I don't know about anyone else, but the only thing that I always hated about Oblivion and Fallout was the character animation. The way the people move around and fight and how their animations are very fluid and how they're stiff just bugs me. Does anyone know if they are going to change/update this for fallout new vegas??

As you can see from the gameplay videos, some animations, like the running animation and the walking animation, have been redone.
As far as the engine goes I see no real improvement (aside from under-the-hood changes to make it smoother) so don't expect foot locking or diagonal running.

From the video footage i have seen, i can conclude that they did NOT make any changes to character animation. It really surprises me that they decided that, because i think a lot of people have the same opinion as you (and I) and that they should listen to it.
But then again the animations never bothered anything else in the game so thats a plus.

You must be blind
They have replaced alot of the animations, and I gotta say, from what I see, they're much much more fluid than both TES4 and FO3.

This. Go play fallout 3 and then watch some of the latest vids, and then tell me it's the same.

The animations are pretty much the same. Its just a game they can tweak it a bit but you will never get that very smooth movement.

The walking and running animations look improved from FO3.Not every animation might stay the same but most will.

personally I dislike the walking animation. The leg movement seems too quick and forced, like they are stomping their feet as they walk.

They did a lot of work on the reloading animations as well...

uggh ! that aggitates me... I really wanted new face animations

They improved facial animations. The lip syncing is definitely better, but it's not a major improvement.

At least it's a bit of an improvement but I never paid much attention to the NPC's expressions.

Animations i wish to see in Fallout New Vegas...

* Going prone. (increasing your sneak skill)

* Lying down, when going to sleep.