Gaming friendly router?

Hi duders I'm currently in the process of buying a new router and am having trouble finding one for my needs.

After about 2 years of horrible gaming on a temperamental connection I've finally given up.

Basically I need a wireless N router that can easily run Xbox live, psn, normal net for two computers and a laptop, as well as an iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and two android phones - obviously not all at the same time mind.

The main problem I had before was a strict NAT which I couldn't solve no matter how many guides I followed, so a router with simple port forwarding would be amazing.

Thanks for any help!

Bump!

I have just a standard old G linksys and I run all of the things you listed (sometimes at the same time) throughout my two floor house, and I have had no problems whatsoever. I run the stock firmware as well because I've had no trouble, but I have heard a lot of recomendations about DD-WRT if you've been having trouble and want to run a custom firmware. If you have a physically working router now, I'd try the custom firmware before buying a new one, I've heard a lot of stories of it fixing temperamental router issues.

@Tamaster92: Uhh... all routers should be fine. I'd recommend a Cisco/Linksys model over all others (Not the Valet line though).

Something you may want to look into is using a program to check wireless signals in your home. What could be happening with your intermittent connection is that you have conflicting channels/frequencies. A program for Windows that's capable of this is InSSIDer. It'll show you a graph of all the networks and the channels their own. Then just adjust your router's channel to whichever has either no other networks in that frequency range or (if they're all taken up, such as in an apartment complex or other crowded residential area) set yours to over lap the weakest network you can find.

What brand/model do you have currently? Are you unable to forward ports with it?

I'm pretty sure there is no such thing as a gaming friendly router. You just have have routers that just... Route. If you mean some thing easy to configure for a user that doesn't know anything about networking that is a different story. Linksys or d-link are good brands for the user that wants to use a router but doesn't know how to configure one.

I just opened this up via a twitter mention a few moments ago. Reviews on Amazon and NewEgg seem fairly positive and for the price, it may be worth checking - http://gdgt.com/tp-link/tl-wr1043nd/

I've been looking to upgrade my Buffalo router that I've had for quite a few years, but can't find anything that seems to get solid reviews.

I also recommend Tomato/DD-WRT supported hardware as well.