Google launched a new version of Picasa today. It comes with several new features, but a cool facial recognition feature for slideshows is sure to get the most attention, and is certainly the one Google is putting front and center. It’s called "Face Movies".

"Face movies create a movie based around one person both figuratively and literally," explains Google’s Jonathan Sposato. "Instead of the usual transition from one photo to the next, the images align themselves to the face in the photo. This creates an extremely smooth viewing experience which allows the person in the photos to remain the focus rather than the transition effects themselves.

See below:

There is no word on when this feature will make its way to Picasa Web Albums, but hopefully it will at some point.

Other features of Picasa 3.8 include Picnik integration (which was released for Picasa Web Albums recently), batch upload from Picasa to Picasa Web Albums, and some metadata updates.