Played BLOPS 2 yet?

I've just had a read of this rather over the top excessively positive review @ ign:

THIS IS NOT THE SHOOTER YOU EXPECTED

Nice title. Except, to be honest, it really is the shooter you expected. Almost exactly...

The campaign narrative jumps between various characters’ perspectives and also in time
A bit like last time.

The story successfully casts Menendez in a light where I’m still not sure how I feel about him. At times I wanted him dead
A bit like last time (the protagonist is always a bit of a dick really. I liked the guy with the 'tache though)

Ok I'm being negative. Actually, BLOPS (or as I like to affectionately call it, PLOPS) 2 does bring some interesting new stuff to the table. It has pseudo choice making sections, where pressing A or B (so to speak, not literally) will affect your path through the game a bit. That might make it more fun to play through the single player campaign a few more times than you normally would (i.e. once).

Customising your loadout before a mission is nice too. Although actually I predict this will take away variety for many people as they'll simply use their favourite gun all the time (wasn't it annoying when you started one mission with a tricked out m4, and the next with a crappy mp5?)

Shooting is as fun and precise as ever, and alongside the abundance of gigantic explosions, vehicle missions and intense firefights, it feels like the closest thing most of us will ever get to starring in an action film. In that sense, Black Ops II is the classic Call of Duty formula at its best, with an important, defining difference: The emphasis on drone warfare, the exotic-but-grounded weaponry and the attention to detail in the believably high-tech signage and architecture makes Blacks Op II feel strikingly plausible even when it strays into non-historical settings.

The multiplayer is, as ever and of course, a blast. There's some new ideas there (Hardpoint) and some of the weird ones from MW3 (Kill Confirmed). The new "Nuketown 2025" mission has been hyped a lot. I started off hating Nuketown in BLOPS 1 but I grew to love it, and it seems to be the most famous map now. So a lot is expected of the future version and actually it seems to deliver.

The weirdest addition is screencasting - you can broadcast your game or save clips to youtube. I guess we can look forward to hundreds of thousands of new "OMGOMGOMG LOL GRENADE AT SPAWN" videos for the next few months. They call it "codcasting", by the way. You know, like "podcasting". Do you see? Ugh.

The "Zombies" mode has been talked about a lot. I really don't understand why zombies are such a big deal right now, some people actually seem to be preparing for some kind of real life zombie holocaust. If that's you, BLOPS 2 now provides you with some excellent training missions for that fateful day. Actually it's really fun, and quite a lot better than the (already quite fun) zombie missions in BLOPS 1.

All in all it's a great game. You didn't expect it to be a total dud, that was never going to happen. If you like Call of Duty you will like BLOPS 2, it's COD at its biggest brashest and, dare I say, at its best.

If you hate COD, you'll hate this too. But you're probably far too busy asking your facebook friends to be your neighbour in SimCity Social to even notice it's been released.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 is available on Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Nintendo Wii U (like anyone has one of those) and PC.
The best prices are, as always, at amazon:

People with more money than sense might want to check out the "hardened editions" on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

• Call of Duty: Black Ops II game
• Collectible steelbook
• Limited edition challenge coins
• Nuketown Zombies and Nuketown 2025 bonus in-game content
• Access to the Double XP Weekend, from November 16-18
• Exclusive PlayStation 3 system multiplayer theme and zombies theme
• Official soundtrack by Jack Wall with theme by Trent Reznor
• Exclusive weapon camo and player card backgrounds

MOCA is shit

What's MOCA? Other than a pile of useless overpriced bollocks? Nothing really.

Here is a video at the BBC's website. Unfortunately I can't embed it so you'll have to go and watch it then come back. Please, remember not to believe that you are looking at something in anyway clever or revolutionary or even good.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/9765106.stm

MOCA requires your existing broadband connection, so you still need the box on the wall (or the phone socket) and probably a modem/router/switch box (cable modem, adsl modem, whatever). These things usually have built in WIFI, which means you can share your internet connection out to your laptops, computers, smartphones, internet enabled fridge, all that great stuff. Often they also have 1 or 4 ethernet ports. We'll get back to that later.

The trouble with WIFI, says MOCA, is that it's weak. Maybe if your router is in the concrete lead lined basement, you won't be able to get a full strength signal in your attic. This is a valid concern. So MOCA says you should buy their $200 boxes to stick into new holes in your beautifully plastered walls. Behind these holes you need to hook your MOCA devices into the COAX cables that weave their way through every room in the house. MOCA will then piggy back a network onto these cables. In every room you will then have an ethernet socket, so you can plug in your computer device.

The main problem here is this: what the hell home has a network of COAX running to a faceplate in every single room? And even then, once the MOCA is installed, it gives a WIRED connection to that room. There's no wireless built in. So you'd need another wireless router in every room if you really wanted to expand your wireless network. They say this is a feature they will add soon, I say their product might be a tiny bit useful if it already had it built in but without it it's absolutely useless. Last time I checked, iPhones and Galaxy Tabs didn't have an ethernet port.

You DO have a network of cables in your house. They bring electricity to your rooms and I'll take a safe bet that you have a power outlet/socket in every room (except perhaps the crapper). There are little boxes available in your favourite techy stores, at your favourite online retailers, that use your network of power cabling and piggy back network 'signals' onto those. Much better. Plus they cost about $30 instead.

If you want pure wireless, just buy wireless repeaters and extend the network from your main wireless router.

If you want a totally secure, robust, fast network, go out and buy a reel of CAT6 cable and a load of ethernet/RJ45 faceplates. Wire your house with proper network cable. It will be super cheap and super fast and will give you a potential Gigabit network speed (fast wireless is generally more like 100 Megabit, if you're very lucky).

Basically, MOCA is entirely pointless and useless. Please don't buy one by accident.


Here is a good product for ethernet-over-mains, to give you an instant wired network.

2 pack. £30. 500 Megabit. Not bad at all.
Add as many as you need (not limited to 2).

Here's a smart little compact wireless repeater. Plug it in at relevant locations to extend your wireless signal and boost the power in rooms where it might be a bit weak.

Single item. Very compact, straight into the wall. £36.
Again, add as many as you need. More powerful ones available.

Whatever you do, don't get a MOCA box.

Official MOCA website is here.