A weekly wrap up of interesting news about virtual worlds, virtual goods and other social media.

Child's Play: Food Makers Hook Kids on Mobile Games
U.S. food companies are reaching children by embedding their products in simple and enticing games for touch-screen phones and tablets. The new medium is far cheaper than Saturday morning TV commercials and could prove as effective.

Facebook updating its mobile apps every 1-2 months from now on
In an engineering blog post, Facebooker Christian Legnitto, who's responsible for pushing out mobile code for the company, says that Facebookers working on mobile have been taking the same doubled-down approach to release cycles that the rest of Facebook's engineers use for the website code pushes.

NASA, Angry Birds and the Question of Gamification
The addicting power of games, and their proliferation into each of our pockets, has created a new opportunity for organizations with a message. Each year, companies pay millions for product placements in videogames. Now, the public sector is finding creative ways to get in on the act too.

Online push transforms Japan gaming
This year Gree, which was founded by Asia's youngest self-made billionaire, Yoshikazu Tanaka, 35, is continuing its march on video games veterans such as Sony and Sega. But now its target is not their floor space but their core demographic of hardcore game players.

Social Media Week Chicago to Present 90 Free Events
Social Media Week Chicago 2012 will host a lineup of 90 free events across 40 venues throughout the city that explore the social, cultural and economic impact of social media from Sept. 24 -- 28. The event is organized by Zocalo Group and the Chicago Tribune.

3 more companies approved for online poker
Nevada gambling regulators have approved licenses for three companies to run Internet poker sites in the state.