This week, Oculus Rift and Windows 10 get launch date and prices, free Amazon shipping for everyone, highlights from Google‘s developer conference, MIT‘s robot cheetah takes a big leap into the future, and much, much more…

All this week, Amazon has The Ultimate Matrix Collection Blu-ray box set on sale for only $24.99 (that’s 62% off the list price of $64.99).

This set contains each film in the Matrix trilogy – The Matrix, The Matrix Reloaded, and The Matrix Revolutions – along with the animated anthology movie The Animatrix. Every disc is stocked with hours of informative supplements including critic and philosopher commentaries on the three live-action films, director commentaries on several segments of The Animatrix, behind-the-scenes documentaries, briefer featurettes exploring individual aspects of the movies, scenes filmed for the Enter the Matrix video game, and more. In addition to the four movie discs, the set also comes with an additional pair of bonus discs featuring documentaries about the philosophy and science behind the Matrix trilogy, multiple still galleries including production photos, storyboards, and theatrical posters, and an extensive media gallery with every trailer and TV spot created for the release of The Matrix and its sequels.

November 16 marks the 30th anniversary of a bizarre album release by the band KISS. It was called Music From The Elder, and was initially confusing to the followers of the band. The album was based on a concept, a story focusing on The One who would be guided by a chap called Morpheus.

Wait a minute? Isn’t that the story of The Matrix?

Yes, it is. In fact, it is my contention that the Wachowski Brothers were influenced by the story behind KISS’ Music From The Elder — and contributed significantly to the character growth and plot of their saga.

It’s clear that the Wachowski’s were influenced by a vast number of elements in the creation of the franchise, such as William Gibson‘s Neuromancer, the Terminator series, the works of Philip K. Dick, and also Doctor Who. In point of fact, the concept of a Matrix was initially introduced in the Classic Doctor Who adventure The Deadly Assassin featuring Tom Baker, where the Doctor (like Neo) literally “plugs in” to a Matrix and finds himself in a virtual reality battling his enemies.