The battle to be the iPhone / iPod Touch platform's equivalent of Xbox Live is well and truly hotting up.

It was recently reported how the OpenFeint social networking gateway has clocked up more than one million gamers using its leaderboards and other online features.

The system is being used in more than 100 games.

Competitors to OpenFeint are looming large on the horizon, notably prolific games publisher Chillingo, which has just announced a new social gaming platform called Crystal.

Like OpenFeint, Crystal will enable developers to include social features in their games.

It will allow players to create their own profile, add friends, store achievements and game histories and compete with friends via direct challenges in multiple games.

It will be fully integrated with Facebook Connect and Twitter.

“Crystal gives developers and gamers a bigger plus all round,” said Chris Byatte, director and co-founder of Chillingo.

“It is set to become the de-facto social gaming standard for iPhone and iPod touch.”

In the short term it looks like developers, and players to a certain extent, will be able to choose between different social gaming platforms such as these two here and others which may enter the arena.

Longer term Apple may have to ultimately jump in and pick one to be its official social platform a la Xbox Live.

Interesting times ahead for iPhone and iPod gamers who like to stay connected with other players.