Does anyone know if there will be an option to use the old flashlight instead of the armor-mounted one?

I sure hope the option to use the original is there. I never understood why people complained about the original. It felt very natural to me once I reassigned my keys. Even Carmack agreed with the complainers in at least one interview and I felt like sending him an email telling him that the original design was just fine! I never had any trouble seeing things in Doom 3 due to the various light sources. Sure, lots of shadowing and such, but it felt right for the setting.

People should remember that Doom 3 originally came out a few months before Half-Life 2. 2004 was the year of the two heavy hitters of FPSes, and both games were very long compared to stuff we see today.

Okay, I will say that I absolutely hated the old flashlight and I will love using the new one.

However, I do agree that Doom3 wasn't THAT dark most of the time, you could see just fine. It was dark, but not pitch black. Only in 1 or 2 parts was it ever pitch black, and that's because it went with the "objective," like when you have to lead the scientist with a lamp.

I didn't mind the old flashlight - it added a nice tactical element to parts of the game that wouldn't have been there otherwise, and I was quite happy with the concept of suspending that part of my disbelief.

I was kinda disappointed when I heard they decided to make an armor-mounted flashlight (I hope it will actually be on the player character's model and won't be just a stupid-ass blob of light out of nowhere, like with that idiotic duct tape mod). The flashlight was an inconvenience, yes, but it was a deliberate one, to create sense of helplessness and make the player feel uncomfortable. The game was meant to be played like this. I hope they will actionize the game along with a new flashlight - add more enemies and stuff like that, since the player doesn't have to screw around with the flashlight anymore.

As far as i remember, Carmack didn't want the flashlight at all but was talked into it by the designers.
So they came up with this compromise of using the light or the gun.

Try playing the game without using the flashlight. Suddenly Doom 3 feels a lot closer to Doom / Doom II....

Never liked the flashlight. It seemed so illogical to me; why would a marine hold just a flashlight, but never a gun in the other hand? Let alone the fact that the game is set in 2145; you'd think they'd have figured out how to produce a built-in light mechanism into weaponry. But most of all, why the hell does it do more damage than PUNCHING? With the way he swings the thing, it doesn't look like it would do much damage when he hits. That's one POWERFUL flashlight.

Because the gun is too heavy/it's impossible to aim properly with just one hand. They would, but I figured they never expected a full-scale invasion - the guards were in case somebody goes nuts and flashlight-less weapons are cheaper. Besides, the other marines and z-sec have helmets with nightvision/built-in flashlights, the player character doesn't have a chance to get one himself. Why does it do more damage than punching? Well, because hitting somebody with something tends to always be more powerful than punching, since, you know, it's the object's weight plus the weight of your hand, as opposed to just the weight of your hand.
Everything makes sense, if you think of it.

Exactly!

Also, the base did not originally have power issues, not until Delta Labs started taking extra power from other sections. As Richard said, most of the base did not expect a full scale invasion from Hell, either, and were not properly prepared for the subsequent complete power outages, rolling blackouts/brownouts, and the base being destroyed from the inside-out (with all the consequential power disruption that entailed).

Put another way, compare Doom 3's lighting with Bethesda's "fake" lighting in Oblivion, FO3, and Skyrim. That's a big reason why lighting mods for the latter three games are so popular (must-haves for many players, actually).

Rather than the flashlight, I can't figure out why no one complained about the huge size of the PDA. Really, even when the game was released in 2004, that thing is WAY too big!

I just read that the new armor-mounted flashlight will have limited battery life - now that's cool.

Concerning the flashlight being powerfull, it resembles the ones used by the police. Do you people actually have one of those in your hands?
That thing is heavy and hitting someone with it will surelly hurt bad, specially if hits the head or torso.

But common, even today soldiers have built in thermal, infrared or ultraviolet lights on the gun sights, I can't belive that in 2147 UAC marines haven't this at their disposal!!!

The way they implemented external sources of light was to artificially enhance the so called "atmosphere" of the game.
I use falkens light mod, wich adds lights to all weapons except the chainsaw and grenades, and the game atmosphere is still creepy and scary, I still piss myself a lot because the terrifiic work they did with the sound.
The sound contributes much more to the horror than the shadows in my opinion.

I only played the game when it first came out, so I only ever used the old style flashlight. I thought it was fine. I didn't understand people's complaints with it.

To be honest I'd rather have the Armor Mounted flash light to the old one. as I hated having to switch to the flash light and then switch back to my weapon constantly. However I am still agreeing with people who want the option to use the old Flash Light. This way eveyone is pleased, and no one will complain about it.

I will greaty miss smashing zombies with the Flashlight if they take it out. I really hope they have this in there as an option, to switch that is.

Can anyone from ID or Bethesda confim this?

don't worry, there will be two modes.

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2012/06/22/id-software-talks-doom-3-bfg-edition-on-ps3/