Nokia N800: DHTML Lemmings

The video above shows DHTML Lemmings being played through the Nokia N800's built-in Opera web browser.

DHTML Lemmings is a very special version of the original Lemmings game from the 1990s. Instead of being a computer program, it's actually done using techniques normally used on websites, namely HTML and Javascript (Javascript isn't Java, by the way).

To play the game you just go to the DHTML Lemmings website in a Javascript-compatible browser, and it just works. There's no installation or having to choose a specific version, it just runs like any other website would, because from a technical point of view DHTML Lemmings IS a website.

DHTML isn't the most efficient way to make a game, the original Lemmings required just a 10 mhz computer whereas DHTML Lemmings requires devices running at hundreds of megahertz, despite the two games having identical graphics. However, DHTML does make it as easy as possible to do advanced things on completely different kinds of devices, because it doesn't require the computer itself to do anything except render websites. That means you can run the DHTML Lemmings site on a Windows PC, a Linux PC, a Macintosh, an Internet Tablet... anything that has a Javascript-compatible browser.

This is how so-called "ajax" websites like Gmail and Google Documents work, they use the browser rather than the computer, so they can be accessed from a huge range of internet-connected devices.

If truth be told, DHTML Lemmings gets too slow when there are lots of Lemmings on screen at once, and this is probably because (as the site designer says) the game requires a 500mhz machine while the Internet Tablet only has 330mhz. 330mhz is darn good for a portable device, but apparently not good enough for the later levels of DHTML Lemmings. However, it's important to bear in mind that DHTML Lemmings is more of a tech demo than a genuine game. For games to run quickly they really ought to be written for the system they run on. If a game is actually written for the N800 hardware, the N800 is powerful enough to run Quake 2.


Where to get DHTML Lemmings

You don't actually need to "get" anything, all you have to do is visit the following website on your internet tablet (or any device with a Javascript-compatible browser):

http://www.elizium.nu/scripts/lemmings/