How to reduce lag in Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 multiplayer

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Search Preferences

I haven't experienced any ping-related dysfunction in Black Ops 2 multiplayer yet, but to stay safe, here's a quick tip which may improve your matchmaking connections.

In the Online > Public Match > Find Match screen, there's a sneaky little "Search Preferences" option camping in the lower-right corner. It defaults to "Normal," which finds a balance between connection quality and matchmaking speed, but I've found that switching it to "Best" doesn't affect how quickly I can join matches. It also doesn't affect how quickly I can join the dirt, where I often curl up for naps under a blanket of bullets kindly provided by whoever just bunny hopped around a corner and surprised me.

Want to know what we thought of the game? Head to our Black Ops 2 review and join the divisive comment argusation.

Tyler grew up in Silicon Valley during the rise of personal computers, playing games like Zork and Arkanoid on the early PCs his parents brought home. He was later captivated by Myst, SimCity, Civilization, Command & Conquer, Bushido Blade (yeah, he had Bleem!), and all the shooters they call "boomer shooters" now. In 2006, Tyler wrote his first professional review of a videogame: Super Dragon Ball Z for the PS2. He thought it was OK. In 2011, he joined PC Gamer, and today he's focused on the site's news coverage. His hobbies include amateur boxing and adding to his 1,200-plus hours in Rocket League.