Among the biggest sellers in online PC games are FPS, or First Person Shooter, games.

Kids love 'em. So do most Dads.

Many moms think the level of violence is too high and too graphic, so Dad and the kids play them when she is not looking.

FPS games are centered on you, the player, from your point of view. Armed with various handheld weapons, you might be called on to thwart the invasion of Earth by aliens or to stop a Nazi advance in WWII. As a player, you interact directly with the game environment from your own perspective.

FPS games evolved in the late 1990s as PCs became powerful enough to render the 3D graphics in real time. These are way beyond the arcade shooters from Space Invaders on up.

Several sub-genres of FPS have distinguished themselves:

* tactical - most have a military motif

* stealth - avoiding detection by opponents is a major element

* run and gun - among the most popular with multiple enemies and fast-paced action

* real-time strategy (RTS) - able to give commands to other units and control the strategy

* first person adventure (FPA) - free roaming adventure which takes one to the edge, like the controversial series Grand Theft Auto

Most FPS games take graphics to a new level of realism while exaggerating the attributes of the player. You now likely have muscles and strength that make Arnold look like a girlie-man.

Kids and adults alike love the frantic blasting of enemies within the context of heroic storylines.

While FPS games are demanding on your reflexes, they are also demanding on your PC. You will definitely have a need for speed, as well as a good graphics card and a decent set of speakers. The demands of gamers have pushed the PC industry to make better desktop computers for all.

The next big shift - with broadband Internet service now in millions of homes worldwide - will be the delivery of the latest FPS game to your PC via streaming download instead of CD. As more gamers accept online streaming delivery of the game itself, costs should come down over time as the game developers turn to online delivery and bypass the CD/DVD publishers and retailers in the supply chain.

For the game developers, online delivery of FPS games represents an opportunity to open up a new market of gamers who would be willing to try FPS online, but who never visit EB Games, the Electronics Boutique, or other game retailers in the mall.

For those who want to try/demo any number of FPS games, I recommend the Triton player. This streaming download allows you to begin play well before the entire download is completed. You can even demo recent releases like Prey from 3D Realms.

You can register free and download the player at: http://www.playtriton.com

As long as there are heroes and villains, and kids with vivid imaginations, there will be a place for FPS games when the aliens come calling.