Penned by Vicious Cycle staffers David Ellis and Adam Cogan, Dead Head Fred tells the story of Fred Neuman, a private eye who finds that his head has been replaced with a brain in a jar following a scientific experiment. Fred, voiced by Scrubs actor John C. McGinley (pictured left), sets out to reclaim his memories and exact his revenge.

Dead Head Fred beat out a somewhat dubious list of nominees for the Writer's Guild of America's inaugural award for outstanding achievement in video game writing, including EA Redwood Shores' The Simpsons Game and Radical Entertainment's Crash of the Titans. Only members of the WGA's New Media Caucus were eligible for the award.