The concept of the world as a computer simulation has been around a long time, I first encountered it in Daniel F. Galouye's "Simulacron Three", published in 1964!

http://www.rosettabooks.com/pages/title_15.html

"Simulacron" was translated to film under the title "The Thirteenth Floor", which came out about the same time as "The Matrix" and the far superior "Existenz". Fortunately, I saw "The Matrix" last, and it was by far the worst of the three films. I didn't even bother to catch the sequel.

The idea of the universe being a software simulation running in some higher level universe is a compelling one, it offers yet another Theory of Everything with some legitimacy, after all, the Universe resembles a virtual reality more than it does anything else. Unfortunately, like all Theories of Everything, including the traditional religious ones, it offers no answers to the ultimate questions, it just postpones them.