It's called a trailer....

....

EDIT:

After reading some comments...

Lol guys, it's a trailer. Have come common sense about you. Things in trailers don't translate to perks, skills, or anything else. That is, untill you get to the part with gameplay in it, but that wasn't gameplay footage.

What this guy said. We can't really tell what things are going to actually be like until they give us a fully detailed gameplay demonstration.

Kiddies never heard of cutscenes before?

All games advertise using their cutscenes....

THIS

How do you know it wasn't gameplay footage? Could you please link to where you are reading that?

Edit:
Where are you guys getting this custcene idea from? The only quote I can find that is in any way official http://twitter.com/nickbreckon/status/40798586128039936

That's all he confirmed, in that particular post. I'm sporting mixed feelings - while I pray that there is more dynamics involved in gameplay, I'm also leaning towards thinking the player parts of that video might have been staged.

Colour me undecided. When the truth is revealed, I'll not be heartbroken either way.

Firstly, this is all speculation, we're not going to find out for sure untill we've got our hands on the game.

Of course the trailer is... exagerating (not really the word I'm looking for, but it'll do) gameplay to a certain extent. However, I don't see any reason why the character can't perform a simple steadying animation when ending a sprint just in time to avoid falling of a cliff; this really isn't very technologically taxing and I think there's a good chance this is how such actions might play out in the game world. I doubt it would be a perk if it is in game, more likely based on whether or not the player stops themself in time and if they don't then... splat.

Guys, have any of you pessimists actually played other games than TES? What about Assassin's Creed, heck, even Super Mario 64? If Nintendo could pull of balance-maintaining animations in 1997 why shouldn't Bethesda be able to do it in 2011? It's not that complicated from technical point of view, it just comes down to how much developers care about these things.

Dude... clearly. You know that Nintendo is not operated by humans right? They have never done anything that is within the scope of rational human capability. They can do things that nobody else can do. Seriously. That company is beyond earthly comprehension. No comparison should ever be made between Nintendo and any other company ever.

I mean, that's just obvious.

So, if I want to sprint off a cliff, I can't? Or do you have to pull the stick back to make that animation? If so, can you do it not at the cliff's edge? Can I sprint anywhere and pull back to stop and trigger that animation? That's possible. It's also possible that it was just a cutscene. Who knows?
Let's not forget that Bethesda (as much as I love it) is not above exaggerating some features. Until I hear otherwise, I'll assume it was just part of a cutscene. I prefer to err on the side of caution.

Right, forgot that they are Japanese and they actually care

Ultimately this is the stance that makes the most sense. In all seriousness guys, that could have been any number of things.

Cutscene? -Possibly, gamesas has done that before.
Cliff response of some kind? -Sure why not, could be a perk of some kind.
Reaction to running and halting? -Very likely
Reaction to running, and stopping, and the cliff? -Could be.

There's really no way to know. My sense is that it is #3, but that's just because it seems to make the most sense to me, personally.

What I meant is that I think that's the animation that will play if you stop yourself from sprinting of a cliff, most likely by pulling back on the stick (for consoles) as you say. If you don't stop yourself then you'll sprint right off. I also think there's a good chance that it's not specific to avoiding the cliff and could occur whenever you come to a sudden stop while sprinting.

If this isn't a part of standard gameplay and just for the trailer, however, I don't think anybody is going to lose sleep over it. It's not the most vital feature for the game to have.

The fact that alot of it seems really scripted? And that, in the modern era, I'm used to cutscenes being done in-engine (Mass Effect, for example), rather than pre-rendered?

Now, maybe there's alot of scripted "special move" type stuff like in Dragon Age, and the game will go into those wierd camera angles where you can see your character sneaking up and slitting a throat, or slashing the dragon as it flies by and it then zooms out to show the dragon crash land 50 yards past you. But if not, there's a good bit of difference between the really obvious "gameplay footage" where you can see the two arms casting spells or drawing a bow just like in MW/OB, and the more cutscene-like bits.

After watching that scene multiple times, I am convinced it is a cut scene. It may be "in-engine", but I seriously doubt that is gameplay. If it IS gameplay, I really hope it isn't a forced gameplay reaction to the cliff. I hate games that put invisible barriers around cliffs to keep me safe. If I want to be careless, I should pay the consequences. Besides, that would just be another layer of coding to add to all changes in elevation, and it wouldn't really add much. Kind of pointless other than looking cool.

Other than a cut scene, the only other likely scenario would be it is an animation for stopping, but that seems kind of overkill if I am just running and I want to stop to do that skidding animation everytime. Although perhaps the new Havok animation suite has multiple variations of stopping animations to keep things fresh. That I would be on board with, but I don't have my hopes that high.......yet.

It's likely just a dramatized bit for the trailer (possibly even the sprinting head bob). Even if this is implemented in the game, this isn't going to be a perk or anything complicated. It'd likely be an animation tied to being near an edge of a cliff as used in a lot of games.

Still, I incredibly doubt it's going to be in the game, especially in the scope of what you people are discussing.

It's a cut scene. An in-engine cut scene, but a cut scene nonetheless.

This is like asking if there will be a "slowly rise from your knees with a determined look" perk because it showed that in the trailer. Just accept that there were some unique, cinematic animations used for the sake of making the trailer more exciting.

And please, don't fall back on the "Bethesda confirmed it" argument. Use some common sense. Sony also confirmed that playing the PS2 would be just like living in the Matrix, but just because a company issues a statement doesn't mean that you should throw all logic out the window...

LOL, that would be the first perk I choose!!! Maybe a stern finger wagging and head shaking perk also? Totally agree though, people are setting their expectations a bit too high. This is one tiny area and one encounter in a massive open world game. Do you think every encounter with every enemy would look like that and be totally dynamic? We are years away from that kind of gameplay. To me, this looks like perhaps the first encounter with a dragon in the game. It is almost certainly a cutscene, although it will likely have playable sections that lead into it. I believe the dragon encounters will all be dynamic after this one, but I believe the first one will be at least partially scripted, to get the player familiar.

Watching the scene of him stopping just before the cliff; causes me to shudder... It makes me think of the escort missions in Morrowind. I'd have just the luck that says that the person I'm escorting is going to do a header off that cliff. Side thought... I'll take my chances with the cliff, just don't make me lead someone around at the time!

Easy. The animation or cliff-stopping whatever will just not activate if you press the jump button.

I dunno guys. "Rising dramatically from the knees with a stern look of sudden realization of one's own potential and determination to overcome adversity" is exactly the sort of skill perk I think Bethesda would include.

I would definitely choose that one. And of course the "flash view dragon falling from the sky dozens of yards away and skidding somberly to a halt in front of my viewpoint" is another fantastic perk that I would certainly pick.

I mean, who wouldn't? It's true.

It's possible it's just a cut-scene, but it could also be the animation that plays when you go from running to full-stop rapidly - and that would be cool.

Couldn't have said it more perfectly.

You forgot the "Panoramic and Dynamic birds eye view while playing the game's theme song after a dramatic battle" perk

You have a point but screen shaking as you run is highly likely to be sprinting. As for almost going over the cliff and stopping, as I said before, probably just something for the trailer but it's not out of the question to be a bracing animation for either slowing down out of sprint to a stop or something to stop you from going over the edge, either is well within the range of reason.