New DS Game Rips Off Pulitzer Prize Winner?

This is just too bizarre -- the new Nintendo DSiWare downloadable game from Gevo Entertainment appears to steal its premise from the work of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Lindsay-Abaire.

The game is Escapee GO!, described in today's official Nintendo press release as follows:

In Escapee GO!, players take on the role of Claire, who awakens with no memory of who she is. Save for her name, all information about her has been destroyed. In its place, something within her has changed. Hunted down by an unknown enemy, she must find a way to escape her pursuers using her newfound powers. Will she be able to survive? Using her heightened senses, Claire is able to detect enemies before they come into visual range. During her daring escape, Claire will find mysterious items that can temporarily enhance her abilities, allowing her to level the playing field.

The play is Fuddy Meers, with an opening scene with the following characteristics:

• Lights come up to reveal a sleeping woman named Claire.
• She awakens with no memory of who she is. 
• An unknown man appears (who later proves to be an enemy.)
• He urges her to make a "Thpeedy, thpeedy escape!"
• And tells her repeatedly "Let's go!" and "We've gotta go!"

Now, of course, this is likely just a coincidence.  Lindsay-Abaire's play does not send Claire out to escape her enemies using her newly-heightened powers to sense approaching enemies before she can see them; quite the opposite, in fact.  And it plays on a stage, rather than on the Nintendo DSi.  And the game's creator, Gevo Entertainment, is based in Singapore, which makes it unlikely they caught the show during its 1999 Off-Broadway run.

Remember, video game fans -- statistics tell us that weird coincidences SHOULD occur on a regular basis.  Given that anything can potentially resemble or recall anything else, it's likely that these creative domains would collide at some random point.

But it's fun to point it out anyway.