Aurora Feint signs up beta partners for its virtual goods platform

Game platform maker Aurora Feint is announcing today it has signed up its first wave of developers for its virtual goods platform for mobile devices.

The Burlingame, Calif.-based company makes the OpenFeint social game platform for mobile games. It is extending that platform with OpenFeint X, which adds a virtual goods platform for games. The private beta partners include game makers PikPok, Retro Dreamer, HyberCube and Halfbrick Studios. Those companies will release virtual-goods-based games in the second half of the year.

HyperCube will soon launch CorsAIR, the first OpenFeint X title in the Apple App Store. Market analyst Frank N. Magid estimates that virtual goods on smartphones generated $168 million in the U.S. in 2009.

OpenFeint X provides services in cloud-based servers that developers can access so that they can run a virtual goods economy in their games. Users can pay real money for virtual goods such as better weapons. And they can make that purchase from inside the game. Developers using OpenFeint X don’t have to build their own infrastructure of servers.

“We’ve worked closely with OpenFeint to develop and refine the concept for our first iOS social game and are excited to launch the title with OpenFeint X support,” said Gavin Bowman of RetroDreamer, creator of hit iPhone game Sneezies.

OpenFeint X will help developers build complete social games with no server work. OpenFeint is used in 2,200 games that have reached 28 million users. Aurora Feint has 30 employees and was founded in 2007. Investors include Japan’s DeNA. Rivals include Scoreloop, Ngmoco, and PapayaMobile.

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