Google has made its next big move to solidify a dominant position in social gaming. Google has reportedly purchased Slide for $182 million. This news follows Google’s $100 million investment in casual game developer Zynga. Google is apparently not finished with its quest to take on Facebook, as more acquisitions are expected to finalized down the line.

Two Facebook programs slammed in the span of a week, this must be some kind of record. The SuperPoke! application from Slide has removed one of its program’s poking options today (July 28, 2008) due to strong objections from those who’ve suffered from knife attacks.

The action in question involved a knife. SuperPoke! users would be able to send a knife icon to one of their friends with a message saying “______ has shanked ______.” This message then remains on the recipient’s SuperPoke! box in his or her Facebook profile for everyone to see. Slide willingly removed the action from the application.