"Dragons...it's an occupational hazard."

Who'd have thought it, eh? Whenever the words "DreamWorks Animations" is mentioned Shrek, Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda instantly pop into most people's minds like a switch had just been clicked. Well I certainly hope in a few months time that How To Train Your Dragon will be fully recognised as the best DreamWorks animation production ever, in fact I would happily and confidently go as far as saying that this is generally one of the best films I have seen in a very long time. To begin with, the omens were not overly positive. When the film was confirmed under the name "How to Train Your Dragon" most people, including myself, simple wrote it off as a cheap, uninspiring cash in for kids who haven't begun to comprehend humour or story yet. I thought of how DreamWorks had fallen completely behind Pixar's latest offerings such as Wall-E and Up. The first trailer arrived. It was good but unspectacular, "certainly not worth getting exciting about" I remembered saying to myself. And look at me now. Words cannot actually describe my new found love for this film but I shall attempt to write something to fill the gap anyway...Before you read on, if you haven't or are unsure of seeing this film I will say, stop reading this article and at least go give it a try. I guarantee most will be pleasantly surprised.

The story takes place on the Viking inhabited island of Berk. An opening cinematic introduction shows the Viking residents in a heated confrontation with a clan of dragons. During the battle Hiccup (a misfit Viking boy played by Jay Baruchel) is led inside as he is thought to be too weak to fight. Killing a Dragon on Berk is considered a rite of passage but Stoik the Vast (Hiccup's father played by Gerard Butler) doesn't believe his son is capable. During the battle Hiccup sneaks outside and s hoots down the much feared rare Night Fury. As Hiccup discovers the Dragon defenceless, he raises his knife but cannot bring himself to kill it. He unties the ropes and allows the Night Fury to fly away. He finds the Night Fury trapped in a valley due to an injured tail and befriends the dragon by giving it food and making an artificial tail. Later he gives the dragon a nickname, Toothless. Hiccu p begins to gather an extensive knowledge of Dragons and learns that everything the Vikings know about these creatures were wrong. He excels in dragon training to the amazement of his father and earns the right to finally kill a Dragon. However, Hiccup decides he doesn't want to harm the dragons anymore and strives to make peace between the two clans.

The movie is available in 3D and naturally that is the best way to view it. The effects laid out in a way very similar to Avatar – subtle but apparent. But some scenes – especially the flight scenes – make great use of the extra dimension and sometimes you can't help but just marvel at the surroundings. Computer animations have grown a lot over the years but HTTYD manages to incorporate great visuals while still letting the personality of characters shine through. A great example of this is Toothless. As loyal as any dog, Toothless is playful, energetic and adorable to watch. In fact all the main characters are chock full of personality and the relationship between one boy and his dragon is portrayed beautifully with touches of brilliant humour. There is quite a lot of comedy but none of it takes centre stage. Instead the film is dotted with plenty of refined humour and great one liners. One thing that makes the film even better is the soundtrack. Watching Hiccup fly through the clouds on Toothless, darting between rocks and soaring into the sky accompanied by a superbly arranged orchestral score is second to none. Fortunately a complete CD of the soundtrack is already out but residents of the UK will have to either buy from itunes or (if they want a case) import it from America. The pedantic lot could argue that the story is a little clichéd but the fact is that, it has been executed so well that you definitely be drawn into the adventure. And you want more proof that HTTYD is one of the best films out there? I have already watched the film twice and would willingly pay money to watch it a third time.

If you have been living under a slab of rock for a number of years, isolated from the entire world and its happenings...you would still probably know what Facebook is. After all, who doesn't have a Facebook account? Being able to talk, message, share photos and even "poke" all your friends makes it arguably the most complete social networking service. One area that hasn't quite shone in the spotlight, though, is the games. A quick look at the most popular games played on Facebook and it's clear the stats overloaded text based games such as Mafia Wars and several farming, restaurant, and pet simulations take up what's left of people's lives. These games are primarily about upgrading pointless things and then updating the pointless notifications to all your friends about your incredible pointless upgrades. Occasionally pink alien cows come into the question aswell… But the fact of the matter is, proper enjoyable and meaningful games are few and far between compared to iPhone or flash game communities such as Kongregate. So my question is: can Facebook ever be accepted as a legitimate gaming platform and encourage developers to take it seriously?

Well there are several reasons that point in favour of the idea. The obvious reason is that it's free. Free is a very strong word when attracting new markets. When you see something with the word 'free' slapped onto it, then naturally you will be curious to try it out for fun. – well, maybe except from 'free syphilis'. Back to the point, Facebook statistics show that there are over 400 million active users with 70% of users engaging with applications every month. Figures like this are very much in unknown territory for console markets with the PS2 (the best selling console of all time) only managing 143 million units as of March 2010. And while the PS2, Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii are ever so slightly more sophisticated gaming platforms than Facebook, developers could generate a lot of revenue for their titles. This would be an extremely profitable way of generating income and although the Facebook games are free to play a lot of money can be brought in through advertising and subscription fees. Zynga Poker is a good example of this: With over 28 million monthly active users it continues to steadily grow. Anyone can play easily for free and the game is very addicting especially for fans of Texas Holdem. But if you want to earn Casino Gold or buy more chips then there are packages you can pay for these (costing between £1.34 all the way to £172.07!). And with this many users, Zynga will be guaranteed a lot of buyers. That was only one example but plenty of others games use this system as well. Basically it is a win-win situation for both Facebook and 3rd party developers.

Another reason is the stat tracking. Most Facebook games allow you to post notifications to friends about your current progress in game. So, if you earn an achievement, hit the post button, and the achievement will be displayed on your Facebook profile – purely for bragging rights (or to lose friends). Leaderboards also feature in many games such as Bejeweled and Farmville where you can compare with all your friends who use the application. Sometimes this can turn the average casual Facebook user into a crazed robot stuck in 'time-kill' mode. In fact many 3rd party games developers are incorporating a 'connect to Facebook' button on their games to provide easy connections with friends and simple but effective stat tracking.

Finally, Flash is constantly evolving. And although Flash is not exactly on the required level to make Crysis 2, it is far cheaper for developers and now people can create even more complex, multi-player titles. Anyone can download Macromedia Flash or any other application and make their own game so Facebook could provide the stepping stones for new upcoming developers who haven't yet got the budget required to make a full scale console game. And large companies such as Valve and Capcom already have a lot of supporters so why not release some decent titles that everyone can play and enjoy? They can always be updated aswell so a multiplayer adventure game could be given short monthly quests or a multiplayer racing game could be given new courses or upgrades. They don't have to be massive updates at all as Facebook users will only be playing a game for a short period of time. Small regular updates will keep their interest in playing the games.

So to answer the question I asked at the start of the article, I happen to think if developers take Facebook seriously and attempt to appeal to the mass market of users then there is a large potential to turn Facebook into a great gaming platform. Just go easy on the farming simulations… please..