Aurora Feint gets $3M for mobile gaming sitte

Intel Capital and The9 are betting that they can beat their rivals

Mobile games have garnered a lot of interest in recent days. Electronic Arts just bought Chillingo, the publisher of Angry Birds, for what is estimated to be as much as $20 million. DeNA recently put $27.5 million towards Incubate Fund No. 1 Limited Partnership, a venture capital fund geared towards investing in social gaming startups.

So, it should be no suprise that more money is being poured into this area.

Aurora Feint just raised $3 million, bringing the company's total funding raised to $12 million, since they were founded in 2007. Investors in the current round include Intel Capital and The9. Investors in the company's previous round, include Japan’s DeNA. The Burlingame, CA based, Aurora Feint is best known, as the makers of OpenFeint, which is a mobile social platform.

Aside from the company's signature game, also titled Aurora Feint, and its sequels, which have over 1700 reviews, with four stars, its library of games includes 3400 titles. Games on the network include: Fruit Ninja, Jaws and Monster Dash. Monster Dash currently enjoys a 4.5 star rating, with 610 players reviewing. Games on the Aurora Feint network, are made by a variety of developers, including Digital Chocolate, Hudson, Big Pixel, Half Brick, Capcom and  Taito.

Games in the OpenFeint network, are available for both iPhone and Android-based phones.  The company also recently launched PlayTime, an SDK to create real-time multiplayer games, that allow battles between iOS and Android users.  The PlayTime feature also allows users to send small messages back and forth, making digital trash talk even easier. PlayTime also allows the company to monetize games, with the sale of in-game items.

It also gives developers the chance to make a single player game into a multiplayer game, provided that the game records a score. Other network features include, leader boards and in-network rewards that are earned for playing.

Aurora Feint is, of course, not the only one creating these kinds of gaming networks. Scoreloop, Ngmoco, and PapayaMobile are all in the same arena, and all of them have gotten substantial investments this year. PapayaMobile raised $4 million in June, and Scoreloop raised an undisclosed amount in July. Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers backed, Ngmoco was bought by DeNA for about $400 million earlier in October.

Aurora Feint is currently hiring for multiple positions, including developers, account managers, and graphic design professionals.

Aurora Feint has yet to reply to request for comment.

(Images property of Aurora Feint)