking doll, with maybe only the Brute Splicer or other Big Daddies equal in size. This made me feel very safe and comfortable while fighting the regular Splicers. Even the Big Sister was very spooky but did not appear to be equally matched with my powers. If we just take the stacking doll principle into account, the player in Bioshock 2 had very little to actually fear, while in Bioshock 1 he was under the constant threat of being swallowed by bigger matryoshkas.

Maybe this issue is more tricky, than some game developers treat it.

Float Like A Butterfly, Sting Like A Bee

There is something weird happening, when the difference in size passes a certain threshold. The payoff is satisfying. Taking down a titan as big as a house is quite an accomplishment. But the fight itself can feel less physically tense and dangerous, than fighting enemies, closer to the protagonist's height. Simply put, when the enemy is too big, he can become less frightening and the player character suddenly becomes the palpable threat.

I think, this impression is caused by several factors. One is the depiction of physical pain. Instant death is always looming, but normally there is little pain involved for the player. When the protagonists looses against the giant, he is getting completely crushed, swallowed whole or ripped to shreds. Total instant destruction. The giant enemy, whenever critically hit, gets hurt pretty bad and it takes multiple painfully articulated hits to finally end him. The protagonist mutilates hands, rips out eyes, cuts of tounges and the giant enemy creature dies a slow painful death.

Then there is giant enemies becoming so big, that they are treated as part of the environment. Fighting giants often feels like and is structured like a sequence of avoiding environmental hazards. All strategic elements of armed and hand-to-hand combat gameplay usually don't apply to taking down titans. There is no blocking, no quick kills, no juggling, no counter attacks, no splatting head shots. Climbing on titan creatures or crawling around in their innards, circling them on horseback and systematically damaging their weak spots often is more akin to toppling a tower, derailing a train or wrecking a building than to fighting.

Lastly, to return to the narrative perspective, the giant enemy creatures are often engaged by the protagonist in games. The giants are either hunted or are placed as bosses of their own realm. The player character usually moves thru an area to reach the giant, not the other way around. This also enhances the feeling of the insect-sized protagonist being the offensive force.

Supersized

Size can also be used as a multiplier for emotional effects. In horror literature and films supersizing things and creatures has a long tradition. Think of King Kong, Tarantula, the US version of Godzilla, Attack Of The 50ft Woman. But the multiplier also works on a smaller scale. We do not need the sense of being physically overpowered here. Know somebody who shudders at the sight of spiders? Have ever seen a camel spider or seen what it's bite can do? Use supersizing to multiply the dread and fear small terrors give us.

On the other hand, making things supersized can also result in big comedic effects, when funny and harmless things get blown out of proportion.

Size Matters

Now let's have a look at dead things. Props, weapons, armor, tools. I already mentioned large horns, antlers and so forth visually establishing the status of being strong. This can be directly translated into the size of manmade tools and weapons. Where it gets interesting, when you consider weapons and tools as extensions of your body. This concept is already extensively explored by various writers (for example Steve Swink – Game Feel or Scott McCloud – Understanding Comics) and especially powerful in video games, where the tools we pick up in a game actually allow us to interact. The power of the weapon or tool is projected onto the character by making the weapon or tool an extension of the characters physique.

This concept allows us to give great physical strength to a skinny boy, have a baby be a heavy force in hand-to-hand combat or apply the destructive power of a tank to a single person.

Conclusion

I know my observations are incomplete and subject to discussion and there is so much more to explore. There is a lot of depth to the ways size and size relations can work for gameplay, narration or emotionally. And I always enjoy, when I recognize game developers tackled this issue with consideration and concept.

You can read more of Anhut's stuff (including this piece) over on his personal website, How Not To Suck At Game Design.

Mafia II returns to Empire Bay with "Joe's Adventures," the game's second paid DLC extension. Can its 24 new missions carry the game forward, or do they dwell on what made Mafia II a good-but-not-great action game?

Mafia II: Joe's Adventures is a flashback to the 10-year period during which Vito Scaletta went to prison for selling stolen gas ration stamps. This time players will be Joe Barbaro, Vito's impulsive and violent sidekick from the original game. Two dozen missions are included with several new settings.

Ideal Player

Mafia II diehards with cash in their Sony wallet or Microsoft points to spare are the target as 2K slaps another $10 worth of paid content into a game that was disappointing at $60.

Why You Should Care

Not two weeks after its release, Mafia II had paid DLC ready to go, telegraphing 2K Games' intentions for this franchise. It was plainly content developed alongside the main game. Joe's Adventures seems to be the same. What were they holding back? Could or should this have been included with the full game, which many felt was too short?

This doesn't sound good. Because it isn't. Mafia II's strengths, comparatively speaking, were not in its mission design. They were quite tedious, in fact, but at least there was a story, some well composed cinematics, and strong acting to motivate you to complete the game. Here is 2K Games' third attempt to convince us that replacing cutscenes with loading screen text, offering up the same batch of templatized missions and calling all of it "arcade-style" is some sort of experience that is either fun or consistent with what the first game delivered. It isn't. It's a cop-out.

But doesn't this in fact add to the Mafia II canon? Barely. I was under the impression Joe's Adventures would reveal more about why Vito was sent to the big house. There's some indication he took the fall for the Clementes, but this is all about Joe, Joe and Joe, underlined by the fact he's working with a minor character from the main game, Tony Balls. Henry Tomasino, the best character of the original game, is wasted in a cameo at the beginning and never heard from again.

Still, it's got like 24 missions. That sounds like good value for $10. Fair point. Looking back I think I logged about 7 or 8 hours in this. But the missions are in many cases trivially easy and in others, bewildering as to what the designer intended for you to do. The best example was "Smuggler's Luck," an early mission in which you're tasked with commandeering a van loaded with stolen goods. The van has two gunmen aboard and an escort with the same firepower, all of it automatic weapons. Car combat in Mafia II is impossible - you can't shoot from your vehicle. Trying to run this thing off the road got me shot to death every time. Tailing it to a hideout wasn't the objective, it just drove forever. I finally just parked an obstacle (a big truck) across its known driving path, got out and machine-gunned everyone while the escort car stupidly waited behind. (I then grenaded it for laughs.) Another mission, I'm advised by my NPC partner to infiltrate a train yard quietly. The game then tells me to equip a grenade. I just said the hell with it and started shooting, suffering no consequences for that choice. A later mission, selling firearms to gun stores, puts you in an unwieldy boat of a pickup truck and sics a car full of machine gun-toting goons on you. Trying to lose it in a chase, what one would think was the purpose of such a mission, was impossible. The answer is to get out immediately and gun it down on foot. The mission design is just careless to the point of seeming spiteful.

Is there anything new in this? There's a new car, some new Playboy collectibles (including an out-of-place Jo Garcia, who neither posed during this era nor became a Playmate) and several new settings - a yacht club, a train yard, a subway station a supermarket, a cathouse and a building under construction. All of these except the subway station are the scene of untimed, non-arcade style missions that culminate in a big cutscene. These are little more than big shootouts, the most ridiculous being in the supermarket. Apparently the straight-up armed robbery of a civilian-owned grocery store is something organized crime figures commonly undertake.

Mafia II: Joe's Adventures In Action

The Bottom Line

Don't bother. Mafia II: Joe's Adventures is a transparent cash grab stuffed with missions that a skilled and interested modder could put to shame. While deeper and, comparatively, better than "Jimmy's Vendetta," it again forsakes the main game's strengths while serving up 24 more chores and again making you drive all over the map to complete them. Mafia II was a forgivably ambitious disappointment; its DLC, culminated by Joe's Adventures, makes it into an irredeemable flop.

Mafia II: Joe's Adventures was developed by 2K Czech and published by 2K Games for the PlayStation 3, PC and Xbox 360, released on Nov. 23, 2010. Retails for $9.99 USD/800 Microsoft Points. A copy of the game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes. Completed singleplayer campaign on PS3.

My acting teacher taught me a variety of things, such as how to cry on command and sound really excited about floor wax.

But more importantly, she taught me that the hardest roles of my career wouldn't involve emotional death scenes, historical research, or any kind of physical and emotional transformation.

The hardest roles would be playing the attractive, heroic leading lady.

Not because the scenes are demanding in the least. In fact, they're usually some of the easiest: Smile, look pretty. Shoot gun, look pretty. Play hard to get, look pretty. Pouty-lipped reaction shot. Repeat.

My acting coach meant that it's easy to fall into the trap of just going through the motions as the ‘pretty girl.' I mean, who cares about my character's subtext (the emotion underneath the words) as long as I had a low-cut shirt, flat abs, and body oil, right? True – and there's nothing wrong with sex appeal – but it's the job of real actors to take something superficial and give it depth.

This same concept applies to video game heroines.

In the original Tomb Raiders, Lara Croft needed nothing more than D-cups and 9-millimeters to satisfy her demographic. But now that the bar of characterization has been raised, what makes a good heroine?

Personally, I compare it to what I've learned in acting: Leading ladies have to be tough, but accessible. Beautiful, with a vulnerable, ugly side. A strong woman and a scared little girl at the same time. Not to mention outfits and overall style need to make sense. And what about throwing some humor in there? A sense of humor makes her relatable. In other words, female protagonists should be well rounded… and not just in the physical sense.

These high standards of mine are the reason I still don't have a favorite video game heroine. The funniest thing, however, is that each of my requirements have been met – only with different characters.

So, I'm breaking all the rules, throwing on my mad scientist goggles, and splicing together some Frankenstein monsters, to see if I can create my perfect female lead.

Monster #1 – The Witty, Complex Beauty

Elena Fisher's humor (Uncharted series) + Lara Croft's style & weapons (Tomb Raider series) + Bonnie MacFarlane's emotional strength (Red Dead Redemption)

No firearm compares to Nathan Drake's arsenal of one-liners, and while he's not the first wisecracking hero, he's one of the first to have a sarcastic female counterpart who can shoot the jokes right back. Elena's sense of humor could very well be the most lovable thing about her. Combine that charming personality with Lara Croft's short-shorts and pistols, and – well, talk about a firecracker!

You can't deny that Lara Croft's body is as classic to video games as Mario's red hat. I loved her style in Tomb Raider: Underworld, and frankly, I'd wear the same thing if I were chimney jumping like a spider monkey in a hot, sticky jungle. To top off a beauty like Lara with the quick wit of Elena, I'd add Bonnie MacFarlane's full range of emotions.

Bonnie is a real, relatable woman in a man's world. We see her as a protective landowner and a respectful daughter. We watch her take a liking to John Marston, which turns into a silent love, and eventually… we see her realize that love can never develop, as she kicks the dirt like a sad little girl.

While Elena's humor and Lara's style are good first steps toward creating a dynamic heroine, it's really the imperfections and heart of Bonnie that round out this Frankenstein monster.

Monster #2 – The Hot, Parkouring Zombie Assassin

Zoey's relatability (Left4Dead) + Faith Connors' acrobatics (Mirror's Edge) + Rubi Malone's fashion (Wet)

The Zompocalypse is going to happen. We've all accepted it.

While we know virtually nothing about Zoey from Left4Dead, gamers are obsessed with her. I realized it's because she is one of the most relatable female characters around. She's extremely normal – a girl you could easily run into on the street. I guarantee if the outbreak happened tomorrow, I would be Zoey personified… but I'd wish I had the skills of Faith Connors.

Imagine being a survivor among zombies with the ability to parkour. Talk about a game-changer! Faith's unique, real-life free-running ability given to a sharpshooter like Zoey produces a character that's only missing one thing: some sexy style.

Wet wasn't exactly Game of the Year, but its star, Rubi Malone, knows how to dress. Her style is practical, sexy, and gives off a "Don't screw with me" vibe. Why do I think my down-to-earth, Apocalypse-surviving heroine needs more than just jeans and a hoodie? It's the classic saying, "Look good, feel good," because hell, if I looked like Rubi at the end of humanity, my ass-kicking ego would be bigger than a free Lady Gaga concert.

Monster #3 – The Loyal, Independent Phasewalker… with a Sword

Lilith's Phasewalk (Borderlands) + Alyx Vance's complexity and independence (Half-Life series) + Lightning's gunblade (Final Fantasy XIII)

Video games are fictional, and the best thing about fiction is that you can give characters unrealistic features, such as incredible super powers. Lilith's Phasewalk in Borderlands allows her to turn invisible and slip out of danger, then reappear in the center of the battle with a shockwave of pain. Yet, this amazing power is given to a character that's hard to get close to. Imagine this power given to a strong, sassy, beautifully complex character like Alyx Vance.

Alyx, more than Gordon Freeman, is the face of Half-Life 2, giving us a real human with which to connect as we control a voiceless hero. Maybe I'm just a sucker for that wink of hers, but Alyx's personality is a breath of fresh air in the video game land of superficial beauties.

Lilith and Alyx? They're all about guns. So, we'll stick with what they're familiar with and throw in a sword. The Gunblades from Final Fantasy are undeniably cool, and the one wielded by Lightning is probably the most gorgeous of all. Lightning's weapon, Alyx's depth, Lilith's powers – yeah, I'd play that game.

There is an obvious shortage of multifaceted female protagonists. Even in Game Informer's "30 Characters Who Defined a Decade," only six were women. In our male-dominated world of games, I'd love to see more female heroes that break the shallow mold and show us their gritty, even ugly side. And hey, a few more funny girls wouldn't hurt, either.

So, those are my creations – what are yours?

Lisa Foiles is best known as the former star of Nickelodeon's award-winning comedy show, All That. She currently works as a graphic designer and writes for her game site, Save Point. For more info, visit Lisa's official website.

That's Mikey Neumann, writer on Gearbox's megahit Borderlands, smashing up living room furniture for the debut episode of "Anthony Saves The World." His mom did not actually give him that table. It's from IKEA - it's got cardboard in it.

But they are in fact filming in Mikey's home. "Anthony" is Anthony Burch, another Gearbox writer. And the episode's director of photography is Brian Thomas, Gearbox's cinematic director. The music, also, is done by Danny Baranowsky, who composed the soundtrack for Super Meat Boy.

Mikey promises more episodes are coming, so be sure to check back at his YouTube page.