cable router questions

I'm going to be getting a cable router to hook up two computers to my @Home internet connection. One computer is heavily used for gaming and other special applications--gamespy, icq, mIRC, etc.. The other is mostly just used for web browsing and email. So I've done some research and I know that I will be needed a router that supports port range mapping. I really don't understand what port range mapping is. Maybe someone could explain this? Also I need PPPoe and changeable host name. And I will also need the router to support a large number of simultaneous connections. Can anyone reccomend a good router that fulfills all of these requirements? Has anyone successfully gotten Gamespy, ICQ, mIRC, quake3, tribes2, etc.. to work with any routers? I've heard people recommend the Linksys and the SMC Barricade but I'm still unsure

I have a linksys dsl/cable router, and i dont have to forward ports or anything and it all works fine for me.
only problems i have is needing to forward ports for ftp servers.
also, first u have to know what ports are. Every thing on the net is ported such as ftp is port 21, nothing else by default can use port 21.
With that said most dsl/cable routers have built in firewalls that protect your computer from attack/invasion. So then it blocks the ports from communicating with outside (internet) if a request comes it is ignored. So then u have to forward ports (or port ranges) to tell the firewall to not ignore these.
hope that helped