Digital distributor Direct2Drive quietly launched a rental scheme for downloadable PC games last week, though so far it's looking somewhat less than inspiring.

D2D charges $5 for five hours of playtime, then if you want to keep the game, your $5 will be knocked off its price. The selection is very limited at the moment, with only Divinity II - Ego Draconis, F.E.A.R., Race Driver: Grid and Silent Hill: Homecoming available now. D2D notes that "our rental selection will grow in time." Read more »

A trailer for Project Origin (PC, PS3, X360) has been released, showing the first glimpse of Monolith Productions' upcoming horror shooter

The game is a direct sequel to F.E.A.R (PC, PS3, X360), but was retitled in the wake of Monolith's departure from publisher Vivendi. In the aftermath of the dispute, Monolith retained rights to the characters, setting and story, while Vivendi obtained the rights to the F.E.A.R. name. Read more »

Now available at FileShack is the F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate demo, for those of you interested in trying this new stand-alone expansion pack where you play as a different F.E.A.R. soldier, encountering enemies never seen by the team in the original game. The 735mb demo includes the Underground level. Developed by TimeGate Studios, F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate is due out November 6. It will also be part of the F.E.A.R. Files release for Xbox 360, which includes Perseus Mandate and the earlier expansion pack Extraction Point.

There's a F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate preview on IGN, going hands-on with the second expansion pack for Monolith's spooky first person shooter. There's also a F.E.A.R. Files preview.

Maybe giving power to the people isn't such a great idea; The results for the Name Your Fear contest naming Monolith's F.E.A.R. sequel are in, and the project is now officially known as the rather unimaginative Project Origin. Due out on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, Project Origin will follow the events of the original F.E.A.R. The game is not to be confused with Vivendi's planned F.E.A.R. sequel, which can not use the characters from Monolith's 2005 shooter. "Project Origin is the name we can stand behind since it was picked by the gaming community, and this game marks a new beginning for the franchise," said Samantha Ryan of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. "With the consoles and the PC, we're dedicated to add a new game dynamic to the universe and build upon what the players loved about the original game."

Game Informer has been updated with a preview of F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate and F.E.A.R. Files, going hands-on with the PC expansion pack and the Xbox 360 compilation release.

Sierra has released the first F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate trailer, showing a minute and a half of action packed footage from the new TimeGate Studios developed expansion pack. F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate will be released stand-alone on the PC, and as part of the the F.E.A.R. Files package which also includes the original game and the F.E.A.R. Extraction Point expansion on Xbox 360.

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Embrace Your New F.E.A.R. on IGN offers a Q&A with Monolith producer Troy Skinner about the untitled F.E.A.R. sequel.

Over at GameSpot you can find a preview of whatever Monolith ends up calling the F.E.A.R. sequel (story), saying there is "no shortage of blood, violence, and swear words".

TotalVideoGames has a late F.E.A.R. Extract Point Q&A. Producer Tim Hall is asked about the new content found in the expansion pack, which was released last week.

The F.E.A.R. blog on IGN has been updated, offering the thoughts of Francis Choi, who was an associate producer on F.E.A.R. Extraction Point.

According to the F.E.A.R. blog on IGN, the F.E.A.R. Extraction Point expansion pack went gold a while back and will be in stores the 24th.

Sierra has issued a new F.E.A.R patch, which updates version 1.07 of the game to version 1.08. The new update is said to fix "several issues".

There is a new F.E.A.R. Extract Point producer's blog over at IGN, with Tim Hall writing about some of the new features you'll find in this expansion pack. Thanks Voodoo Extreme.

New at IGN is a preview of F.E.A.R. Extraction Point. The article offers impressions of the expansion pack's first two levels.