It seems that Aurora Feint is jumping onto the social gaming bandwagon by transforming itself into OpenFeint, a social gaming platform maker that aims to create games akin to those available on Facebook with independent iPhone game developers. For those not in the know, Aurora Feint originally builds puzzle games for the iPhone but have since spearheaded a new community targeted to develop Zynga-like games, such as Farmville, Mafia Wars and Cafe World.

Just recently, it launched OpenFeint X, which it hopes will aid developers create more free games for the iPhone. They hope these games will appeal to the same market who are currently playing Zynga and Playfish. With EA acquiring Playfish for a gargantuan amount of US$300 million ($275 in cash, no less!), the startup hopes that social games will not be another flash-in-the-pan. With the support of Japanese investment partners and international mobile gaming companies, OpenFeint X is hoping that a more globalized appeal will help propel them to social gaming stardom.

Independent developers will love what OpenFeint X has to offer. With this, they can create play-to-pay games like Farmville complete with in-game microtransactions, integrated chat wall, game nudges and a barrage of virtual goods – all containing the pull factor that has social gamers coming back for more.

Do you think they will make it big? We think Peter Relan, executive chairman at Aurora Feint AND CrowdStar (developer behind Happy Pets and Happy Island for Facebook) has enough experience and know-how. Let’s see if he puts them to good use!

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